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The Land of the Great Image - Being Experiences of Friar Manrique in Arakan
Contents Include: Portuguese Asia Golden Goa Friar Manrique sets out Friar Manrique in Danger of Decapitation Demonism Among the Slavers of Dianga Startling News The Tiger The Colloquy in the Jungle The Image on the Pass The Admiral The Comptroller General of the Household The Audience The Blessed One The Five Taslims The Dedication of the Church The Debate with the Royal Chaplain The White Elephant The Tooth The Grand Dowager Toys for the Princes The Taking of Hugli Friar Manrique is Appointed Attache Friar Manrique takes the Yellow Robe The Elixir Prelude to the Coronation The Coronation Friar Manrique is Taken for a Slaver The Strange Murder of King Thiri-Thu-Dhamma The Murder of Friar Manrique Concluding Observations List of Principal AuthoritiesKeywords: Friar Comptroller General Golden Goa Yellow Robe Colloquy White Elephant Royal Chaplain Blessed One Dowager Dhamma Slaver Decapitation Elixir Attache Princes Admiral Prelude
264 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 4, 2018
Portuguese Father Takes Bit Part in Southeast Asian Politics
No matter what we do, no matter how the tides of world affairs go, some regions of our planet are destined to fall through the cracks, to disappear entirely from the "radar screens" for long periods of time, perhaps many lifetimes. Burma has never loomed large in the West, except for a brief period during WW II, when Anglo-American forces fought the Japanese there. If Burma itself remains a generally-unknown quantity, what to say of the old kingdoms that flourished there for many centuries before being absorbed into the Burmese state---Ava, Pegu, Arakan, and Toungoo ? It is probably safe to say that unless you are a Southeast Asian historian, you have not read any other books on the history of such remote kingdoms, remote in space and time. If you want to start, you have certainly come to the right place.
Father Sebastiao Manrique, a Portuguese, kept a very detailed diary of his work and travels in the years 1628-1636. Maurice Collis retells his tale very effectively, with many an aside to explain mores and beliefs of the times. Collis himself worked in the British administration of Burma and so visited a number of places mentioned by Manrique. We start with an excellent description of life and the times in Goa, the center of Portuguese Asia in the 1620s, then move on through an exciting voyage and shipwreck, to the `unofficial' Portuguese colony near modern Calcutta, and to a pirate/slave-raider island off the coast of modern Bangladesh. These slavers were aligned with the Buddhist monarch of Arakan, then a powerful kingdom along the Bay of Bengal, but they remained a powerful force of their own, thanks to their European arms and ships. Fearing an attack while most of their number were off kidnapping more Bengali slaves, the slavers sent Father Manrique on an emergency mission to the court of Arakan to assure the king of their loyalty. Braving tigers, floods, hungry hordes of ants, and much else, Manrique arrived at Mrauk-u, the capital and saved the day for the dear Portuguese slavers. He remained in the region for nearly eight years, observer of all the glories and horrors of the royal court---coronations, mass murders, royal audiences, elephant parades, magic.
THE LAND OF THE GREAT IMAGE is a travel book, but it is also history, anthropology, a minor study of megalomania, and a book much connected to the study of comparative religion. Manrique was a bigoted man, who condemned the "paganism" in the religions of the East while excusing his own support of slavery and the Inquisition. Collis' attitudes too form part of the debates which his book may raise in the minds of readers. His comparison of bizarre Hindu rituals of "suicide by shark" with the burnings of the Inquisition seem extremely shortsighted in my eyes, yet I sense that the author was a sensitive, clever man. All in all, this volume will open your eyes in many directions, provide fascinating reading for a few days, and make you wonder, yet again, at the unbelievable variety of human experience.
No matter what we do, no matter how the tides of world affairs go, some regions of our planet are destined to fall through the cracks, to disappear entirely from the "radar screens" for long periods of time, perhaps many lifetimes. Burma has never loomed large in the West, except for a brief period during WW II, when Anglo-American forces fought the Japanese there. If Burma itself remains a generally-unknown quantity, what to say of the old kingdoms that flourished there for many centuries before being absorbed into the Burmese state---Ava, Pegu, Arakan, and Toungoo ? It is probably safe to say that unless you are a Southeast Asian historian, you have not read any other books on the history of such remote kingdoms, remote in space and time. If you want to start, you have certainly come to the right place.
Father Sebastiao Manrique, a Portuguese, kept a very detailed diary of his work and travels in the years 1628-1636. Maurice Collis retells his tale very effectively, with many an aside to explain mores and beliefs of the times. Collis himself worked in the British administration of Burma and so visited a number of places mentioned by Manrique. We start with an excellent description of life and the times in Goa, the center of Portuguese Asia in the 1620s, then move on through an exciting voyage and shipwreck, to the `unofficial' Portuguese colony near modern Calcutta, and to a pirate/slave-raider island off the coast of modern Bangladesh. These slavers were aligned with the Buddhist monarch of Arakan, then a powerful kingdom along the Bay of Bengal, but they remained a powerful force of their own, thanks to their European arms and ships. Fearing an attack while most of their number were off kidnapping more Bengali slaves, the slavers sent Father Manrique on an emergency mission to the court of Arakan to assure the king of their loyalty. Braving tigers, floods, hungry hordes of ants, and much else, Manrique arrived at Mrauk-u, the capital and saved the day for the dear Portuguese slavers. He remained in the region for nearly eight years, observer of all the glories and horrors of the royal court---coronations, mass murders, royal audiences, elephant parades, magic.
THE LAND OF THE GREAT IMAGE is a travel book, but it is also history, anthropology, a minor study of megalomania, and a book much connected to the study of comparative religion. Manrique was a bigoted man, who condemned the "paganism" in the religions of the East while excusing his own support of slavery and the Inquisition. Collis' attitudes too form part of the debates which his book may raise in the minds of readers. His comparison of bizarre Hindu rituals of "suicide by shark" with the burnings of the Inquisition seem extremely shortsighted in my eyes, yet I sense that the author was a sensitive, clever man. All in all, this volume will open your eyes in many directions, provide fascinating reading for a few days, and make you wonder, yet again, at the unbelievable variety of human experience.
March 15, 2019
There are a few books that I call "miracle" books, books that are so unusual and so interesting that they really expand my mind in ways I didn't think possible. "Great Image" is one of those books: there is nothing like it I've ever read, and its one of those books I truly love for taking me to places I've never been or even imagined, describing a past reality far stranger than any fiction or fantasy.
The "worlds" that Great Image describes are fantastic: Golden Goa of the 1600s, the Portuguese slave-trade outpost of Hugli, the court of the king of Arakan which was along the west coast of what is now Burma, these are strange worlds unlike anything that exists today. The way of thinking, the confluence of Catholic/Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist cultures are fascinating and quite incredible. The devotion to religion, the certainty felt by the main protagonist, an Augustinian friar, his interactions with those of other religions, describes a world which not only in appearance is utterly alien to anything today, but in thinking as well.
The descriptions of various events, an inquisition in Goa, the siege of Hugli, and the coronation of the king of Arakan, beggar the imagination. They are like nothing I've ever read before. It's also virtually impossible to apply Western standards of understanding to them because they are so utterly alien. Even the inquisition is not what you think it's going to be, this is book that unsettles ones notions and assumptions.
Nothing is perfect: Buddhism is a great religion, austere and pure, but the people are obsessed with magic, Hinduism is tolerant and incredibly interesting, and yet its practices are bizarre and disturbing, Islam is intolerant and fanatical, and yet a Muslim saves the friar so generously and selflessly that he prays that God makes an exception in heaven, and the Catholics are generally good, loving, caring people, and yet the Inquisition and the slave trade are horrific - the good friar doesn't mind people being captured for the slave trade, as it gives him an opportunity to convert them and save their souls.
Overarching it all is the attitude of Maurice Collis, one of great sympathy, understanding and appreciation for what he is describing. He is very human as well in his describing very human events, and doesn't at all mind putting in his biased and personal thoughts. This is a very (and literally) magical book, and part of the magic is the attitude of the narrator himself.
And what is the book? It's almost impossible to describe. Collis takes the autobiographical description of Friar Manrique's travels (250 books long apparently), numerous secondary sources, to give a narrative which is sort of like travel fiction, but with history and religion thrown in. Part of the wonder of the book is it's just impossible to classify, it doesn't fit into any of our existing paradigms.
As a result, strongly - most strongly - recommended for bored readers out there who want a book TRULY different from anything they've read before. Most of the book is read in a state of wonder and disbelief at cultures so utterly alien from our own. But I recommend it strongly for anyone, especially in these troubled times, if anything it is a plea for unity and understanding among the peoples of the world, understanding that our differences are not that great. After reading this book you will have a stronger love for all humanity, it's the kind of book which afterwards you wish everyone in the world would read, as it would bring us together and help us understand one another. Its "faults" are part of its greatness, the book is full of passages which would not past muster in our hypersensitive and politically correct times, and yet this overarching humanity is what the world might need most right now and what is lost in so much of what you read these days.
November 28, 2009
one of my favorite books of all time.
true story of 15th century monk who travels from goa into burma and arakan.
true story of 15th century monk who travels from goa into burma and arakan.
March 3, 2025
DNF. I found the descriptions of the way the Portuguese lived in 16th century Goa fascinating, particularly the eye witness description of an auto-da-fe. Once we left Goa, however, I became quite bored. I enjoyed the illustrations very much and may return to this one day. Meanwhile, it’s back on the shelf.
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March 21, 2026A narrative retelling of the first-hand accounts of a Portuguese friar's mission in 17th century Bengal and Arakan. Fascinating stuff. The author adds the context of place and time to what would otherwise be of interest only to a historian.
April 17, 2026
A historian who studies Asia showed me this book and she said it was like Monty Python. I strongly agree.
August 8, 2016
Fascinating story of a 17C Augustinian missionary who sets out from Goa to convert the people of Arakan, an independent territory on the Bay of Bengal, now within Burma's borders. The first 90 or so pages that chronicle the story of the Portuguese in Portuguese Asia and especially 'Golden Goa' are a good introduction to the subject. Entertaining and easy to read.
October 19, 2009
Great. Weird.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews