Abstract
A rebellion led by a pongyi (Buddhist monk) named U Thuriya, who lived in a monastery at Mayinkaing near Zigon, broke out in July 1888 in the Tharrawaddy district. The monk's adherents, about 1,700 in all, were villagers from the northern part of this district, who were discontented with heavy land, capitation and punitive police taxation. The rebels were tattooed with four Burmese letters that meant invulnerable, and rallied round the Myingun Prince as their leader. From investigations of 14 other anti-colonial uprisings that took place in the late 19th century in Lower Burma, it appears that Myingun was merely a symbol. What is important about this and several other uprisings is that pongyis were the leaders and that tattooing, a traditional practice legitimized by Buddhism, was the means by which they obtained their followers. These two factors and the motive behind the rebellion can thus be understood in the context of fork Buddhism. The name of the Myingun Prince was used and the restoration of the Burmese Empire was proclaimed because leaders would not otherwise have been able to impose their concept of the ideal society on the people.
