Yazakumar ( my, ရာဇကုမာရ် ; pi, Rājakumāra; 1078–11??) was the titular governor of north

Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...

during the reign of his father King

Kyansittha Kyansittha ( my, ကျန်စစ်သား, ; also spelt as Kyanzittha or Hti-Hlaing Shin; 1030 – 1112/13) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1084 to 1112/13, and is considered one of the greatest Burmese monarchs. He cont ...

of the

Pagan Dynasty The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...

Myanmar 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 ...

(Burma). He is best known for the

Myazedi inscription Myazedi inscription ( my, မြစေတီ ကျောက်စာ ; also Yazakumar Inscription or the Gubyaukgyi Inscription), inscribed in 1113, is the oldest surviving stone inscription of the Burmese language. "Myazedi" means "emerald stupa" ...

of 1113, which he donated in his father's honor. The stone inscription has scholarly significance because it allowed the deciphering of the Pyu language.

Biography

Early life

Yazakumar was born to Thanbula and Kyansittha circa 1078 at Kyaungbyu. Kyansittha was a former general of the Pagan army who had been sent to exile by his father King

Anawrahta Anawrahta Minsaw ( my, အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော, ; 11 May 1014 – 11 April 1077) was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone ...

for his affair with Anawrahta's young queen

Manisanda , image = , caption = , reign = 1084–1112 , coronation = , succession = Queen of the Northern Palace , predecessor = herself , successor = Yadanabon I ...

. In 1077, Anawrahta died, and Kyansittha was recalled to the capital by

Saw Lu Saw Lu ( my, စောလူး ; also spelled Sawlu; also known as Min Lulin ( ), ; 19 April 1049 – 21 April 1084) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1077 to 1084. He inherited from his father Anawrahta the Pagan Empire, the ...

to run the kingdom. Thanbula was pregnant with Yazakumar remained at Kyaungbyu. At Pagan, Kyansittha was sent into exile again—this time to

Dala Dala may refer to: Places *Dala Airport, Dalarna province, Sweden *Dala, Angola * Dala, Bhutan * Dala, Kano, Nigeria **Dalla Hill, a hill in Kano, Nigeria *Đala, Serbia * Dalas, Khuzestan Province, Iran *Dala Township, Yangon, Myanmar People * ...

(modern

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

) for renewing his affair with Manisanda. In 1084, Kyansittha ascended to the Pagan throne but had forgotten about his wife and child at Kyaungbyu. When Thanbula found out that Kyansittha was king, she brought their son to Pagan, along with the ring that Kyansittha had given her as proof. The king was surprised to see them. Kyansittha had already word that his grandson

Alaungsithu Alaungsithu or Sithu I ( my, အလောင်းစည်သူ ; also Cansu I; 1090–1167) was king of Pagan Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1112/13 to 1167. Sithu's reign was a prosperous one in which Pagan was an integral part of in-land ...

would be king because he thought he had no son. A remorseful Kyansittha made Yazakumar the titular head of north Arakan and seven hill districts.Harvey, pp. 39-40

Myazedi inscription

Though passed over for the throne, Yazakumar never showed any disappointment. He spent his life with donating his inheritance for his mother's merit. He donated many temples in honor of his parents. He commissioned the Myazedi inscription as his father lay dying in bed. The inscription dated 1113 was written in four languages:

Pyu Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of Phyu Township Pyu Township is a township in Taungoo District in the ...

, Burmese, Mon, and

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

, which all tell the story of Yazakumar and his father Kyansittha. The primary importance of the Myazedi inscription is that it allowed for the deciphering of the written Pyu.

References

{{authority control Pagan dynasty 11th-century Burmese people 12th-century Burmese people