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CHRONOLOGY 1531–1752 Restored Taungoo dynasty rules Burma. 1635 King Thalon moves capital from Pegu to Ava. 1752–1885 Konbaun dynasty. 1755–1760 Reign of Alaungpaya, founder the Konbaun dynasty 1782–1819 Reign of Bodawpaya. 1824–1826 First Anglo-Burmese War leads to the Treaty of Yandabo and the establishment of British colonial rule is Lower Burma. 1852-1853 Second Anglo-Burmese War leads to the British annexation of Pegu. 1853–1878 Reign of Mindon. 1857 King Mindon moves capital to Mandalay from Ava. 1868 King Mindon convenes the Fifth Buddhist Council. 1871 Buddhist Tipitaka and commentaries inscribed on stone slabs at Kuthodaw Pagoada in Mandalay; restoration of Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. 1878–1886 Reign of King Thibaw. 1885 Third Anglo-Burmese War. 1886 The British abolish the Konbaun court and annex Burma, placing it under the Government of India. A brief rebellion against the British takes place in which monks participate; sangha accepts British rule, with the expectation that the British will assume royal duties. Strong anti-Thibaw sentiments exist among the sangha. 1895 Taungdaw Thathanabain dies; his office remains vacant until 1903. 1897 Buddha Sāsana Noggaha Association founded. 1903 Lieutenant Governor Barnes agrees to recognize, but not appoint, the Taunggwin Sayadaw as thathanabain for Upper Burma only. 1906 Young Men’s Buddhist Association founded. 1917 Burma excluded from constitutional reforms of Government of India; becomes a province of India. 1920 General Council of Burmese Associations (GCBA) founded. 1920 Rangoon University founded; Rangoon University students go on strike. 1921 U Ottama returns to Burma, influenced by Gandhi’s ideals, and links Buddhism to ideals of freedom from colonial rule; Ottama asserts that independence constitutes nibbāna. 1921 General Council of Sangha Sammeggi established. British administration permits creation of a partially elected legislative council in Burma. 1929 U Wisara dies in prison at age 41 from hunger strike. 1930 Dobama (We Burmans) Association founded; has Marxist leanings. Members address one another as thakin (master). 1930–1931 Tharrawaddi or Saya San Revolt, led by the Thupanna Galon Raja, starts in Pegu Yoma and spreads to the economically depressed Irrawaddy Delta. 1930s More than 1 million Indians live in Burma; more than half of population of Rangoon is Indian. CHRONOLOGY 156 1932 Anti-Indian riots erupt; Young Monks Association promotes anti-Indian sentiments. 1936 Rangoon University students strike. 1937 Burma administered separately from India. 1938 Anti-Indian riots. 1938 Taunggwin Sayadaw dies; the office of thathanabain lapses for half a century. 1938 All Burma Young Monks Association forms as result of anti-Muslim sentiments; headquartered in Mandalay; founder U Zawtika. 1938, 1939 Anti-Indian riots. 1941 Indians own two-thirds of rice-producing fields in the Irrawaddy District. 1941 Burma Independence Army (BIA) formed, led by Bogyoke Aung San; Burma Defense Army (BDA) formed, which transforms into the Burma National Army (BNA), then becomes the Patriotic Burmese Forces (PBF). 1945 Regular Burmese military forces (Tatmadaw) formed. 1947 British leave Burma. Jan. 4, 1948 Burma becomes independent under U Nu as prime minister; U Nu seeks to restore Buddhism, blaming western values and colonialism for a decline in Buddhist piety. 1949 Ecclesiastical Courts Act. 1950 Pāli University and Dhammacariya Act. 1951 U Nu starts preparations for Sixth Buddhist Council. 1952 Pāli Education Board Act. 1954–1956 Sixth Buddhist Convocation in Rangoon; key architects are Attorney General U Chan Htoon and Minister of Home and Religious Affairs U Win. 1955 New edition of Buddhist Tipitaka produced by All Burma Monks Association. 1958–1960 Monastic registration efforts begin. 1958–1960 Army employs Buddhist concepts in its rhetoric against communism. 1960–1962 U Nu abolishes the slaughter of cattle, introduces lunar Buddhist calendar, and commutes death sentences; he considers federalism to appease minorities and the threat of ethnic secession. 1962 Yahan Pyo Apwe pressures U Nu’s government to prohibit non-Buddhist religious education in public schools. Some members form a splinter group, Yahan Nge Apwe. 1962 Ne Win’s military coup topples U Ne’s government, abolishes the federal system, and inaugurates “the Burmese Way to Socialism.” He nationalizes the economy and forms a single-party state, with the Socialist Program Party as the sole political party. All independent newspapers are banned. 1965 All Sangha All-Sect Convention is unable to implement monastic registration. 1974 Student protest at the funeral of former United Nations General Secretary U Thant. 1974 New constitution transfers power from the armed forces to the People’s Assembly headed by Ne Win and other former military leaders. 1975...

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