Saya San

Saya San (born Oct. 24, 1876, East Thayet-kan, Shwebo district, Burma [Myanmar]—died Nov. 16, 1931, Tharrawaddy) was the leader of the anti-British rebellion of 1930–32 in Burma (Myanmar).

Saya San was a native of Shwebo, a centre of nationalist-monarchist sentiment in north-central Burma that was the birthplace of the Konbaung (or Alaungpaya) dynasty, which controlled Myanmar from 1752 until the British annexation in 1886. He was a Buddhist monk, physician, and astrologer in Siam (Thailand) and Burma before the rebellion. Saya San joined the extreme nationalist faction of the General Council of Burmese Associations led by U Soe Thein. Saya San organized peasant discontent and proclaimed himself a pretender to the throne who, like Alaungpaya, would unite the people and expel the British invader. He organized his followers into the “Galon Army” (Galon, or Garuḍa, is a fabulous bird of Hindu mythology), and he was proclaimed “king” at Insein, near Rangoon (Yangon), on Oct. 28, 1930.

On the night of December 22/23 the first outbreak occurred in the Tharrawaddy district; the revolt soon spread to other Irrawaddy delta districts. The Galon army rebels, like the Boxers of China, carried charms and tattoos to make themselves invulnerable to British bullets. Armed only with swords and spears, Saya San’s rebels were no match for British troops with machine guns.

As the revolt collapsed, Saya San fled to the Shan Plateau in the east. On Aug. 2, 1931, however, he was captured at Hokho and brought back to Tharrawaddy to be tried by a special tribunal. Despite the efforts of his lawyer, Ba Maw, he was sentenced to death in March 1931 and was hanged at Tharrawaddy jail. The revolt was crushed, but more than 10,000 peasants were killed in the process.

Although Saya San’s revolt was basically political (it was the last genuine attempt to restore the Burmese monarchy) and possessed strong religious characteristics, its causes were basically economic. The peasants of southern Burma had been dispossessed by Indian moneylenders, were burdened with heavy taxes, and were left penniless when the price of rice dropped in an economic depression. Widespread support for Saya San betrayed the precarious and unpopular position of British rule in Burma.