From Padauk to Hyacinth: Literary Botany, the Agency of Plants, and the Contemporary Poetry of Myanmar

Abstract

In her collection of essays, Letters from Burma, published originally in 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi recalls Thingyan-the annual mid-April water festival heralding the beginning of the new year in Myanmar-and padauk, the yellow flower associated with the festive season. Well-regarded, though controversial leader of the National League of Democracy (NLD) and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, Suu Kyi completed the book during the early stages of a twenty-one-year period-between 1989 and 2010-punctuated by multiple house arrests under the military junta of Myanmar. In sharp chiaroscuro to the political turbulence most likely pervading her consciousness at the time of writing, she tenderly recalls tucking the floral symbol of Thingyan, the rosewood or scented padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus), into her hair. The medium-sized tree - "bright yellow with a very sweet but light fragrance" - is native to mainland Southeast Asia where its durability and resistance to termites make it a popular wood for furniture-making and house construction. It is, of course, also an esteemed decoration worn by women during Thingyan.