"The custom
of Couvade is confirmed for the Lao of Southern China by the following
text of the Yi wu chi of Fang Ts'ien-li, dating at least from the
time of the T'ang dynasty: 'When a Lao woman of Southern China has a
child, she goes out at once. The husband goes to bed exhausted, like a
woman giving suck. If he does not take care, he becomes ill. The woman has
no harm.'"
L., pp. 91-95.
Under the title of The Couvade or "Hatching," John Cain writes from
Dumagudem, 31st March, 1874, to the Indian Antiquary, May, 1874, p.
151:
"In the districts in South India in which Telugu is spoken, there is a
wandering tribe of people called the Erukalavandlu. They generally pitch
their huts, for the time being, just outside a town or village. Their
chief occupations are fortune-telling, rearing pigs, and making mats.
Those in this part of the Telugu country observe the custom mentioned in
Max Mueller's Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II., pp. 277-284.
Directly the woman feels the birth-pangs, she informs her husband, who
immediately takes some of her clothes, puts them on, places on his
forehead the mark which the women usually place on theirs, retires into a
dark room where is only a very dim lamp, and lies down on the bed,
covering himself up with a long cloth. When the child is born, it is
washed and placed on the cot beside the father. Assafoetida,
jaggery, and other articles are then given, not to the mother, but
to the father. During the days of ceremonial uncleanness the man is
treated as the other Hindus treat their women on such occasions. He is not
allowed to leave his bed, but has everything needful brought to him."
Mr. John Cain adds (l.c., April, 1879, p. 106): "The women are called
'hens' by their husbands, and the male and female children 'cock children'
and 'hen children' respectively."
LI., p. 99 n. "M. Garnier informs me that Mien Kwe or Mien Tisong is
the name always given in Yun Nan to that kingdom."
Mien Tisong is surely faulty, and must likely be corrected in Mien
Chung, proved especially at the Ming Period. (PELLIOT, Bul. Ecole franc.
Ext. Orient, IV., July-Sept, 1904, p. 772.)
LI., LII., pp. 98 seq.
WAR AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN.
The late Edouard HUBER of Hanoi, writing from Burmese sources, throws new
light on this subject: "In the middle of the thirteenth century, the
Burmese kingdom included Upper and Lower Burma, Arakan and Tenasserim;
besides the Court of Pagan was paramount over several feudatory Shan
states, until the valleys of the Yunnanese affluents of the Irawadi to the
N.E., and until Zimme at the least to the E. Narasihapati, the last king
of Pagan who reigned over the whole of this territory, had already to
fight the Talaings of the Delta and the governor of Arakan who wished to
be independent, when, in 1271, he refused to receive Kublai's ambassadors
who had come to call upon him to recognize himself as a vassal of China.
The first armed conflict took place during the spring of 1277 in the Nam
Ti valley; it is the battle of Nga-caung-khyam of the Burmese Chronicles,
related by Marco Polo, who, by mistake, ascribes to Nasr ed-Din the merit
of this first Chinese victory. During the winter of 1277-78, a second
Chinese expedition with Nasr ed-Din at its head ended with the capture of
Kaung sin, the Burmese stronghold commanding the defile of Bhamo. The
Pagan Yazawin is the only Burmese Chronicle giving exactly the spot of
this second encounter. During these two expeditions, the invaders had not
succeeded in breaking through the thick veil of numerous small thai
principalities which still stand to-day between Yun Nan and Burma proper.
It was only in 1283 that the final crush took place, when a third
expedition, whose chief was Siang-wu-ta-eul (Singtaur), retook the fort of
Kaung sin and penetrated more into the south in the Irawadi Valley, but
without reaching Pagan. King Narasihapati evacuated Pagan before the
impending advancing Chinese forces and fled to the Delta. In 1285 parleys
for the establishment of a Chinese Protectorship were begun; but in the
following year, King Narasihapati was poisoned at Prome by his own son
Sihasura. In 1287, a fourth Chinese expedition, with Prince Ye-sin Timur
at its head, reached at last Pagan, having suffered considerable
losses.... A fifth and last Chinese expedition took place during the
autumn of 1300 when the Chinese army went down the Irawadi Valley and
besieged Myin-Saing during the winter of 1300-1301. The Mongol officers of
the staff having been bribed the siege was raised." (Bul. Ecole
Extreme-Orient, Oct.-Dec., 1909, pp. 679-680; cf. also p. 651 n.)
Huber, p. 666 n., places the battle-field of Vochan in the Nam Ti
Valley; the Burmese never reached the plain of Yung Ch'ang.
LII., p. 106 n.
BURMA.
We shall resume from Chinese sources the history of the relations between
Burma and China:
1271. Embassy of Kublai to Mien asking for allegiance.
1273. New embassy of Kublai.
1275. Information supplied by A-kuo, chief of Zardandan.
1277. First Chinese Expedition against Mien - Battle of Nga-caung-khyam won
by Hu Tu.
1277. Second Chinese Expedition led by Nacr ed-Din.
1283. Third Chinese Expedition led by Prince Singtaur.
1287. Fourth Chinese Expedition led by Yisun Timur; capture of Pagan.
1300-1301. Fifth Chinese Expedition; siege of Myin-saing.
Cf. E. HUBER, Bul. Ecole franc. Ext. Orient, Oct.-Dec., 1909, pp.
633-680. - VISDELOU, Rev. Ext. Orient, II., pp.
