From Hindu villain to heroic Buddhist king: Dathagiri in the Thiri Rama

Tu, Hpone Myint

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129316 Copy

Description

Title

From Hindu villain to heroic Buddhist king: Dathagiri in the Thiri Rama

Author(s)

Tu, Hpone Myint

Issue Date

2025-05-07

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Newman, Adam L

Department of Study

Religion

Discipline

Religion

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Buddhism
• kingship
• Ramayana
• authorship
• Myanmar history and literature
• Southeast Asian history and literature

Abstract

This paper analyzes the character of Dathagiri in the Thiri Rama, an 18th century Myanmar court drama. The Thiri Rama is the Myanmar version of the Rāmāyaṇa story – this play is a little-known work in Western scholarship. The most widely known version of the Rāmāyaṇa is Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa, and in this story, the villain is Daśagrīvā. In the Thiri Rama, however, I argue that Dathagiri, Daśagrīvā’s counterpart, is not a villain, but a heroic Buddhist figure. Scholars of the Thiri Rama have labelled Dathagiri the villain of the story, taking, I suspect, a reading of Daśagrīvā and imposing it upon Dathagiri. But this claim does not withstand close scrutiny. I textually analyze the first few acts of the play—which contain Dathagiri’s coming-of-age story—to demonstrate that Dathagiri is a heroic, Buddhist king. Furthermore, to truly understand the complexity of the Dathagiri character, I make connections to the historical context of the Thiri Rama. The Dathagiri character also contains in it the voices of Siamese captives after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 and that of the Myanmar royal court defending its empire against a Qing invasion. My study of this relatively obscure text, I hope, enriches the scholarship on Buddhist kingship and the Rāmāyaṇa.

Graduation Semester

2025-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129316

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2025 Hpone Tu

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