The Year of Subjugation

Thursday, 11 February 2010 paohpeople

As a member of the Karen tribes, the Pa-oh suffered less discrimination from the Burmans than did the others in lower Burma. However, in the Shan Highland Plateau, they were faced with another political repression under the feudal system.

In lower Burma after the collapse of the Pa-oh kingdom, the Pa-oh were a suppressed people, hunted down by the Burmese bands of dacoits organized by the governor left behind by Anawrahtah in “Tsai Htomg”. When their villages were destroyed, the Pa-oh clans, about a hundred families under Htun Chi, as recorded, moved north and built new settlement, taking earth and stones from their former towns as a symbol for their new settlements, named “Tsai Htomg Pey”, later it was to become “Thaton Gale”. Today it is known as Hsi Saing, situated 20 miles north of the Karenni border.



There were many Pa-oh princes with several principalities scattered in the southern Shan Highland Plateau, who in the course of time, inter-married with the Shan people and as a result, their national identity. But the Pa-oh people kept their national identity and increased in great numbers, more quickly than their Shan neighbours.

Three clans who stayed further west on the Salween estuary ventured even further east and crossed the Dawna range, setting at a place known today as “three Pagoda Pass”. According to history, each Pa-oh collected one stone and piled these stones in three heaps representing each to form the basis of the three pagodas which stand there today. After a short time, they moved on and southwards probably reaching Malay peninsular.

The persecution of the Pa-oh in the lowland continued and the Burmans introduced repressive measures, such as forbidding them to speak their mother tongue and to read or write in there own language. These repressive measures were not imposed on the Karen tribes alone. Similar but worse measures were used twice against the Mon people by the Burmans; the second timebeing when the British withdrew from Rangoon in 1826. The Burmans alleged that the Mons and Karens had helped the British in the first Anglo-Burmese War of 1824-1826. While the Karen villages were burnt down and destroyed, the Pa-oh, who lived further east, escaped these further persecution.

In the lowland, though they lived in low profile, the Pa-oh retained their strong Buddhist faith which helped them overcome their persecution. They settled down to rebuild their agriculture. The Burmeses were now concentrating their repressive measures more against the Karens in lower Burma which gave some relief to the Pa-oh. Nevertheless their status quo hadnot improved much and their daily life was dull and uninspiring.

In 1881, the Karens had established their first ever political organization named “Karen National Association”. This was set up entirely by Christians and was viewed by the Burmese kingdom in Mandalay and the Burmans in Lower Burma as an attempt by the British to destroy Buddhism. In 1884, the Burmese king Thibaw sent down dacoiting bands to harass the Karens who, for the first time, were enjoying freedom from the Burmese despotic rule. Karen volunteers were organized to combat them and having been armed by the British, soundly defeated the Burmese rebels.

What happened in the east, however, was a different story. The Burman, claiming the British had come to destroy Buddhism, managed to gain the militant support of the Pa-oh people who were devout Buddists. The Pa-oh under the leadership of Mayan Kyaung monk and his lieutenant Po Kham rose in rebellion against the British. First they attacked the British outpost at Bilin and then the uprising spread as far west to the Pegu Yoma, then as far west to Sittang valley-Shwe Kyin, Kyauk Kyi and Toungoo. Had it not been for the Karens driven out of Burma; for the British army, comprised almost entirely of Indian sepoys, proved no match for the Pa-oh warriors. Many histories of this rebellion refered to it as a “Shan rebellion”, But this is quite incorrect. Po Kham was finally surrounded. He refused to surrender and be captured alive. So gallantly did he fight that the British built a monument to him in sheer admiration which stands to this day in the middle of a field where he fell, near to Bilin Town.

In 1886, The British captured Mandalay and took king Thibaw and his Queen prisoner, sending them to exile in India. While they were still in exile, there was an uprising in Upper Burma aimed at the release of the king. Here again, 101 Karen volunteers and 6 trackers were engaged by the British under Captain Grendeir to quell the uprising . At Minbu they located the hide-out of the King-pretender to the throne, U Ottama, who was killed in the, evsuing battle. But the rebellion continued in the Shan Highland Plateau. Here the Pa-oh under Hkun Oh of Tsai Htomg Pey (Thaton Gale) put up a strong resistance supported by Hkun Konra and the Pa-oh swordsmen. At first the neighbouring Shan Feudalists (Sao Phao) cooperated with the Pa-oh resistance, but they soon deserted when the more influential Feudalists of Nyaung Hwe made a peace treaty with the British bringing the Indian sepoys to fight the continuing Pa-oh resistance. Along and against overwhelming odd, the Pa-oh were thus forced to make peace and submit to the majority of the Shan Feudalists wish. While the Pa-oh rebellion in Lower Burma stemmed from a fear that Buddhism would be destroyed, the resistance in the Shan Plateau was conducted more on a purely nationalistic basis.

Under British rule, the Pa-oh gained great advantages. Buddhist Squatter Law came into force enabling the Pa-oh to become land owners. Their villages rapidly grew in size, their economic well-being increased in proportion. Roads and railway were developed which bridged the gep between the highland and lowland Pa-oh, on the threshold, awaiting a new national consciousness. However, while the Pa-oh in lower Burma were recruited into the police and military serves, those in the highland plateau did not receive much encouragement. Again those in Lower Burma received educational advantage from the Anglo Vernacular schools run by the mission, while those in the highland plateau, continued to be educated by their monasteries only, and lost much advantage by missing the more advance teaching for further development. When the children of the well to do Pa-oh wanted to receive such advance education, the parents were forced to surrender their children to Shan families for adoption. But in the agricultural field, the Pa-oh made good studies and became Prosperous land owners. For this reason, the Burmans became jealous of them and ostracized them as “peasant” a third class citizen. As we have seen before, they were called “Taungthu” and the Burmans looked down on them and called them “peasant”. The British due to their policy of “Divide and rule” did not officially care to repair the racial justice which the Pa-oh had received at the hands of the Burmans. The British came to Burma for material gain, and not to help the downtrodden minorities. It was the American Missionaries who took a greater interest in such people. Only one missionary William Hacket made a serious study of the Pa-oh people and through his work, some understanding of the Pa-oh people’s predicament were made known.

Many centuries of subjugation have had the effect of turning the once proud and cultured Pa-oh into a humble people, suffering mostly in silence. That does not mean that their nationalist spirit is cowed. As we have seen, the Pa-oh were soon up in arms against the British when they believed that Buddhism was threatened. They proved themselves second to none in battle. But on the whole the Pa-oh are a peace loving people, avoiding hostility with their neighbours if possible. Their lives and interests are almost entirely devoted to agriculture.