Sri Ksetra

Sri Ksetra 

a state of the Pyu people of Burma that existed until the 830’s. Sri Ksetra, which is first mentioned in Chinese sources of the fourth century A.D., occupied most of the Irra-waddy River valley and in the south bordered the Mon cities; its first capital was the city of Tarekitara, or Sri Ksetra. The state reached its peak under the Vikrama dynasty, which ruled in the seventh and eighth centuries. Sri Ksetra maintained extensive commercial and cultural relations with India and China. The dominant religion was Buddhism.

In the eighth century, Sri Ksetra became a dependency of the state of Nan Chao, and its capital was moved north to the city of Khalin. In 832, according to the Chinese chronicles of the T’ang Dynasty, the troops of Nan Chao overran and leveled the Pyu capital; the surviving Pyu became slaves. The Pyu, a people of the Tibeto-Burmese group, subsequently were assimilated by the Burmese; they are last mentioned between the 11th and 13th centuries as one of the peoples inhabiting the Pagan state.

Sri Ksetra considerably influenced the development of later Burmese states (particularly the Pagan state), primarily in the area of Buddhist ideology and culture.

REFERENCES

Mozheiko, I. V. 5,000 khramov na beregu Iravadi. Moscow, 1967.
Mozheiko. I. V., and A. N. Uzianov. Istoriia Birmy. Moscow, 1973.

I. VSEVOLODOV