Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 97

MAY, 1930 ]
PERIODS IN INDIAN HISTORY
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85
c. 1070 to 1215.29 Then wandering began again, this time towards the S.W., and, ultimately, with the advent of the Europeans in XVI A.D., the remnant of Sinhalese nationality retired to the Kandyan Hills.
2. Burma.98 The history of Burma is the product of three main ethnic factors-(1) Mon (Talaing), (2) Tibeto-Burman and (3) Tai (Shan). The Mons (of Austrio speech) developou tirir culture in Lower Burma in Thaton and Pegu, the Tibeto-Burmans in Upper Burma in the Middle Irrawaddy basin, the Tai-speaking Shans, in the Yunnan hinterland. 24
Indian cultural influence is strong. Upper Burma apparently got its early culture by land from Bengal, Lower Burma by sea from S. India. Thus the early Buddhism of Upper Burma was Sanskrit -Mahayanist, of Lower Burma Pali-Hinayanist.
The chronology of the Early Period is not known. Dated history begins only with the Middle Medieval Period.
A. By about 650 A.D. the Pyus, "forerunners of the Tibeto-Burmans," had established a great city at Prome; their language was Tibeto-Burman ; their script akin to that used in S. India in V and VI A.D. The Burmese Era (adopted later in Siam and Cambodia) dates from 638 A.D.
B. Some time after 800 A.D. the Pyus of Prome were overthrown and migrated, it is said, to Pagan. In course of time the Pyus appear to have merged in the Burmese nation.
C. The last phase of this period saw Burma united under the enlightened Empire of Pagan. Anawrahta (1044-81) over-ran the South, captured Thaton (c. 1067) and assimilated the culture of the Mons. Henceforth Burma was the stronghold of Hinayana Buddhism. 26
The Period 1200-1500 A.D. is that of “Shan Dominion." It has two phases. Be. tween 1200 and 1360 the Shans (with Kublai Khan behind them) over-ran the Irrawaddy valley and broke up the Pagan Empire into Shan principalities, notably those at Sagning and Pinya on the Middle Irrawaddy and at Martaban near Thaton. In about 1366 came a move towards reconstruction with the founding of Ava in Upper Burma and the transfer of the capital of the South from Martaban to Pegu. This consolidation led to a generation of war between Ava and Pegu (1385–1417), followed by a period of internecine strife in Ava and the “Golden Age" of the Mons (1423—1539).
Early in the Modern Period Burma became once more united under the Toungoo Dynasty (1531-1762), a buffer state which grew up between Ava and Pegu and then destroyed them both. Toungoo had been an asylum for disgruntled Burmese, and was anti-Shan. In 1547 the new rulers entered on the last phase of the struggle with the Tai, the wars with Siam, 6 which lasted well into the nineteenth century. In 1740 came the Talaing Revolution, the last brief flicker of the Mons, followed by the Burmese Empire of Alompra (1752-1885).
3. Middle and Further Indo-China. As in Lower Burma, so in the countries now known as Siam and French Indo-China, history begins with peoples of Avstric speech and Indianized culture, Mons in the Upper Menam valley centring in Lamphun, Khmers in Cambodia in the Mekong valley, Chams in Champa on the Annam seaboard.
23 Except for a short interval (1026—54).
28 This, and the succeeding sections on Indo-China and Indonesia, are largely based on notes kindly furnished by Dr. C. 0. Blagden.
24 The Tibeto-Chinese family of languages is divided into (1) Tibeto-Burman and (2) Tai-Chinese subfamilies. To the latter belongs the language of the Shans. The Austrio family includes among others the languages of Polynesia and Melanesia and Malaya, the Khmers of Cambodia, the Chams of Champa and about four million Munda speakers in Chota Nagpur.
95 From c. 1181—2 (Kalyani inscription) Ceylon Buddhism began to replace the Thaton type, which probably came from Conjeeveram. See G. E. Harvey, Hist. of Burma, p. 56.
26 The word "Shan" is a Burmanized form of "Siam," now restricted to the Nordern Tai only.