The Indian Origin of the Talaing or Mon in Burma

The Indian Origin of the Mon people of Burma, Cambodia, etc.

(1) http://www.indology.net/article28.html The Origin of the Mon People Submitted by E. Mazard The Mon people of South East Asia are believed to have originated in India, having been pressed eastward by invaders. This theory originated with the missionary Francis Mason, D.D., whose account of the discovery we reproduce here from his autobiography of 1870. Please note that he uses the term "Talaing" throughout, a Burmese term which Mons do not use to refer to themselves, and consider insulting. "Mixed up with the Burmans, I found there was another tribe, the Talaings, who in their dress, habits, and general appearance, could not be distinguished from the Burmans. On close examination, however, they are found, as a people, to be a shade darker, and to have less of the Tartar in their countenances, and to have a widely different language." "...[A]s no white man had at that time every studied the Talaing language, or could tell the least thing about it, I determined to study it myself, enough to understand its grammatical principles, and be able to compare its vocabulary with other languages; so I hired an intelligent Talaing scholar, who understood Burmese, at one of those villages, and bringing him to town, I studied Talaing with him till I obtained a good general idea of the language, and took down from him a small vocabulary of the most common words in use. "Subsequently, as my knowledge of the [other] languages [of the region] increased, I compared the Talaing with the languages of all the nations around, and found that it differed widely from them all. In the end, the investigation was most thorough, and it became manifest that Talaing stands isolated among all the languages east of the Ganges. The roots of its words are radically different. I compared them with the vocabularies of the Burmese, the various dialects of the Karen, the Kemee, the Singpu, and the Chinese, and they were indisputably different from them all. I next pushed my inquiries westward, and found that Tailang was not cognate with the languages of Northern India derived from Sanskrit and Hindee, nor with the cultivated tongues of Southern India and Ceylon, [such as] the Teluga, Tamil, Canarese, Malayalam, and Singalese. "There are, however, in Hindustan many wild tribes, like the Karens, who have no written language. They are supposed to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. These wild tribes go by several names, like the Karens, but like different Karen tribes, too, they are all of common origin, apparently the fragments of a single nation. The principal tribe among them is the Koles, a people among whom the German missionaries have had as much success as the American missionaries have had among the Karens. "I finally turned to the published vocabularies of these wild tribes, and was surprised to find that the Talaing language appeared to be of common origin with the languages of these wild mountaineers. This was a very interesting discovery, and I wrote an article on the sibject, which was printed in the fourth volume of the American Oriental Society. Nothing has occurred since to invalidate the results there reached, nor has any one proposed any other theory of their origins." "... When the aboriginal inhabitants of Hindustan were driven eastward by their conqerors, while many took to the mountains, it seems quite probable that others would take to the sea, and flee to the other side of the Bay of Bengal, where the Talaings are now found. The Hindu origin of the tribe is confirmed by the darker skin, for they are the blackest people of Burmah, and by their more Indo-European cast of countenance." Mason then theorizes that the place-name "Maulmain" is derived from the legend of Vishnu, as it means (in Mon) "One eye destroyed". A few other place-names are similarly discussed. We resume our quotation: "The connection of the Talaings with the Hindus is further seen from the ancient Pali or Sanskrit inscriptions that have been found in Malacca, not two hundred miles south of the Tenesserim provinces. I have shown that the character in which these inscriptions are written is the parent of the present Talaing alphabet on the one hand, and that it is derived from an old Hindu alphabet on the other, and had nothing to do with Ceylon, as has been ususally supposed. This is made clear by four lithographed plates accompanying my paper in the Journal of the American Oriental Society." On the next page of the same Chapter, after praising the Mon traditions of architecture and the decorative arts, Mason blandly comments that: "There was a small pagoda temple built in [the Talaing] style at Toungoo, when we first arrived, at at one end of the nave, where the altar would stand in a Christian church, there was a large alabaster or white marble image of Gaudama, with one of its hands broken off by some Goth of an English solider. This image we took with us to America, and left it at Hartford, Connecticut." Interesting that this American missionary would reproach the solider who damaged the statue as "a Goth", but sees no fault in himself for plundering it outright!

(2) http://www.kholun.net/2008/05/story-of-don-yang-kweh-ka-baw.html

he Pwo and the Sgaw tribes made their exodus from China and came down along the route of the Ghoh Loh river (Salween) valley and in sequence of stages moved upon and settled down on the eastern banks of the Ghoh Loh river, the place that is known today as Don Yang Kweh Ka Baw. This domain had once been a rallying center for various Karen tribes and clans. It was a big Karen city that was surrounded by five twons. Those surrounding towns were, 1. Kweh town, 2. Tah Kwee Town, 3. Leh Bweh town, 4. Ker Seh town and 5. the Thaw Koh Bwa Po town. (This town no longer exists today.) Many Karen kings ruled their line of dynasties that made these cities flourishing and famous.

There was once a time when the Indians and their half-caste offspring that called themselves as the Talaings had a king called Tee Tha of Thaton city who advised them to rebel against the Karen king. Consequently, the Talaings rose against the Karen king. The Karen king was caught unawares. This event resulted to a conquest by the Talaings, which caused Karens to flee and to disperse into the Shan state and Siam. Those Karen refugees were thus scattered far and wide in other lands such as the land of the Shan people and the kingdom of Siam. In their profound grief, they composed the following hta verses to express their deep yearning for their native city and land: -

http://web.soas.ac.uk/burma/SBBR4.2/4.2miscdocuments.pdf

Miscellaneous Notes on the Word “Talaing”

The following three notes relating to the origin of the Burmese word “Talaing” were published shortly before

World War I. It is hoped that they may be of some use to ongoing debates on “Mon” history.

M.W.C.

_________________

Origin of the Word “Talaing” (1912)79

M. O.

Phayre, in his History of Burma, page 28, says that the name “Talaing” is obviously connected with the word Telingana,

and accepts the theory that the Mun (or Mon) were originally settlers from southern India. There is a great

deal to be said in favour of this view, but many have been inclined to place faith in the story that the epithet “Talaing”

(said to mean “downtrodden”) was applied to the Peguans by Alompra after his conquest in 1757. That the

latter suggestion is utterly incorrect may easily be proved; we have only to turn to several well-known Burmese

works of much earlier date to see that the term as designating the people of the delta was known and used long

before Alompra.

The Yakhaing Minthami Egyin, written about 820 B. E. (1458), the Thakin Twe Egyin, composed in honour of a

princess born in 830 (1468), and the Mindaya Shwehti Nadaw-thwin, an ode submitted to Tabin Shwehti, who reigned

from 1530 to 1550,—all give the name “Talaing,” rhyming with other words having the same vowel-ending.

Among other works there are also Maung Kala’s histories, the Yazawingyi, the Yazawin-lat, and the

Yazawin-gyok, all written about 30 years before Alompra appeared, and in all of which the same name is found.

The Alaung-mindaya-gyi Ayedawbon, a detailed account of the great King’s exploits, does not mention the

alleged re-naming of the Mons.

JBRS 2 (1912)

Note on the Word “Talaing” (1912)80

Charles Duroiselle

The etymology on the word “Talaing” has given rise to much controversy.81 The derivation offered by Forchhammer,

82 followed later on by J. Gray, is absolutely inadmissable, not only because it is fundamentally wrong, not to

say absurd, but principally because it makes the word “Talaing” originate with Alompra in the 18th century. Now,

as M. O. rightly points out, the name was known to the Burmese before Alompra, and this alone would be sufficient

to refute Forchhammer’s view; but this word was also known to the Chinese early in the 17th century.83 Kou

Tsou-Yu, in his Tou che fang yu ki yao, speaks of the great Kou-la84 called also Pai-kou, that is Pegu, to the north of

which are the people of Tong-wou (Taungu) and to the south-east the people known as Tö-leng; these latter, we are

told, are a division of the Kou-las (that is Peguans=Talaings) and in 1610 A.D. they sided with the Siamese in an

attack on the Burmese. It remains to see whether Tö-leng was the indigenous tribal name, pronounced by the Bur-

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79 Original source: Journal of the Burma Research Society. M.W.C.

80 Original source: Journal of the Burma Research Society. M.W.C.

81 Cf. Hobson-Jobson, 889-90.

82 Notes on the Early History and Geography of British Burma, Part ii, p. 11-12, Government Press, Rangoon, 1884.

83 See Bulletin de l’École Français d’Extrême-Orient, Vol. IV, 1904, 292 and note 5.

84 On Kou-la cf. also Parker’s Burma, its Relations with China, 65f. He writes: Kulah and Kulat.

mese Talaing, or whether it was a Chinese pronunciation of “Talaing” itself; I incline to the latter assumption, and

in this case the word Talaing was known to the Burmese at least before the beginning of the 17th century. The derivation

of Phayre,85 which makes it come from Telinga=Kalinga, is no doubt the right one.

A Further Note on the Word Talaing (1913)86

Maung Mya

At page 246, Vol. II, Part II, of the Journal of this Society [Journal of the Burma Research Society], Mr. Charles Duroiselle

in his note on the word Talaing, referring to an inscription dated B. E. 469 = A. D. 1107, says that that word has

been in use long before it was thought to be, and thinks that it was probably in use among the Burmese in the time

of King Anawrata in the llth century A. D. In support of the above I am glad to be able to give below another inscription,

87 dated B. E. 444=A, D. 1082, wherein the same word “Talaing” occurs, thus taking us back a few decades

further and bringing us within a few years from the end of the reign of King Anawrata (A .D, 1044-1077).88

Translation

(1) (The year) in which the King Saw Lu built (this pagoda) is Sakkaraj 444,89 and the land which the King dedicated

to the pagoda

(2) is comprised of 70 (plots of) land at Sagyet, 30, at Chet, within the district of ....................

(3) totalling 100, and of one large plot, and one small plot, of paddy land in Tanlaing-in

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SBBR 4.2 (Autumn 2006)

85 History of Pegu in J. R. A. Society of Bengal Vol. XLII, Part I.

86 Original source: Journal of the Burma Research Society. M.W.C.

87 The inscription was found among those collected by King Bodawpaya, and placed originally near the Sin-gyo Shwe-ku Pagoda, but now

removed to the Patodawgyi Pagoda, Amarapura. The whole collection has now been transcribed into modern Burmese characters and

printed. It is expected that the volume will issue from the Press in a few month’s time.

88 This date was taken from the “Jātā-bôn Yazawin” which is considered to be more trustworthy than the Hman-nan (see para 44 at page 16 of

Mr. Taw Sein Ko’s report [i]n the Archaeological Survey of Burma for the year ending 31st March, 1911.

89 This date falls outside of that assigned by the Hmannan to the reign of King Saw Lu. According to it King Saw Lu reigned from B. E. 421-

426 (A. D. 1059-1064). But if we accept the date given in the “Jātā-bon-Yāzawin”, B. E. 439-446 (A. D. 1077-1084), the date in the inscription

fits in very well, and the construction of the pagoda took place two years before the death of King Saw Lu.

(4) of Mayingwè paddy land at Anauk-in-ngè, of one pè at Nyaung-she-gwè, at Tanlaing-in

(5) of 2 pès of land that has to be watered, and of one and a half pès of Mayin at Min-dè-in, (The land) dedicated by

Sithu Min Hla (to this pagoda) is, below Lôn Wun Kan (lake) of Mingyi Yon,

(6) 10 (plots of) paddy land. The land dedicated by Sithu Min Hla to the great monastery is 55 (plots of land) for

cultivating betel, totalling

(7) 510 Above..............is Khādibauk, and below are Kyauksauk and Myinmu. (The land) dedicated by (the monk)

Thingahti is

(8) below and above Tahnaung Kan (lake), 10, On the South................

_______

The word Talaing, occurs in lines 3 and 4 and is spelt Tanlaing, in the same way as in Mr. C. Duroiselle’s. inscription.

It is used here as an appellation or name of a certain lake, perhaps in commemoration of a certain event connected

with the Talaings. This fact. would probably take us right into the reign of King Anawrata, if perhaps not

earlier, for the event after which a certain place is called will occur some years before the name becomes popular.

The inscription records the dedication of land to a pagoda and a monastery by Kings Saw Lu and Sithu

Minhla90 and a Monk; therefore it is not contemporaneous with King Saw Lu. But there is no reason to doubt that

the name Tanlaing In has been kept intact without any attempt to obliterate the original that existed in the time of

King Saw Lu.

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90 There were two Kings with their names ending in Sithu: Alaungsithu, B. E. 473-529 (A. D, 1111-1167) and Narapatisithu, B. E. 535-572 (A. D.

1173-1210). It is not certain to which of them the name in the inscription refers, most probably Alaungsithu is meant.

The inscription was put up probably in the time of Alaungsithu, i.e., about 50 years after the reign of Saw Lu. This is borne out by

the archaic character of some of the words; for example, n\oZ (line 1) for `soZ (a pagoda), ImdpiX (line 2) for Imdp^X (District), oiXgdp^X (lines 3 and

4) for ogdp^X (Talaing), kÑ (lines 4 and 5) for ksX (pè=about 2 acres).

Minthuwun’s Centenary

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

Minthuwun is a well known name in Burma

He was a great poet and Burmese professor

He has a great number of followers in the nation

His poetry gives pleasure, poetics and patriotism.

I remember reciting his poems of Thabyenyo Kabyar

When I was in early teen in my native Monywa

It instilled in me love of poetry and Burmese literature

That increased as I grow older till I became a writer.

Thabyenyo poems gave me pleasure and purpose

It made me recite whenever I was in trough

Down with mishaps, malcontent and misery

It refreshed my resolve and resurrected me.

Young children love his poems by singing

Verses like “Ka Kazun Bin Ye Hmar Shwin”

Water Cress Grows Well in Water, it means

Children thus acquire love of poetry and singing

Valuing vegetables and usefulness of simple things

He thus instilled love of nature and natural surroundings.

He was an educational psychologist too

His children stories and fables are morally true

To the concept of honoring honesty and bravery

Promoting perseverance, selflessness and sobriety

Many matured through “Ko Khwe Ma Khwe” poetry

His other writings contributed much in uplifting morality.

(Saya Zaw Gyi and Saya Minthuwun, Two Khitsan Poets)

His writings on Burmese literature abound

Burmese literati and lecturers love them all along

He covered a lot of subjects and topics of the town

From orthography, history to linguistic grounds

Serious, not so serious and lightly touched forms

Minthuwun was an encyclopedic crown!

He was one of the “Khit San” literati

That emerged from the Rangoon University

He continued blossoming since 1930s

He became a master of “Khit San” poetry

He left precious purposeful poems for posterity

Without them, Burmese poetry would be in jeopardy.

Minthuwun also contributed translation in the country

He was one of the founders of the Burma Translation Society

And he headed Translation Department of Rangoon University

He had translated English classics into Burmese vocabulary

Shakespeare’s King Lear was his very last commission

He was awarded the National Literary Prize distinction.

I have the fortune of meeting him personally

He was modest, well mannered and meekly

He treated us as friends frankly and warmly

I felt so honored to be treated as such honestly

Burma should be proud of such a poet laureate

Actually he was more than that and really great

Let us join together to celebrate his 100th birthday

May he be remembered for ever in worthy ways!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

15.01.2009 (original)

Note: (1) Composed to celebrate the Centenary of

Minthuwun’s Birth on 10^th February 2009 ,

but a public ceremony was held on 10th March 2009

in Yangon.So I waited until now to upload the poem.

MMN 30.03.2009

(2) Kabyar = Poetry o Poem

(3) Khitsan = Time testing

(4) Thabyenyo = Eugenia Leaves, Burmese symbol of victory

My Benefactors, My Saviours!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

Looking back into seventy years of my life

I found several people saving me from strife

Some saving my life in the nick of time

Some paving my life for the bliss of sublime

I won't be what I’m today without them

I always feel grateful to their helping hands.

(Dr Maung Maung Nyo M.B., B.S. (Rangoon), Ph.D.(London)

Once I was swimming in the Chindwin River

I was eight or nine years old trying to be fitter

I was not an expert swimmer and drowned

My elder sister on the bank panicked and howled

A strong brown young man grasped my hair along

I was saved from drowning to live long till now

My sister always helps me whenever I’m near drowning

I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to her now that I’m grounding.

(My Elder Sister and Her Husband: L U Bo Kyin, R Daw Khin Yee)

I’m a studious student with scholastic sentiments

I was always in the top of the class since enrollment

But I used to waver whenever persuaded by faulty friends

I slipped from top positions in 5^th standard as being deviant

Playing frolicking and being truant from class with classmates

Saya U Soe Pe pinched my ear in the class for being half baked

I began correcting my behavior to better myself under his tutelage

That led me to my success to clinch 7^th standard scholarship accolade.

(My Sister's Family: L to R: Soe Min Oo, DawKhin Yee, Chaw Su,

U Bo Kyin, Myo Min Latt)

I studied seriously at the premedical class in Mandalay

It was highly competitive with scholars from near and away

But there were also temptations to be truant and seductive ways

Saya Khin Maung Nyo corrected my behaviour whenever I swayed

He taught, he tamed and he trained me to be an all round smart scholar

I always watched my step when I was going to leap to be spectacular

I therefore owe him a lot of gratitude for my sobering mood and manner

I thus became cautious and considerate in all decisions I made thereafter.

(Colonel Dr Ko Ko Gyi, M.B.,B.S.(Rgn), American Board Certified Internist,

American Board Certified Psychiatrist; Rector of IM 2, CO No. 1 BMH,

General Secretary of Burma Red Cross Society in His Days)

Meeting with Dr Tun Hla Pru paved my profitable way in life

It transformed me from a slumbering soldier to scholar overnight

Dr Ko Ko Gyi changed my life in such a fashion with might

These two people are my benefactors visible brightly in sight

I always pay homage to them when I pray to Buddha day and night

I think I owe a debt of gratitude for their sincere help that was right.

(Professor Ruth Bowden in the middle in India)

Of course the role of Colonel Hla Han could not also be forgotten

He was at the time Director of Medical Services commanding then

He was recruiting as many doctors as possible to join the Burma Army

Yet he let me go from the army to the medical college lost to academy

Besides he had to look for WHO scholarship for me to work for Ph.D.

Only foresight fortitude and vision enabled him to study for such degree

He took care of me during my study in England and afterward in Burma

He ignored military attaché to send me home for not spying on state scholars.

(Dr Maung Maung Nyo and Dr Nan Ommar)

Needless to say Professor Bowden was a great benefactor

She taught me the A to Z of research to be a Ph. D. scholar

Coupled with mature thinking right reasoning and correct behavior

What I’m and what I earn as an anatomist owe a gratitude to her

I’m blessed with her methods of systemic reasoning and clean living

My wife praised me for keeping clean even in the kitchen during cooking

Besides being determined in pursuit of justice and dedicated to work

I'm always a defender of truth, developer of justice and demonstrator of the heart.

(My Family: L to R: MMN, Yupar Nyo, NOM, Ei Sabai Nyo)

Last but not the least is one of my greatest benefactors

She looks after my health she takes care of my life and letters

She may not be as educated as I’m or as the great professors

None the less she knows what I read what I write and consider

She helps me in getting out so many literary works and books

She fends of my dangers she protects me from con men and crooks

(My Parents: Daw Aye Sein and U Hla Maung)

She saves whatever is savable from my earnings for good use and purpose

Without her wise efforts and vision we would be poor and have starved

Besides bearing and giving birth to two darling daughters our eye sights

I therefore hail her as one of the best if not the best benefactors of my life!

(Our Daughters at Graduation for Master of Computer Science Degree)

There are many other benefactors too

Some may be better, some equally true

But the aforementioned are salient few

They changed my life through and through

Some saved my breathing life away from death

Some saved me to change behaviour for success

Professor Maung Maung Nyo M.B., B.S.(Rangoon). Ph.D. (London) and

Dr Nan Ommar B.Sc. (Anatomy), M.B.,B.S.(Rangoon), M.Sc.(Anatomy)

Others still steered me from bad to good or better

There is no need to mention the debts of Anandangapa

Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, parents and teachers

I pay homage to them daily in my prayers for ever.

(The Great Shwe Dagon Pagoda)

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

29.03.2009 (original)

Note: Anandangapa = Five Great Benefactors for Boundless Benefits viz.

Buddha, Dharma (doctrine), Sangha (Monks), Parents and Teachers

The Chef’s Special

Dr Mung Maung Nyo

“Today we like to eat a new dish”

Our children are saying their wish

“OK, we’ll try our best,” we promised

So, mother Nan Ommar and I duly did.

(Pickled Mustard Leaves, Pork Ribs and Spices Mixed in a Bowl)

We went to a supermarket

We looked for a pork rib set

It was frozen and well kept

We bought two small packets.

I cut the ribs into 3 or 4 a piece

Treat them in a tin tray to thaw

While I cut ginger and onion neat

I sliced garlic into thin foils to fall.

(Old Beef Curry Cooked in Burmese Style)

Nan gave me two packets of mustard leaves

Pickled sour like an old bag of it kept in freeze

I took leaves out and cut them into small sheaves

I left the stalks and stems to be used later apiece.

(Pork Rib, Mustard Leaves Cooked with Spices)

I sauté d ginger, onion and garlic just brown

Then I added rib pieces one by one in rounds

I fried or rather flied them one by one up and down

I smelled the smell of pork mixed with spices ground.

(Old Potato Curry Cooked in Burmese Style)

I then sprinkled saffron powder and salt to taste

Adding tomato without seed and soy sauce in haste

A cup of water mixed all contents with curry paste

I poured some more to cover it and left it in blaze.

(Pork Rib, Pickled Mustard Leaves and Spices Ready for Eating)

When pork smell was strong and broth was brewing

I took out a rib piece and punctured it with fork teeth

If it entered the meat easily to signal ready for eating

I added a cup of water and cut pieces of mustard leaves

Coupling with some more ginger and pepper seedlings

Coriander leaves made it fresh and fragrant indeed.

(Old Burmese Pea Soup, Kalapea Hin or Dish)

It was now ready for eating

Nan called her daughters for feasting

She has been busy cooking rice and beans

She also warmed frozen food in oven clean

Roasted and brewed beef with egg plant cuisine

The table was set and all were ready for eating.

(Yupar Nyo Posing With Sculpture in a Sydney Museum)

No need to say they ate like ravens

They did not show their faces often

They looked into their plates and dishes

Sounds of eating and splashing spoons mixed

“Mustard pork dish is spicy sour sweet and best”

They have said it and I was blessed as a chef!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

28.03.2009 (original)

My Mentor: Mighty Manly and Magnificent

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

I was fortunate to have met him

While I was young and yearning

For further study in medicine

He offered me to go learning

Basic science of human anatomy

I must strive to get that coveted Ph.D.

(Institute of Medicine 2 Campus, Mingaladon, Rangoon)

Thus I was transferred from the army

To Institute of Medicine 2 to study

Anatomy, histology, embryology and all the necessities

The basis of postgraduate work in any branch of anatomy

As well as research methodology and use of the library

Professor H. Zaw Tun also taught me methods in laboratory.

(Institute of Medicine 2 Premedical Building, Mngaladon)

He treated me neither as a junior officer

Nor as his inferior learner but as a brother

Though he was a major, dean and then a rector

A qualified physician psychiatrist commander

I was just a captain, an ordinary medical officer

I was also 12 years younger and a bumbling bachelor.

(Institute of Medicine 2 Mingaladon, Anatomy Department, 1970)

He tried to let me stay in the officer mess

Where he and senior officers slept and rested

He arranged for my meals and messing

He provided books batman bed and bathing

He looked after my health and human side too

Thus I was in the care of most competent Guru!

(First Graduating Class of Institute of Medicine2, Rangoon With Rectors:

Sitting 5th from Left Colonel Ko Ko Gyi, 5th from Right Professor U E)

I studied without any hindrance

My time has been well spent

He made contact with WHO and London University

I had a most comfortable period of further study

In central London with the best available facilities

No wonder in due course I got the Ph.D.

(First State Scholar of IM2 and of the Burma Army to

Get a Ph.D. from London: Dr Maung Maung Nyo)

He was transferred back to the army as essential

To command a health regiment and a base hospital

He served sincerely to shine in both categories

People praised his proficiency and personality

I for one missed him to be still in the academy

I tried to succeed personally to fulfill his prophecy

I would be an outstanding academician in the country.

(Logo of Institute of Medicine 2, Rangoon)

I did not fail him in my work

I succeeded in improving it much

With modern methods of teaching

Spreading the science of medical education

Besides taking part in postgraduate teaching

My B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses are succeeding.

(University of Medicine 2 Metamorphosed from IM 2 , Now Situated in

North Okkalappa Township, Yangon)

I have also done a lot of research projects

Their results have been duly read

He used to ask how I trained the rest

I told him I have finished many projects

Made the PG and special students read at conferences

He was pleased that I have been following his guidance.

(Unversity of Medicine 2 Rangoon New Campus at North Okkalappa)

After his service in the Burma Army

He served as the General Secretary

Of the almost defunct Burma Red Cross Society

Reactivating and revitalizing it after the 1988 Calamity

He was the head heart and limbs of the Society

It got international recognition and felicity.

More than forty years have passed since we met

He had been retired and rested at home in fact

With his pretty and polite wife plying on his side

He deserves that and is indeed enjoying his long life;

(Former Rectors of Institute of Medicine 2, Mingaladon: L to R:)

Dr Ko Ko Gyi, Prof. U E, Dr Khin Maung Nyein, Prof. Tin Aung Swe)

I always remember him smiling and sweet in my sight

He is retired colonel Dr Ko Ko Gyi a beacon of light

He is my mentor, friend and philosopher in my life

May he live long for a hundred years in good plight!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

27.03.2009 (original)