"The Burmese word for poem or poetry is kavya, derived from the Sanskrit term kavya, an ancient poetic style from India. Just like Sanskrit kavya, traditional Burmese poetry was inspired by the court, the patron of Burmese literature, and by Buddhism ? with the possible exception of the sixteenth century tya-chins by Minister Padethayaza, whose muse was the proletariat of his time: peasants, toddy climbers and boatmen..."