A Millennium of Urban Life
Between 200 BCE and 900 CE, the Pyu Kingdoms established some of Southeast Asia's first and longest-lived cities. This thousand-year period, often called the Pyu millennium, saw the rise of large, moated and walled urban centers in the dry zone of the Ayeyarwady River basin. The three most prominent sites—Halin, Beikthano, and Sri Ksetra—collectively form a UNESCO World Heritage site showing a sophisticated model of urban planning and resource management.
Sri Ksetra is the largest of the Pyu cities, enclosing 1,857 hectares within its brick walls, an area larger than 11th-century Bagan or 19th-century Mandalay. Its circular walls were more than 13 kilometers in circumference and up to 4.5 meters high, with 12 gates guarded by large deva sculptures. Radiocarbon dating of architectural features at these sites has confirmed occupation from as early as 190 BCE. Halin, a rectangular city measuring 3.2 by 1.6 kilometers, was the dominant northern city until the 7th century CE, when Sri Ksetra became the primary Pyu center. The cities were supported by advanced hydraulic systems, including canals, reservoirs, and weirs, some of which are still used by local farmers today.
Culture, Script, and Trade
The Pyu civilization provides the earliest evidence for the introduction and establishment of Buddhism in Southeast Asia. This appears in the monumental brick stupas, such as the 153-foot-tall Bawbawgyi Pagoda at Sri Ksetra, and monasteries built with royal patronage. Their mortuary practices were also distinctive, involving the cremation of the dead and the storage of remains in decorated terracotta, stone, or copper urns within communal burial structures.
The Pyu developed their own writing system, derived from the Brahmi script of India, which was used to write the now-extinct Tibeto-Burman Pyu language. Inscriptions in Pyu, Sanskrit, and Pali have been found on stone urns and steles, including a quadrilingual stone inscription from 1113 CE known as the Myazedi or "Rosetta Stone of Myanmar," which was important for deciphering the Pyu script.
These cities were nodes on the overland trade route connecting India and China. Roman embassies heading to China passed through this region in 97 and 121 CE. Archaeological finds confirm this long-distance trade, including artifacts from northwest India and the Philippines discovered at Beikthano. The Pyu also maintained diplomatic ties with China; in 801-802 CE, Sri Ksetra sent a delegation with 35 musicians to the Tang court. They minted their own silver coins, which circulated from the 5th century CE. The civilization declined in the 9th century following raids by the Kingdom of Nanzhao.