Draft:Paw Oo
Household official in the court of King Bodawpaya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
U Paw Oo (Burmese: ဦးပေါ်ဦး; born 1760) was a Burmese official during the reign of Bo-daw-payah of Kone-baung dynasty. He was originally a household servant of the Prince of Badon according to traditional accounts. Popular literature portrays him as an extremely witty and comedic character in the Burmese court. Due to this misconception, he is nicknamed as the Court Jester Official (ပျော်တော်ဆက်). Modern historical research, however, identifies him as a rural chief or official rather than a high minister or the illustrious figure sometimes described in popular narratives.
U Paw Oo | |
|---|---|
| ဦးပေါ်ဦး | |
 Paw Oo amuses the King | |
| Born | March 2, 1760 Tant Si (now Tazay), Ye U District, Myanmar |
| Occupations | Constable or magistrate (historical sources), Minister (folklore) |
| Known for | Appearing in Burmese comedy literature and folklore |
Historical attestations and portrayals
U Paw Oo appears in a number of Burmese-language works and popular narratives dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. Later authors and compilers—both popular and scholarly—have retold episodes of his life, sometimes embellishing his role in the royal household and court culture. Several Burmese biographical sketches and local histories popularised an image of U Paw Oo as a humorous, larger-than-life courtier.[citation needed]
Historicity and scholarly assessment
While popular accounts have sometimes portrayed U Paw Oo as a powerful courtier or minister, historical research by modern scholars (notably Tin Naing Toe and others) has challenged these emphatic portrayals. Surviving archival and chronicle evidence indicates that U Paw Oo served as a rural constable or magistrate (မြေတိုင်, lit. 'Land Post'; often confused as land surveyor) rather than as a high-ranking minister.[citation needed] Historians caution that literary embellishment and the transmission of oral folklore have contributed to later confusions about his social status.
Biography
Origins and family
According to traditional sources, Paw Oo was born in Tant Si village (today Tazay), Ye Oo District, to U San Khaing and Daw Poe Zi. He is said to have belonged to the lineage of village chiefs. His father was the Tant Si village chief's sonand his mother descended from the chief of Shwe Lin Si (Pakokku Township) who later settled at Tant Si due to a village coup.
Siblings
Some vernacular sources name a brother, U Tok Gyi, but provide no further details.[citation needed] A contemporary compilation of monastic records (the List of Sasotaw Sanghas, compiled by Min Hla Thiri Thiha Thu, 1851) records a sister, Daw Ni, who married U Lun Pao and later entered the nunhood in 1798; these entries are preserved in monastic biographical materials and suggest familial links to local clergy.[citation needed]
Early life and monastic education
Traditional accounts hold that U Paw Oo was ordained as a novice and later a monk at Shwebo, where he studied Pali scriptures. These sources relate that he received three years of monastic training before entering royal service; such biographical sketches appear in later vernacular biographies and poetic lives rather than in contemporary administrative records, so their historicity is treated with caution by modern scholars.[citation needed]
Career
Contemporary and near-contemporary sources identify U Paw Oo as attached to the royal household under Prince Maung Waing. The scholarly consensus is that he worked as a rural or country constable (မြေတိုင်; also translated as "land chief"). He seems to have gained the position due to his convenient lineage. He is later promoted to the status of country magistrate (မြေတိုင်အမတ်). Vernacular sources claim several lofty epithets for U Paw Oo, but a review of Bodawpaya's published orders and lists of officeholders does not confirm his appointment to the high ministerial title sometimes ascribed to him in later literature. Instead, contemporary documentation and modern scholarship identify him with local land-administration duties.
Poetic apology incident
One well-attested anecdote in later sources relates that U Paw Oo sharply criticised a royal expenditure order concerning the purchase of emeralds; the king, displeased, temporarily stripped him of office and sent him to Sennwi as a prisoner. While in exile U Paw Oo composed a series of yadu that were sent to the king; on reading the final stanza the king is said to have forgiven and recalled him. This episode is widely retold in Burmese biographical collections and is commonly cited as evidence of his poetic skill and political rehabilitation, but primary documentation outside vernacular narratives is limited. The story also has parallels in the story of Ananta-Thinjan and Narapatisithu.
Birth date and calendrical notes
Traditional biographical sketches give the date of birth in the Burmese calendar as the full-moon day of Tabaung 1121 ME. Conversion of Burmese lunar dates to Gregorian equivalents has produced differing day-of-week assignments in secondary sources: scholarly calibrations place the date commonly at 2 March 1760 (or nearby), but published reckonings vary due to historical calendrical discrepancies. Note that different local chronologies and horoscope sources provide slightly different readings of the exact day; readers should consult the primary chronologies and modern calendrical studies for precise conversion details.[citation needed]
Legacy in literature
Collections of U Paw Oo's poems and sayings became popular during the colonial period. However, most of his supposed sayings are probably fictional and he was used as a stock character for Burmese writers and commoners to promote their own traditional humor. Several 20th-century compilers and editors published anthologies and commentaries on these sayings, including editions by U Aung, Pitaka Sayar Myaing, Sathaw Pae Sayar Thein and U Kyaw Htun; these editions contributed to his reputation as a witty poet and court figure in vernacular literary history.[citation needed]