Shrikshetra

Shrikshetra ( Burmese သရေခေတ္တရာ IV, IV – IX centuries; translated as “Field of Glory”, “Field of Fortune”) is one of the first states in Myanmar .

kingdom
Shrikshetra
Cities of the people drink on the map of modern Myanmar
→ → IV century - IX century
Capital	Tarekttaya Peytano Khalingi
Square

Pagoda in Shrikshetra

In the III century BC. e. the Chinese kingdom of Qin defeated the states of Ba and Shu , which existed in the middle reaches of the Yangtze . This, as well as the subsequent expansion of the Han empire, caused a significant wave of migration of Tibetan-Burmese tribes, reaching the river valleys of Central Myanmar. I drink tribes founded a number of settlements in the Irrawaddy Valley. They learned to use the high annual flood of the river, to hold water with earthen ramparts and to regulate its flow for irrigation of fields after the flood recession. The new flood control technology has made it possible to develop new territories for rice culture, contributing to the transition to a neighboring community and the creation of a state. I drink irrigation systems, subsequently used by the creators of the Pagan kingdom, were discovered by archaeologists using aerial photography.

As established by archaeological finds, the capital city of Shrikshetry was alternately Tarekettaya (in the area of ​​the modern city of Pi ), Peitano, Khalindzhi. Rice was the main crop in Shrikshetra, but along with it, according to Chinese chronicles, millet and soybeans, cotton and sugarcane (“human foot thick”) and various vegetables were grown.

The cities, according to Chinese eyewitnesses, were huge, oval in shape, surrounded by a double ring of walls, tiled with ceramic, and brick-lined moats. Inside the city walls, along with residential buildings and temples, there were rice fields, gardens, vegetable gardens, ponds. Archaeological evidence confirms reports from Chinese sources about the widespread use of metals in Shrikshetra.

Little is known about the state and social structure of Shrikshetra. Chinese sources report that the drink is ruled by kings who have the Indian title of Maharaj . The burial stone urns of the royal dynasty, bearing the throne name of Vikram, found in Tarekettay, and the decoding of the inscriptions stamped on them (I drink the alphabet) made it possible to determine the reason for the introduction of the chronology adopted so far in Myanmar, beginning in 638: this was the year of the accession to the throne of the first king of the dynasty Vikram in Shrikshetra. Chinese sources describe significant social differentiation in Shrikshetra: the king lives in a palace decorated with gold, silver, carpets, travels in a palanquin or on an elephant, possesses treasures and a harem; the nobility is surrounded by retinue. Unlike commoners, whose small funeral urns are made of clay, kings are buried in huge stone jugs on high brick pedestals.

Despite widespread religious syncretism , Shrikhetra preferred Theravada Buddhism, although both Hindu and Mahayan customs flourished in the palace. Chinese sources indicate that it is Buddhists who live in Shrikshetra, that there are one hundred Buddhist monasteries in the city, that boys study at monastery schools (but later on they can return to secular life again), that the population is committed to the Buddhist ban on killing all living things.

The first links between China and Myanmar were established along the northern land road through Yunnan . When the state of Nanzhao arose in Yunnan, its rulers opened caravan trade along this path. Expanding, Nanzhao conquered the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy from Shrikshetra in 757 and 763 and forced it to recognize its suzerainty. Apparently, the Vikram dynasty was no longer in Shrikshetra at that time, and the capital was moved north to Khalinji on the caravan route to Nanzhao - probably due to pressure from the south of the monks and raids by the Karen.

In 802, an embassy from Srikshetra arrived in the Tang empire . From the words I drink, the Chinese court chroniclers wrote down information about the state of Shrikshetra; I drink musicians, who were many in the embassy, ​​received the approval of the Tang court. It is possible that the attempts of the last kings of Shrikshetra to pursue an independent policy led to the defeat of this state: in 832, the troops of Nanzhao captured Khalindzhi, razed it to the ground, and the remaining inhabitants were driven into captivity. Gradually, mentions of drinking disappeared from historical materials.