The Karen in Myanmar historiography (1)

In an article entitled "A Reinvestigation of the Gwe of 18th Century Burma," published in 1970, Nigel Braily puts forward the case, drawing on Siamese language sources, that the members of the "Gwe" ethnic group who fought alongside the predominantly Mon soldiers of Bago in the 1740-1757 Bago-Inwa [Ava] war were a part of the Karen language family. Braily identifies them with the "Taungthu" (who are themselves typically identified with the Pa-O) Karen of southern Shan State. However, in a later publication (Ethnic Adaptation and Identity: The Karen on the Thai frontier with Burma, 1979), Charles Keyes and F.K. Lehman gave dissenting views. Keyes (“The Karen in Thai History and the History of the Karen in Thailand”, p. 33 n17 and n21) suggested that the Gwe were a Mon-Khmer group, while Lehman (“Who Are the Karen and If So Why?”, p. 223 n2.) said that they were a Lahu group.

Contra Keyes and Lehman, the historian U Pinnya, in a Myanmar-language history of the Karen first published in 1929, clearly identifies the Gwe as a Karen group. The first two pages (p.128-129) of the relevant section of the text (simply titled ကရင်ရာဇာဝင် (Karen History)) is presented and translated below (the remaining pages will be subsequently posted). The version of the text that I have is the second edition printed in 1965.  The translation begins from the subheading on the left hand page.

Vocabulary:

ပုန်ကန် ။ to rebel against established authority or government
သောင်းကျန်း ။ to rise up, revolt
မြှောက် ။ to raise; toss something up
ထီးနန်း ။ kingship
အခိုင်အဖြီး ။ [အဖြီးအခိုင်] strongly, firmly
အလုံးအရင်း ။ bulk; horde or multitude
ပေးအပ် ။ make over; confer (title, rank, etc); entrust (responsibility)
ချီ ။ to lift; carry; begin; march
ဒါယကာ ။ term of address used by a Buddhist monk for a layman; donor (male)
ဗိုလ်ခြေ ။ armed forces
ရွတ်ရွတ် ။ quickly
ချွန်ချွန် ။ ?
မဆုတ်မနစ် ။ to not be demoralized
သိမ်းရုံးတိုက်ဖျက် ။ to raze [?]
ဆန်တက် ။ to go upstream
ချည်း ။ only; just; alone
ဆုတ်ခွါ ။ to retreat
ညှပ် ။ to cut
ချိမ့် ။ particle suffixed to verbs to denote an impending event
မရပ်မဆိုင်း ။ without stopping, without hesitating
အပြင်း ။ violently; at full speed

Translation:

75) Myanmar and Kayin Wars

In the year 1103 of the Myanmar era [1741/42 C.E.] in the town of Hanthawaddy Bago, the Gwe Kayin and Talaing [Mon] rose up in revolt and while raising up the Lord of the Elephant Tiger who had received the title of Thamaingtaw, after establishing kingship and making him king stayed steadfast. When Lord Lauka-thra-bu Dayaka of Inwa [Ava] heard [about that] he had Lord Hla Shwe Taung and his hoard march to the town of Danuphyu. And [he] sent Lord Ye-chaung-gaung who had the title of Thado Min Gaung along with his hoard of armed forces to ascend up the rear river. When they arrived at Pyay town they surrounded Kyet-tin Mountain and set up camp.

Thado Min Hla Shwe Taung's troops who had arrived at Danu Phyu Town, while making the Hanthawaddy Gwe Kayin's representative Saw Bya into a general, when they fought the Talaing [Mon] swiftly without being demoralized, without the military suffering [a loss] they [than went] to Pyay town and joined with Thado Min Gaung.

In the year 1104 [1742/43] of the Myanmar era when Thado Min Gang, without being active, defeated Ko Saw Bya's Gwe Kayin and Talaing [Mons], and he had his authority placed over the senior representative[s] Saw Bya Hsa and Saw Bya Hadtiyaza and the Gwe Kayin and Talaing [Mon] descended from Taungoo to Taungdwin Gyi town and razed villages on the eastern and western sides of Patanago, Malone and such upper Burma rivers and after going upstream and taking control, they only just ascened the length of the route [along] Dandar Oo, Pinya, Thinbanda from the Upper Chinwin River to Kanniminkhin.

Thado Min Gaung [who was at] Pyay city heard about the arrival of the Gwe Kayin and Talaing [Mon] at that Inwa [Ava] City and came with many row boats. When Thado Min Gaung arrived at Bagan City the Gwe Kayin and Talaing [Mon] retreated [thinking] that both military sides would be cut off, and the Gwe Kayin and Talaing [Mon] without hesitating [တပ်ကိုနှုတ် ?] and withdrew at full speed.

The "Gwe Kayin" in the above account are not included in the Glass Palace Chronicles and only the 'Mon-Mon' are included. [However,] in Mon Royal History "the Gwe Kayin and Talaing [Mon] soldiers" are certainly included. Although this issue is not included in Myanmar history, the Gwe Kayin are famous in the establishment of the Gwe Kayin ethnic people at Ngasingaing at the base of Eastern Otbo Mountain; [and for] Gwe Kayin ethnic people such as the Gwe Kayin General 'Kunna-ain' who had received the title of 'Thurain Saw'; [and for] the destruction of the Land of Inwa [Ava] from the year 1109 [1747/48] to the year 1113 [1751/52] of the Myanmar era until the reign of Alaung Min Taya the Great in the year 1114 [1752/53] of the Myanmar era;