Hla Thein
o The strange, unbelievable and
interesting story of Bedayi or Ma Beda as she is popularly known, is much appreciated
by Myanmar people. Her name is a household word in Myanmar and her account is
wrapped up in the mists of antiquity. Her origin is associated with the
legendary dynasty of Tagaung. The fable encompasses six personages. They are
the king of Tagaung Thado Maharaja, the Crown Prince Khepaduta, the Ogress
Sandamukhi, the twin Princes Mahath-ambawa and Sulathamhawa and Princess
Bedayi. The legend starts at Tagaung and ends at Srikshetra (ThaYekhittaya).
Tradition has it that Tagaung or Thinttwe (oif;wGJ) as it is sometimes called, is the cradle of Myanmar
civilization. The Shans call it Tar Kaung, signifying it as a trading port (pnfulwkdU). According to U Kala’s
Mahayazawingyi (U Kala’s Chronicle) the town was already in existence
during the time of Gautama Buddha, thousands of years ago.
o Myanmar chronicles stated that Thado
Maharaja of the Cakya clan ascended the Tagaung throne in the year 20 of the
Buddhist Era. During his reign, about 40 B E
a wild boar with a height of 18 feet was said to have wrought havoc in
his kingdom. The King commanded his brother- in-law, the Queen’s brother
Khepaduta to suppress this menace. Because of his immense power and glory the
boar dared not face the Prince. It retreated towards the Shan States and the
place it entered the hills was known as Wetwin (0uf0if). The story has it that because of its vast size the water did
not reach the boar’s belly when it crossed the Ayeyarwady. The place has since
been called Wetmasut (0ufrpGwf) meaning that the belly of the boar
was not soaked. Finally at an island near Thayekhittaya Khepaduta killed the
boar. The year was 40 B E. The place came to be called Wethtokyun (0ufxkd;uRef;) meaning the island where the boar
was speared.
o When the task was completed remorse
overcame Khepaduta. He no longer wished to return to the capital and resume his
mundane duties. He wished to devote himself towards a spiritual realization. He
became a Rikshi at Wethtokyun. His religious devotion was such that, within a
brief period he attained Jhana and other transcendental powers.
o The story has it that a certain
thirsty doe near the Rikshi’s hermitage regularly came and drank the hermit’s
urine which was mixed with seminal fluids. The animal conceived and gave birth
to a human girl. The cry of the infant startled the doe. It fled and never
returned to the place anymore. Fortunately, the Rikshi with the aid of his
miraculous powers produced milk from his middle and forefingers to feed the
baby girl. The abandoned child was thus reared and nurtured by the Rikshi. He
called her Bedayi.
o When the girl came of age the Rikshi
reasoned that her presence in his hermitage was improper. To keep her away from the hermitage during
the day he purposely made her fetch water from the Ayeyarwady with a dried up
unperforated gourd. The water drops from the gourd took a long time to fill her
bamboo water container. In fact it took her a whole day and Ma Beda only came
back from the river at nightfall.
o At the royal court in Tagaung Queen Keinnara Devi,
consort of Thado Maharaja gave birth to twin blind princes in 40 B E. They were
the future Mahathambawa and Sulathambawa. The extremely embarrassed monarch
commanded the princes to be put to death at once. The Queen ignored the order
and hid them in safety. Again the king ordered for their execution when he
learnt of this concealment in 59 B E. The Queen had to give way this time. She
placed them on a commodious raft loaded with provisions made to keep, and floated
them down the Ayeyarwady. During their riverine journey the princes were
miraculously cured of their blindness by the Ogress Sandamukhi. When their raft
reached Einsapyin the princes moored their craft there and continued to survey
the surrounding terrain on foot. They soon observed Bedayi laboriously fetching
water at the riverbank.
o The Princes sympathized with
Bedayi’s sad plight. They queried why her gourd was not cut and perforated. To facilitate
the water intake they cut the upper part of the gourd with their four-edged
dagger called thanlyet (oHvsuf).
Some authorities believed that the Myanmar idiom (Al;vkH;em;rxGif;) (the gourd with the edge
unperforated) was associated with this incident. Translated into Myanmar the
idiom connotes an incoherent or vague expression. With the gourd’s upper part cut and the seeds emptied Bedayi
could quite easily and quickly fill her bamboo water container. She returned
earlier than usual on that day and this surprised the Rikshi very much. After
hearing her story the Rikshi requested the two princes to come to his
hermitage. He then found out that the princes were no other than his very own
nephews. Amidst much merriment and rejoicing the Rikshi married the elder
Mahathambawa with Bedayi in 60 B E. With a royal prince in its midst the
locality felt no hesitation to hail Mahathambawa as their King. He reigned for
seven years and was succeeded by Sulathambawa who took Bedayi as his queen as well. In 101 B E Duttabaung, the son of
Mahathambawa and Bedayi founded
Srikshetra with the help of Gavampati, Rikshi, Naga, Garuda,Candi and
Parameswar.
o When portraying Bedayi or Ma Beda
one should not leave out the famous Beda song, which was sung in the length and
breadth of colonial Myanmar. One drum ensemble (hsaing waing) player of those
days, Maung Galay came to be called Sein Beda after his amazing melodic
instrumental rendition of this Beda song, which goes as follows.
aA'g?aA'g
eifhAl;ukd b,folcsJUw,f
ajym[Jh aA'g?raA'g/
taotcsm aA'gr&,fu
ae&mcsygvkdU rajymEkdif
jrwfq&m atmfumaigufw,f?
acgif;azsmufygvkdU
aA'grSKdif? aA'grSKdif/
A rough rendering into English might
read as:
Tell me Beda, Ma Beda
Who diffused and distended your
gourd?
Speak up Beda, Speak up
A definite reply she couldn’t comply
Her reverend teacher chided and
reviled
The dejected Beda hid her head
And depression set in by and by.
o Like the legendary Bedayi the
account of Padumavati in the Mahavastu also involves a doe which became
pregnant after it had drnak the urine of the seer Mandavya which contained
seminal fluids as well. Like the doe, which gave birth to Bedayi this animal
also gave birth to a human baby girl. Contrary to the Bedayi legend this doe
showed no fright at her human offspring. In fact it showered true motherly love.
Jointly the seer and the animal lovingly reared and nurtured the infant baby.
The account stated that because of her previous good karma lotuses sprang up
wherever the girl “put her feet.” Mandavya therefore named her Padumavati,
which means the owner of the sacred Padomma lotus. When she came of age
Padumavti, in one of her water fetching rounds met King Brahmadatta who came to
the Himalayas for a hunting trip. Mandavya married the two of them and twin
boys were born eventually. The Padumavati account in the Mahavastu
concluded as follows.
o The Exalted One said, “Verily,
monks, the seer Mandavya was not somebody else. I was then the seer Mandavya.
o Nor
monks, was Queen Padumavati somebody else.Yasodhara here was Queen
Padumavati.
Nor monks, was King Brahmadatta
somebody else.
o
King Suddhonna
here was at that time Brahmadatta ......