, (_b_) the
Mahommedan law in cases where the parties are Mahommedans, (_c_) the Hindu
law in cases where the parties are Hindus, except so far as the same may
have been modified by the legislature. The reservation thus made in favour
of the native laws is precisely analogous to the similar reservation made
in India (see INDIAN LAW, where the Hindu law and the Mahommedan Law are
described). The Buddhist law is contained in certain sacred books called
_Dhammathats_. The laws themselves are derived from one of the collections
which Hindus attribute to Manu, but in some respects they now widely differ
from the ancient Hindu law so far as it is known to us. There is no
certainty as to the date or method of their introduction. The whole of the
law administered now in Burma rests ultimately upon statutory authority;
and all the Indian acts relating to Burma, whether of the governor-general
or the lieutenant-governor of Burma in council, will be found in the Burma
Code (Calcutta, 1899), and in the supplements to that volume which are
published from time to time at Rangoon. There is no complete translation of
the _Dhammathats_, but a good many of them have been translated. An account
of these translations will be found in _The Principles of Buddhist Law_ by
Chan Toon (Rangoon, 1894), which is the first attempt to present those
principles in something approaching to a systematic form.

_History._--It is probable that Burma is the _Chryse Regio_ of Ptolemy, a
name parallel in meaning to _Sonaparanta_, the classic P[=a]li title
assigned to the country round the capital in Burmese documents. The royal
history traces the lineage of the kings to the ancient Buddhist monarchs of
India. This no doubt is fabulous, but it is hard to say how early
communication with Gangetic India began. From the 11th to the 13th century
the old Burman empire was at the height of its power, and to this period
belong the splendid remains of architecture at Pagan. The city and the
dynasty were destroyed by a Chinese (or rather Mongol) invasion (1284 A.D.)
in the reign of Kublai Khan. After that the empire fell to a low ebb, and
Central Burma was often subject to Shan dynasties. In the early part of the
16th century the Burmese princes of Toungoo, in the north-east of Pegu,
began to rise to power, and established a dynasty which at one time held
possession of Pegu, Ava and Arakan. They made their capital at Pegu, and to
this dynasty belong the gorgeous [v.04 p