Religious texts inscribed
onto Myanmar's famous kammawas (lacquered scriptures) and
parabaiks (folding manuscripts) were the first literature as
such, and began appearing in the 12th century. Until the
1800s, the only other works of literature available were
royal genealogies, poetry and law texts. A Burmese version
of the Indian epic Ramayana - called Yama Thagyin or Yama
Yangon in Burmese - was first written in 1775 by poet U Aung
Phyo. The first printed books in the country were produced
by missionaries; the American Baptist Mission was
responsible for virtually all publishing until the late 19th
century, when the first Burmese-owned press began printion a
Burmese-language newspaper.
Today the Burmese are great readers, as you'll realise from
the piles of books in the street at every night market.
Because of the heavy restrictions placed on verbal
expression by the military government, topics are greatly
circumscribed. Of the 3660 books published in Myanmar in
1993 (the last year for which such statistics are
available), 1171 had to do with arts and culture, 713
pertained to religion and only 129 to language and
literature. A paltry 22 titles came out in the fields of
political and social sciences.
