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TULSI-PRAJNA
parsangas. Even the most rapid vessels could not complete in two years a tour round the isles which were under his possession.
The Shailendras were Buddhists and maintained diplomatic relations with China as well as the Pala and Chola empires of India who helped them to build Buddhist sanctuaries at Nalanda and Nagapattam. They were also great builders and the famous Barabudur in Javā is an undying monument to their power and glory.
Similarly the Mrawemas, a branch of the Tibeto-Dravidian, tribe who settled in Burma in the 9th century AD, founded an independent kingdom with Pagau as its capital. The classical pame of this city is Arimardanapura and the kingdom was known as Tāmbradīpa.
The first Mrammals king of importance was Aniruddha who ascended the throne in 1044 A.D. He was a great conqueror. He defeated the king of North Arākān and Shân chiefs of the east. He is said to have visited the Indian land of Bengal also. He gained a position of international importance and married an Indian princess. The Burmese chronicles give a long account of his journey to Burma.
When Ceylon was invaded by the Cholas, its king sought for the aid of Aniruddha and later asked him for Buddhist monks and scriptures. In return the Ceylonese king sent him a duplicate of the tooth relic of Buddha. As soon as the ship carrying the relic arrived, king Aniruddha himself waded through the river to the ship, placed the casket on his own head and carried it in procession to the shrine he had built for it--the famous Shewzigan Pagoda which still attracts worshippers from all over Burma.
Kind Aniruddha was succeeded by his son. known as Kyanzittha, who assumed the title Tribhuvanāditya-Dharmārya. During his reign, Burma was in intimate touch with India. It is said that the king fed eight Indian monks with his own hands for three months and hearing from them the description of Indian temples, designed and built the famous temple Ananda, the master piece of Burman architecture.
The Bārābudar
The most important monument in Jāvā is Bārābudur. It was built under the patronage of the Shailendras. This noble building consists of a series of nine successive terraces, each receding from the one beneath it, and whole crowned by a bell-shaped stupa at the centre of the topmost terrace. Of the nine terraces the six lower ones are square in place, while the upper three are circular. The lowest
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