Nawade ( my, နဝဒေး; also spelt Nawaday) is a title given by the Burmese kings to the

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

s of ancient

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. Whereas there were at least five court poets who were given the title of Nawade only two are frequently discussed in academic circles.

First Nawade

The first Nawade (1498–1588), known as Nawadegyi as well as the Prome Nawade, was a warrior and tutored the brother-in-law of the Lord of Prome. According to one traditional telling, Nawadegyi was the son of Princess Narapati Medaw guardian. Nawadegyi served multiple kings, including Sithu Kyawhtin and

Bayinnaung , image = File:Bayinnaung.JPG , caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar , reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581 , coronation = 11 January 1551 at Toung ...

(the latter of whom conferred the title upon him). He often wrote poetry that exalted the royal family, including missing ''Manawhari Pyo'' (1579) which concerns the Thudanu Prince, as well as more than three hundred ''yadu''s. He was a nonagenarian at the time of his death.

Second Nawade

The second Nawade, Dutiya (1756–1840), also known as Wetmasut Nawade after the town he frequented or Mawsun Nawade due to the fact that he wrote at least fifteen ''

mawgun A mawgun ( my, မော်ကွန်း, ; originated from archaic my, အမူကွန်း, ) is a form of Burmese poem which is often used to record a significant event meant to last. History Early times In the Pagan era, donors recorde ...

'' in his lifetime. Three of them pertain to Burmese

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

s, including ''Ar-than-naing Mawgun'' and ''Rakhine Naing Mawgun'' on the conquests of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and Rakhine respectively, as well as the missing ''Dawei Naing Mawgun'' on the takeover of

Dawei Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...

; he also wrote ''Tayok Than Yuak Mawgun'' (1821), which details the arrival of a group of Chinese officials to Burma. When the manuscript of Letwe Nawrahta's ''Yodaya Naing Mawgun'' was first catalogued, the poem was misattributed to the second Nawade, and this was not rectified until decades later.

Influence

The first

Ayeyarwady River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Origi ...

bridge at Pyay-Sinde Road in Pyay, which was commissioned into service by the ruling ''

tatmadaw Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...

'' in 1997, was named the Nawade Bridge.

References

{{authority control Burmese male poets * Burmese royal titles