Sovan

Sovan was born on September 18, 302, in a Monic-speaking village on the forested plain east of the Pyu city of Sri Ksetra. Headmen collected tribute that moved toward the Pyu towns and river ports, where Indian traders brought goods and ideas. Her household kept offerings at the house post, rice and betel set out for the spirits of the place, and food placed for named ancestors.

Her father, Ratha, organized transport and exchange along the tracks toward river landings, moving salt, dried fish, resin, and cloth. He kept a small store of goods under the eaves. Her mother, Kanda, ran the cooking fire, pounded grain, and worked the fields when the water stood right. Kanda’s mother, Dara, lived in the compound and watched over the postpartum rules. Ratha’s father, Htun, pressed for quick offerings whenever a child cried too long.

Sovan arrived as the eighth child. Five had died as infants, and the household had grown wary. When Kanda gave birth, Dara tied protective cords at the baby’s wrist and set a small dish of rice and salt at the threshold each morning. Only three older siblings survived: Kiran, now twelve, who lifted sacks and argued prices with travelers; Mali, seven; and Sreyma, five, who carried water and hushed the baby when Kanda stepped away.

In the rains of 303, mosquitoes thickened around standing pools. Sovan developed a shaking fever. Ratha brought Serei, the village diviner-healer, who chanted over her and brushed her with leaves and rubbed a bitter paste on her skin. For three days Kanda held her, nursing when she would take the breast, wiping her down when the heat rose. On August 13, 303, the fever broke into stillness. Kanda wrapped her in cloth, and Dara placed a small bowl of cooked rice beside the body. They buried her at the edge of the compound near the trees, where others had been buried before.