The Meeting Between Shin Arahan and King Anawrahta, the Legends of the Libertines and the “Flower-Sending” Custom ( Article )
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By Hsu (NP News) - Nov 27
In my view, history becomes what it is by merging recorded facts with legend. In addition, old histories are often cut, modified, and pieced together to create new historical narratives. Consider the operatic episodes in the chronicles—stories about t&nf;BuD; or “libertines” and the so-called flower-sending custom, and the dramatic meeting between King Anawrahta and Shin Arahan. Shin Arahan and King Anawrahta are historical figures. But their meeting, first introduced in U Kala’s chronicle, and the stories about libertines and the flower-sending custom, appear to be historical legends created by rearranging and adapting older narratives.
To speak frankly, U Kala—within the Great Chronicle—fabricated episodes involving immoral libertines and the flower-sending custom, portraying them as if they were real historical events from the Pagan era. These inventions subtly but deeply undermined essential elements of Myanmar culture: the Theravada Buddhist faith and the moral and honorable conduct of Myanmar society.
U Kala’s “libertines and flower-sending custom in Pagan” is entirely fiction. The summary of this story is as follows:
1. Before King Anawrahta, there was no Buddhism in Pagan, and sixty thousand libertines ruled over the city with immoral behavior.
2. From the king down to commoners, people were required to send their sons and daughters for one night to these libertines before allowing them to marry.
3. Because Buddhism had not yet flourished in Pagan, Shin Arahan came to Pagan. While meditating in a forest, he was discovered by a hunter, who brought him to the palace.
4. When he arrived, King Anawrahta offered him an appropriate seat, upon which Shin Arahan sat on the royal throne. When the king asked about his lineage, he replied, “I am a son of the Buddha.” When the king requested a sermon, Shin Arahan preached the Appamada discourse—the same sermon taught by the novice Nigrodha to Emperor Ashoka. From that day forward, Anawrahta developed deep faith in Buddhism. It is said he converted the sixty thousand libertines and made them change their robes.
U Kala consulted more than a dozen texts when compiling the Great Chronicle, including Buddhist scriptures, the Sri Lankan Mahavamsa, the Jambudipa texts, and the Thaton Chronicle. His story about Shin Arahan meeting King Anawrahta appears to be created by blending:
• Ashoka’s meeting with the novice Nigrodha in the Mahavamsa,
• Anawrahta’s encounter with the young novice fleeing from Thaton in the Thaton Chronicle, and
• the account of Shin Arahan’s missionary activities in the Jambudipa text.
Thus, this is a historical legend.
The main scenario of this legend attempts to depict King Anawrahta’s great religious service—his role as a major supporter of the Buddha’s religion. Yet, the invented themes of a Pagan city without Buddhism, ruled by libertines, and practicing the flower-sending custom distort historical reality by turning non-existent events into “history.”
The Jambudipa text records the genuine religious activity of King Anawrahta and Shin Arahan as follows:
“In the 600th year after the Buddha’s passing, at a place called Arimaddana in Tampadipa, King Anawrahta, together with the venerable Arahant, promoted the prosperity of the Three Jewels.”
In the Mahavamsa (3rd century), it is written that:
“King Ashoka, after recovering from illness, adhered to wrong beliefs for three years until he met the novice Nigrodha, heard the Appamada sermon, embraced Buddhism, dismissed sixty thousand heretical teachers, and supported sixty thousand Buddhist monks.”
The Thaton Chronicle states: “King Manuha’s power declined… the monastic community was dispersed… At that time a novice arrived in Pagan territory. He was found by a hunter who brought him to King Anuruddha (Anawrahta). Although the king revered the Three Jewels, he had not yet heard the true monastic teachings and lived among shameless monks. When the young novice arrived and preached the true teachings…”
Therefore, both the Thaton Chronicle and U Kala’s Chronicle draw from the Ashoka–Nigrodha model. The Thaton Chronicle replaces Ashoka with Anawrahta and Nigrodha with a young novice from Thaton. U Kala further adapts these by replacing the young novice with Shin Arahan, and reshaping the forest encounter to match earlier motifs.
Thus:
Mahavamsa → Ashoka + Nigrodha → Thaton Chronicle → Anawrahta + Thaton novice → U Kala’s Chronicle → Anawrahta + Shin Arahan.
Earlier texts like the Jambudipa do not mention any of these dramatic details; U Kala appears to have borrowed and reshaped the narratives.
The “Children Sent for One Night” Phrase and Misinterpretations
U Kala wrote that “sons and daughters” had to be sent for one night to the libertines before marriage. Today, this phrasing is interpreted as if only virgin girls were sent to engage in sexual intercourse and lose their virginity. If so, why were sons also included? This is a glaring inconsistency.
Dr. Maung Htin Aung (Ma-Bell-Bot), a scholar of Pali and Khmer customs, noted that this phrase caused interpretive difficulties. He wrote that the custom resembles ancient Khmer (Cambodian) traditions, where virgin boys and girls were sent to a Buddhist (or possibly Hindu) monk before marriage—not for sexual activity, but as part of a religious ritual.
He referenced the work of French scholar Paul Pelliot, citing the 13th-century Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan’s record Zhen-la-feng-tu-ji, which describes Khmer customs. In 13th-century Cambodia, the flower-sending ritual was performed with official recognition. A virgin girl’s “flower” was symbolically removed by a monk using only a finger, with the blood placed in a cup of liquor. Relatives would mark their foreheads with the blood-tinged liquor.
A 15th-century Chinese record Ying-ya-sheng-lan by Ma Huan notes that in the Shan region of Thailand, a similar pre-marital flower-sending ritual existed:
A monk would take the virgin blood (or symbolically perform the deflowering), mark the groom’s forehead, and only then could the marriage proceed. After three days, a festive ceremony followed.
A 16th-century Chinese encyclopedic text San-ch’ao-tu-hui also describes Khmer rituals in which a nine-year-old girl received ceremonial chants from a monk and underwent a symbolic flower-sending ritual involving a finger—not sexual intercourse.
Dr. Maung Htin Aung did not draw final conclusions, but if one compares U Kala’s 18th-century chronicle with these earlier Chinese accounts, one can infer that U Kala transplanted Khmer and Thai/Yodaya customs into Pagan history separated by 700 years. Thus the libertines and flower-sending events could not have been eyewitness history. Their similarity to Khmer/Yodaya practices suggests they were imported motifs inserted into Pagan-era stories.
In short, U Kala reshaped the titthiya (heretical teachers) in the Mahavamsa into “libertines” of Pagan, and—using the Ashoka-Nigrodha model—constructed a more dramatic narrative involving Shin Arahan and the supposed flower-sending custom. The embellishment made King Anawrahta’s Buddhist reforms appear even more heroic by contrasting them with fabricated immoral practices.
The myth of libertines and flower-sending in Pagan is therefore a literary invention, influenced significantly by Southeast Asian customs outside Myanmar.
Reference to:Living Myanmar Media