U Ottama

U Ottama

Sayadaw U Ottama (Burmese: ဆရာတော် ဦးဥတ္တမ ; also U Uttama; 28 December 1879 – 9 September 1939) was a Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk, author and a leader of the Burmese independence movement during the British colonial rule. The ethnic Rakhine (Arakanese) monk was imprisoned several times by the British colonial government for his anti-colonialist political activities. He went on a hunger strike in prison, and died in September 1939. He is presently considered one of the national heroes of modern Myanmar.