The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s4.42

v3.c29.s4.42

Pegū had peace between Razadarit's death in 1423 and the end of the monarchy in 1539. The dynasty was mild. The kings could indulge their peaceful proclivities because the Upper Burma hordes found all the fighting they wanted among themselves, and the states of Prome and Toungoo acted as a buffer. An Italian traveller in 1505 describes the reigning king, Binnyaran, as so gentle that a child might speak to him, and as wearing so many jewels that at night he shone like the sun¹. It was the golden age of Pegū, and there can be little doubt that its civilisation was higher than that of the savage north. If few traces remain, that is because it was a simple civilisation, the steaming climate of the Delta hastens decay, and the Burmese conquerors touched nothing which they did not destroy.