Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c8.55

c8.55

We know from the Chinese chronicles a great deal of the tribe called Pyu in the Burmese tradition. The earliest Chinese notices of Burma, going back to the third century A.D., refer to the people as P'iao which undoubtedly stands for Pyu. Hiuen Tsang refers to the kingdom of Śrīkṣetra as the first great Hindu kingdom beyond the frontier of East India. Round about this ancient site (modern Prome) have been found inscribed plaques containing canonical texts in Pāli which have been referred to about A.D. 500. We have also Sanskrit inscriptions of the Pyus dating probably from the seventh century A.D. But our knowledge of a connected history of Burma goes back only to the tenth century A.D.