Pon Nya, U

(real name, Maun Po Si). Born between 1807 and 1816 in Sale; died circa 1867. Burmese writer.

U Pon Nya was one of the founders of Burmese drama. He wrote seven plays, which were based primarily on jatakas. Padomma, the heroine of his drama of the same name, came to be seen as a personification of infidelity and perfidiousness, and the wife of King Waithandayai in the play Waithandayai, as a personification of fidelity and maternal care. In the drama Wizaya, U Pon Nya portrayed a selflessly loving woman. The Water Carrier, which is the most popular of the plays, is distinguished by a suspenseful plot.

U Pon Nya also wrote many poems and songs, more than 30 prose works on Buddhist topics, and treatises on Buddhist philosophy, medicine, and astrology. In addition, he revived the 15th-century didactic genre of myitta sa (letters in verse). Events in the history of 19th-century Burma are reflected in U Pon Nya’s works.