Shwebo Town, 1908
Shwebo Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Shwebo Town, 1908
Head-quarters of the District of the same name in Upper Burma, situated in 22 3$' N. and 95 42' E,, on the Sagaing- Myitkyina railway, 53 miles from Sagaing. The town occupies part of what was once a vast rice plain, the country north, south, and west adjoining the walls being still devoted to rice cultivation; and its surroundings are bare and not outwardly attractive. Away to the east beyond the Irrawaddy can be seen the Shan plateau ; while from the same direction a spur of the higher ground that forms the watershed between the Mu and the Irrawaddy runs down almost to the town, and on this spur are placed the present cantonments. The soil is poor and the water is brackish, so that there is little cause for surprise at the dreariness of the general prospect round Shwebo, and little hope for improvement until an efficient water scheme is in working order. The royal garden at Uyindaw, about a mile north of the town, and a smaller garden about half a mile beyond it, are the only plots of successful arboriculture in the neighbourhood; for the rest, there is little to relieve the eye but the tamarinds and other trees in the urban area. Two conspicuous objects are the Roman Catholic church in the south-east corner of the town and the stone S.P.G. church in the north-west. The condition of the town has improved of late years, a succession of mat-walled, thatch-roofed houses, swept away in periodical conflagrations, having been replaced by more pretentious buildings with carved wooden fronts. The roofs of corrugated iron, if they do not add to the beauty of the town, at any rate contribute to its security from fire. In a few instances large brick buildings have been erected.
The old town of Shwebo is of considerable historical interest, having been the birthplace and capital of Maung Aung Zeya, who seized the throne of Burma under the title of Alaungpaya, and founded the last dynasty of Burmese kings. In 1752 this monarch commenced serious operations against the Takings, and in 1753 had made such progress that he had himself anointed king at his old home, and then proceeded to lay out and build a town there. This city, known as Moksobo, comprised an outer moat and wall, in the form of a square, over 2 miles each way, which exist to the present day, and a square inner citadel with a side of about 500 yards. Within this citadel was an inner wall, which contained in its turn the palace ; but the palace and nearly the whole of the innermost wall have entirely disappeared. Alaungpaya also constructed the Shwechettho pagoda, a shrine still to be seen on the remains of the north inner wall ; the lahosin in front of the palace, on which was hung the big drum for beating the hours ; the natsin or spirit shrine of the nine evil spirits whom all kings feared and propitiated : and a royal lake north of the town. The uatsin still stands near the south of the jail, and the lake is the Mahananda. The present town of Shwebo just includes the fringe of the eastern portion of the old town of Moksobo.
After building the town described above, Alaungpaya turned his restless ambition towards Siam, but died during the course of a cam- paign in the south. His remains were brought back to Moksobo, and interred in the year 1760 near the entrance to the present courthouse. He was succeeded by his eldest son, who assumed the title of Naung- dawgyi, and whose successor and brother Sinbyushin, after reigning for two years at Moksobo, moved the capital to Ava in the year 1766, taking with him some of the famous Moksobo soil. The town then began to decline, till 1837, in the reign of king Bagyidaw, when this monarch's brother, who was prince of Thayetmyo and Tharrawaddy, changed the name from Moksobo to Shwebo. In the same year he conspired against his elder brother and seized the throne. From the earliest days of its greatness the town had been named Yangyi-aung or ' the victorious, 3 and to use Shwebo as a base of operations was thought to be a guarantee of success in any entei prise. Accordingly, in 1852 king Tharrawaddy's son, Mindon, came to Shwebo when maturing his designs on the throne, which culminated in a successful conspiracy against his brother, Pagan Min. Again, in Mindon's reign his nephew, the Padein prince, came to Shwebo, and plotted for his uncle's over- throw ; but on this occasion the proverbial luck of the city failed. It may be said, however, that the use of Shwebo as a capital ceased 140 years ago.
Immediately after the annexation of Upper Burma a detachment of British troops came up to Shwebo, but returned almost immediately to Mandalay. This withdrawal stimulated the rebels who were abroad in the land, and a confederacy of dacoit gangs, under a leader known as Mintha Hmat, devastated the town. On this the British troops returned and have held the place ever since.
The population of the town was 9,368 in 1891, and 9,626 in 1901, the majority being Burmans. The Indian colony consists of 700 Musal- mans and more than 600 Hindus, about half of whom are military followers and other residents of the cantonment. The Christian population exceeds 1,000. A large proportion of the inhabitants are agriculturists, the rest work at the usual petty trades and crafts of the urban areas of Upper Burma. There are many special industries for which villages in the District are famous, but from an industrial and artistic point of view Shwebo itself is inconspicuous. A local black- smith trained in France does excellent work in steel and iron, He and his pupils, however, are the only artisans who have endowed Shwebo with anything approaching an industry of its own.
The town was constituted a municipality in 1888. The receipts and expenditure during the ten years ending 1900-1 averaged Rs. 20,000. In 1903-4 the income was Us. 36,000, of which bazar rents contributed Rs. 19,700, and a house and land tax Rs. 4,400. The expenditure amounted to Rs. 41,000, the chief ordinary items being lighting (Rs. 4,000), conservancy (Rs. 4,700), and roads (Rs. 11,500). .The municipality contributes Rs. 600 annually to the S.P.G. Anglo- vernacular school, besides which there are two good lay schools. The municipal hospital has accommodation for 45 in-patients. The income and ex- penditure of the cantonment fund in 1903-4 was Rs. 6,000.
