Study of A Rakhine Manuscript Deposited in the British Library

This paper deals with the study of a manuscript on Rakhine history which is deposited today in Oriental and India Office Collection of the British Library as the accession number OR 3465 A. The External Criticism of this manuscript shows that it is a manuscript, which was commissioned Nga Mi to compile by Sir Arthur P. Phayre by making references of the existing Rakhine chronicles in the early colonial period, as Phayre wanted a historical account with an outline of the royal dynasties. The Internal Criticism reveals that the compiler Nga Mi did not invent the writing of his own but drawn the sources from various Rakhine chronicles in compiling his work. And Sir Arthur Phayre who used this Nga Mi Chronicle or OR 3465 A as the chief source in writing Rakhine history. He did not analyse the mythical, supernatural and improbable elements in Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin. Phayre did not problematicize any historical issue from Nga Mi Chronicle. One of the outstanding examples of the legend of King Min Saw Mon is discussed in this paper. As Arthur Phayre took this account from Nga Mi Chronicle and framed the story into a convincing narrative in his "History of Burma", the scholars after Phayre have continued to present the legend as a historical fact.