- Saya San and the Burmese Rebellion - (Saya San on his way to British gallow)
He was the leader of the "ဆရာစံ Rebellion" of 1930-1932 in Burma. Date of birth is Oct 24,1876 and native town is Shwe Bo. He was a former monk, astrologer before the rebellion. His original name was Yar Kyaw. His parents were U Kyaye and Daw Hpet. He was executed on November 28, 1931(age 55) at Tharrawady.
He met and married Ma Kay. He had two children, Ko Po Thin & Ma Sein. Saya San joined the extreme nationalist faction of the General Council of Burmese Associations led by U Soe Thein.He organized his followers into the “Galon Army"( Thupannaka Galon Raja).
On the night of December 22/23 the first outbreak occurred in the Tharrawaddy district; the revolt soon spread to other Irrawaddy delta districts. The Galon army rebels, like the Boxers of China, carried charms and tattoos to make themselves invulnerable to British bullets. Armed only with swords and spears, Saya San’s rebels were no match for British troops with machine guns.
As the revolt collapsed, Saya San fled to the Shan Plateau in the east. On Aug. 2, 1931, however, he was captured at Hokho and brought back to Tharrawaddy to be tried by a special tribunal. Despite the efforts of his lawyer, Ba Maw, he was sentenced to death in March 1931 and was hanged at Tharrawaddy jail. The revolt was crushed, but more than 10,000 peasants were killed in the process.
Although Saya San’s revolt was basically political (it was the last genuine attempt to restore the Burmese monarchy) and possessed strong religious characteristics, its causes were basically economic. The peasants of southern Burma had been dispossessed by Indian moneylenders, were burdened with heavy taxes, and were left penniless when the price of rice dropped in an economic depression. Widespread support for Saya San betrayed the precarious and unpopular position of British rule in Burma.
Photo - Hla Oo's Blog
Source -
Comments
Post a Comment