Shin Maha Rathathera’s prominent Pyo poems were…

(1) Ko-gan Pyo 
(2) Than wara Pyo and 
(3) Gambi Thara Pyo, all were religious in them with moral instructions. 

He also composed Mawguns, Yatu and linka verse. No literary critiques of Inwa period or today can pass a final assessment as to who was a better poet Shin Maha Rahta Thera or Shin Maha Thilawun Tha. The two are equals as their literary works prove. They propagated Buddhism by means of poems and different verses. Kantaw Min Kyaung Sayadaw means the abbot of Kantaw royal Monastery. He was also a reputed monk poet of Inwa period. He specialized in composing Myittasa verse. Myittasa is an epistle. An epistle is a piece of writing either in prose or verse addressed to a king or a superior, with advice and instruction on moral conduct and good government. 

It is an indirect but effective way of calling the attention of the king to his bad administration and reminding him of the need to reform. We may say that this abbot’s literary works are more secular than religious. But his epistles were not devoid of religious references. They contain proverbs, old saying, quotations from history, jatakas and scriptures. The abbot also composed a series of Pyos to instruct young generation on moral conduct and character building. These Pyos are known as “Loka Thaya Sone Masa” (a dominative missives on moral, manners, good conduct and cultivation of a good character). Buddhist literature of Inwa period was not confined to monastic life and monastic surrounding. It came out into the secular circle. It became a down-to-earth literature for it tried to reach out to the lay people. Although literary theme remained religious the style of propagating Buddhism changed for the understanding of the lay public.

Buddhism was vernacularized and made accessible to the lay public thanks to the poems of monks. Inwa period was the golden age of Myanmar literature. It was also the period of monk writers. Though there were layman writers both male and female, their works were inferior to those of the monks. It means the works of monk writers more excellent than lay man writers. Royal patronage and public support promoted the monk’s learning and writing. A liberal attitude towards Vinaya (monk’s disciplinary rules), in Inwa period gave monks freedom to turn to literary pursuits. 

In Bagan period poetic talent of monks was restrained due to orthodox disciplinarians. In Inwa period monks were given a free rein in their literary pursuits. Yet there were some orthodox monks in Inwa period that disliked monks indulging in poetic composition. They jeered at Shin Maha Thilawun Tha and Shin Maha Rahta Thara calling them song composers and refusing to partake food with them for fear of committing sin. (အာပတ်သင့်). But it is a fact that Buddhism in Inwa period was further promoted by the prolific pens of monk poets. Jataka stories and Buddha’s teaching were made better known to the public through Pyo and tawla verses of monk writers than they were in plain Pali text.    

Jataka stories

Myanmar word Zat is derived from Pāli word Jātaka. The meaning of Zat is events, life stories. Most of all, the events and life stories in the past existences of Gotama Buddha are used to be called Zat.

Gotama Buddha preached his own events and life stories happened in past existences in Pāli stanzas (gāthā). These are included in Khuddaka Nikāya (collection of canonical books mostly short ones) which is one of the five Nikāyas (groups) of Sutta Pitaka. There exist only five hundred and forty seven birth stories. But, to be easy to remember and recognize, these became known as five hundred birth stories. When delivering, these birth stories are delivered in one stanza, in two stanzas and so on. There are ten birth stories which are preached starting from one hundred stanzas to over one thousand stanzas. They are known as Mahā Nipatā (great birth stories). There are given the title of ten great birth stories.

The Jātaka stories are believed to be the stories on the former lives of the Gautama Buddha. The Jātaka dwell on the theme that good people are rewarded while the bad are punished. They show how to become good Buddhists and adopt the Buddha's teachings in their everyday life. They form best guides to live a moral life. They will teach the advantage of offering dana-gifts, keeping the Sīla precepts and practicing the Bhavana-meditation. 

Definition of Mawkun (မော်ကွန်း), Ratu (ရတု), Linkā (လင်္ကာ), Mittasa (မေတ္တာစာ), Pyo (ပျို့), Tawla (တောလား)

Mawkun (မော်ကွန်း)
Mawkun is another verse form. It is a historical record of an important event or events which had taken place but which were worthy of preserving for posterities.

Ratu (ရတု)
Ratu is a lyrical ode on any subject. It is an offshoot of Linkā verse. But in Linkā there is no limit on the number of stanzas, whereas in Ratu there could be no more than three stanzas. One Stanza Ratu is called Eka pike (ဧကပိုဒ်) or solo, two stanzas Ratu is Aphyi Khan (အဖြည့်ခံ) or Incomplete Ratu, and three stanzas Ratu is Pike-sone (ပိုဒ်စုံ) or Complete Ratu.

Linkā (လင်္ကာ)
Linkā is the simplest form of Myanmar verse which has exact metre, rhyme and rhythm.
The death song of Anantasuriya also called Myet Phay Linkā. In Burmese Myet means ‘anger’ and Phay means reduce or dispel.
A Poem Dispelling Anger, by Anantasuriya
A Poem Dispelling Anger of the King
On the eve of his death, he wrote this classical poem entitled Dhammatā (The Nature of Things).

Mittasa (မေတ္တာစာ)
Myittasa is an epistle. An epistle is a piece of writing either in prose or verse addressed to a king or a superior, with advice and instruction on moral conduct and good government.

Pyo (ပျို့)
Most popular and numerous literary product of the Inwa Period was 'Pyo'. Later generation called this Period "the Period of Pyo". "Pyo' is a set of beautifully constructed verse, but unlike ratu, 'Pyo' can have as many stanzas as its composer fancies. It is a poem of epic proportions. But 'Pyo' does not describe about the contemporary events. Its theme is always religious and it tells the stories selected form the Jatakas or Buddha's life and his births. 

Tawla (တောလား)
Taw means forest and La means journey. So Tawla means a journey through the glades (forest). Tawla is the lyric verses describing the natural beauty of the surroundings of forest. Its theme was religion. It was the description of the long journey which the monk took during his pilgrimage to Shwesettaw Pagodas at Minbu.