Abhiyaza

Abhiyaza (Burmese: အဘိရာဇာ [ʔəbi̯jəzà]; d. 825 BCE) was the legendary founder of the Kingdom of Tagaung, and that of Burmese monarchy, according to the 19th century chronicle Hmannan Yazawin. He reportedly belonged to the same Sakya clan of the Buddha. However, prior Burmese chronicles down to the 18th century trace the origin of the monarchy to another legendary figure Pyusawhti, a descendant of a solar spirit and a dragon princess. Scholars view the Abhiyaza story as an attempt by the chroniclers of Hmannan to move away from then prevailing pre-Buddhist origin narrative of the monarchy.

Legend

According to Hmannan, the origins of the Burmese monarchy trace back to the 9th century BCE India, more than three centuries before the Buddha was born. Abhiyaza (Abhiraja) was a prince of an ancient kingdom of Kosala (ကောသလ) in present-day northern India. He belonged to the Sakya clan (သကျ သာကီဝင် မင်းမျိုး)—the clan of the Buddha—and descended from the first Buddhist king Maha Sammata (မဟာ သမ္မတ) who reigned ages ago. (In Buddhist tradition, Gautama Buddha was only the latest in a line of 28 Buddhas.) Indeed, Prince Abhiyaza was lord of the Kapilavastu (ကပိလဝတ်) region of Kosala—the very birthplace of the historical Buddha three centuries later.