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Perhaps the Government fears of any earlier connection with Jainism may be revealed or related traditions.
Mt Popa around Bagan was described as Mt. Olympus of Myanmar and was considered most powerful Nat. Before King Anawaratha' time thousands of animals were sacrificed to the Nat deities during festivals. But this practice was stopped by the king Anawaratha. This and other rituals are enough proofs that the king followed Jaina religion. There were two prominent nations in Burma; Mons and Pyu (see Map 31] Fig. ). The Mons were culturally advanced but were divided into rival centers of power [7], one based on Pegu and the other on Thaton.
The Pyus:
The first historically significant ethnic people in Burma were Pyus who probably migrated from south-west China. They were known in China under the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang annals (Covering AD 609-918) Burma was described as containing 18 states and 9 walled towns, which belonged to PYu. Sri Khsyetra was the capital city of Pyu, which was center of Pyu culture (16). The Pyus followed Jainism (whereas Sardesai mentions as Hinduism) and believed in principle of non-violence (peace loving) to a fault. They spurned the use of silk because the process of its manufacturing involved the killing of silk worms. Outside the royal palace at Prome a 100 ft huge statue of a white elephant served as a fountain of justice. It was worshipped by the devout. Even the king himself bowed down before the elephant, in case of public misfortune happened. Prome was called a holy city. The city, besides the main gate, had 32 small gates, 32 moats, four cornered towers etc. Among the contributions of the pyus was the Vikram Era (named after the Pyu Vikram Dynasty) beginning in 638 AD which spread in Thailand, and Cambodia. Characteristic of Pyu architecture is employing of shikharas on the temples. Shikharas consisted of a structure with an inner hollow chamber supporting a round -conic super structure. The shikharas over the temples are a symbolic expression in architecture of the soul's upward urge from the earth to the divine.
The Mons: The Mons settled in Siam and in lower Burma and called themselves Rmen. From its mediaeval form Rmen comes Ramanna and the Ramannadesha given by Arab geographers to the country of Mons.
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