Talk:Nanda Bayin

Latest comment: 10 months ago by Hybernator in topic Old style dates


Death from laughter? edit

In the Wikipedia article Death from laughter, it is said that:

It is cited that the Burmese king Nanda Bayin in 1599 "laughed to death when informed by a visiting Italian merchant that Venice was a free state without a king."

That's in direct contradiction to the information in this article:

The abdicated king had survived for another year before being assassinated by Natshinnaung in 1600.

I'm guessing the latter is correct, but can someone look this over and confirm? Then I can replace the wrong bit of information in the appropriate place. Crusoe704 (talk) 20:53, 27 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

The latter is correct. Just added a citation.Hybernator (talk) 21:11, 27 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Old style dates edit

Mandsford, please don't remove the old style dates; they're not there just to annoy the reader. That Burma used its own calendar is irrelevant here. The question is to which Western calendar the Burmese dates are translated. Older books on Burmese history (in English and in Burmese) use Julian calendar dates for post-1581 dates (because most of the earliest Western historians were British, and they used British calendar dates -- meaning using Julian dates well into the mid-18th century). This causes issues. For example, Mingyi Swa's date of death is translated as 30 December 1592 in Burmese books, without specifying which calendar -- whereas Thai books use the Gregorian calendar. This issue persists even for post-1751 (the British switch to Gregorian) dates. E.g, the fall of Ayutthia is reported in older books as 28 March 1767 while modern books use 7 April 1767 -- even though their source date is the same Burmese date.

Again, the issue isn't that Burma used its own calendar; it is letting the reader know which Western calendar the original Burmese date is being translated to. This is especially important if the reader has grown up seeing one set of dates over another, and not automatically think the article's dates are incorrect. I assume good faith on your part. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you. Hybernator (talk) 18:04, 2 July 2023 (UTC)Reply