Pyu city-states

Origins

From about the 2nd century BCE the Pyu, a Tibeto-Burman-speaking people, built large walled cities in the dry zone of central Myanmar, among them Beikthano, Halin, Maingmaw and later Sri Ksetra. Their growth was tied to irrigated rice farming and trade routes linking India and China.

Rule and society

Each city was ruled by its own dynasty, and Sri Ksetra became the leading centre by the 5th century. The Pyu wrote their own language in a script derived from Brahmi, and Chinese sources of the Tang period describe a gentle Buddhist people with many monasteries, music and silver coinage. Cylindrical stupas, urn burials and gold manuscript leaves survive from their sites.

Decline and legacy

Raids by Nanzhao in the 830s, including the sack of a Pyu city, probably Halin, in 832, broke Pyu power, and the cities declined as the Burmans settled the Kyaukse plain and built the Pagan Kingdom. Pyu culture was absorbed into Burman society; three Pyu ancient cities became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.