‘The King in Exile’ due for translation

Story of the extraordinary lives of Myanmar’s last royal family set for wider readership

By KYAW PHYO THA / YANGON

With the planned Myanmar-language translation of a comprehensive portrayal of the personal life of Myanmar’s last royal family, readers in this country will soon have a chance to learn more about King Thibaw and other royals after their exile to India.

Published in 2012 and originally written in English by Sudha Shah, “The King in Exile” is a non-fiction account of the lives of King Thibaw, the last monarch of Myanmar, and his family, which will now be translated into the Myanmar language, according to the local publisher Our Publishing House.

U San Mon Aung of Our Publishing House told The Irrawaddy that he received permission from the author last month to publish a translation.

He said the new translation would benefit the majority of the country’s readership who are not able to read in English, and help them learn more about King Thibaw and his family, especially their lives in exile.

“Sudha Shah did extensive research for the book, so the translation could provide our readers a window into the struggle of the royal family,” he said.

King Thibaw, his wife Queen Supayalat and their family were brought to Ratnagiri in India in the wake of the Third Anglo-Myanmar War in 1885, which resulted in the British completing their occupation of

Myanmar.

“The King in Exile” tells the story of how an all-powerful and very wealthy family coped with forced isolation and separation from all that it had once known and cherished; and how the exile continued to echo in the life of the family in myriad ways well after it ended.

Ms. Shah said her publisher already signed agreements for translations of her book into Marathi and Thai languages, both of which are expected to be published in the first half of this year, adding that she looked forward to the release of the Myanmar-language translation.

The author told The Irrawaddy, “I very much hope that [readers in Myanmar] will find the book interesting and that they are as moved as I was by the story of the royal family.”

Ms. Shah spent seven years conducting historical research for the book. She made several trips to relevant cities—Ratnagiri and Kolkata in India, as well as Yangon, Pyin Oo Lwin and Mandalay in Myanmar— where the royal family and their descendants spent various parts of their lives.

She also conducted interviews with the royal family’s descendants, as well as carrying out research at the Maharashtra State Archives in Mumbai, the National Archives of India in New Delhi, the National Archives in Yangon and the libraries of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

The translator, U Win Nyein, said he has so far translated three chapters, and hopes to finish the work this year.

“I myself really like the book, and you can find some facts in it that most people in Myanmar rarely know about, such as how the royal family coped with their lives in exile,” said U Win Nyein, who is also the editor-inchief of Shwe Amyutay magazine and The Ray of Light weekly.

Devi Thant Cin, a granddaughter of King Thibaw, said Sudha Shah’s book is different from some other books about the royal family.

“Most of the books focus on the end of Konbaung dynasty and King Thibaw but ‘The King in Exile’ discloses the real lives of the family after their fall from grace that came from several years of research and interviews with family members,” she said.