Growth of Burmese Nationalism under Young Men Buddhist Association (1906 to 1916)

The earliest political movement on the British model was the Young Men?s Buddhist Association, popularly known as the YMBA. It was a native version of the YMCA, founded in 1906 by Rangoon College students Maung Ba car1Pe, MaungMaung Gyi, Maung Hla Pe, Maung Sein Hla Aung, Maung Ba Dun and friends.1 It should not be mistaken for a modern religious institution that grew into a political organisation. There were Buddhist associations then in Burma distinctly, with modern concepts, founded by the laity for the preservation and service of the Sasana (the Buddhist spiritual realm). They were, the Mission Associations founded in Mandalay on 6 July 1897, which set up a school in its name. The Buddha Kalyana Mitta Athin (friendship) of Myingyan was also founded about the same time, which later moved to Mandalay, and was absorbed into the former; the SasanadaraAthin (service) of Moulmein founded in 1899, which set up the Shin Boddhagossa school; the Asoka Society of Bassein founded in 1902 by an English convert to Buddhism and the Rangoon College Buddhist Association in 1904.2 Besides, a YMBA was founded in Arakan in 1902, complete with student hostel following the YMCA model. From about 1905 the Lediaayadaw organised AbhidhammaThankhatt Associations, Foreign Mission Societies, and Thathana Hit Athens, in almost all towns.