Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HISTORY AND POLITICS IN MODERN MYANMAR
The history of Myanmar is a multi-faceted, complex and frequently controversial subject.
The official government-sponsored narrative emphasizes Myanmar's status as a country
forged out of a patchwork of disparate peoples joined together in the glorious cause of na-
tional unity, sovereignty and the greater good, while travelling around the country you'll
probably notice posters and displays promulgating the “Three Main National Causes” pro-
moted by the military rulers: “Non-disintegration of the Union/Non-disintegration of na-
tional solidarity/Perpetuation of Sovereignty”.
Not surprisingly, official history tends to focus on the primacy of the country's Bamar
majority and their role in building the modern nation state of Myanmar, while huge statues
of the country's three great Bamar unifiers and nation-builders - Anawrahta, Bayinnaung
and Alaungpaya - tower symbolically over the new capital of Naypyitaw. Such history
inevitably tends to be written at the expense of smaller ethnic groups - the Mon, Shan,
Rakhine, Kayin and many others - who have found themselves at the margins of the ma-
jorityBamarworld-view,andwhosecultures,languagesandidentitieshavebeenprogress-
ively swamped and suppressed.
Pyu city-states
Myanmar'srecordedhistorybeginswiththearrivalofthe Pyu inthesecondcenturyBC.Mi-
grating south from Yunnan in southern China, the Pyu gradually settled along the northern
Ayeyarwadyvalley,establishingastringofmutuallyindependentcity-statesalonglocaltrade
routes between China and India. Tang-dynasty Chinese annals record eighteen Pyu statelets
including eight walled cities (each with twelve gates - one for each sign of the zodiac). The
largest early Pyu city was at Hanlin , although as the Pyu migrated south down the Ayeyar-
wadythiswaseventuallyeclipsed,inaroundtheseventhoreightcentury,by SriKsetra (aka
Thayekhittaya).
Pyu civilization lasted roughly a thousand years - the “Pyu Millennium”, as it's sometimes
described -laying thefoundations forthegreat Bagan Empire that wouldeventually succeed
it and, by extension, much of the basis of modern Burmese culture. Religious and cultural
ideas travelling northfromIndiaplayed aprofoundroleinPyusociety.Bythefourthcentury
most Pyu had converted to a local form of “ Ari Buddhism ” , while they also developed an
alphabet based on the Indian Brahmi script and adapted architectural ideas from the subcon-
tinent - Myanmar's first stupas, later to become the country's defining architectural and reli-
gious symbol, made their first appearance at Sri Ksetra.
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