A Preliminary Study Of Pyu Civilization

Pyu, an early country with ancient civilization, is a much higher level of development in Burma. In the second century BC, Pyu peoples founded their country in the dry zone of Burma. Although the economy of Pyu is mainly dependent on the irrigated agriculture, the handicrafts and the commercial trade also develop. Pyu builds cities, establishes the system of the feudal class society and creates a splendid culture. In832AD, Nanzhao occupied Pyu’s capital, Sriksetra, and captured three thousand Pyu peoples to Tuodong (now Kunming). Pyu had fallen into decline since then, and Pyu civilization also gradually disappeared in the course of history. This thesis attempts to comprehensively and deeply study the economic, the political, the cultural and the social of Pyu and reproduce the origins, the development and the decline of Pyu civilization.This thesis consists of six parts. The first part is the introduction, including the significance of the thesis, the research status both at home and abroad, the research methods and the basic concept. The second part studies first the origin of Pyu people, discussing the ethnic origin and the time and the route of settling in Burma. Then, it describes the beginning, the ending and the overview of Pyu. The third part introduces first Pyu irrigation systems and agricultural economy. Then, it introduces the handicrafts, the mining and the commercial trade, and simply analyses the economic level of Pyu. The fourth part describes first the three central cities of Pyu, namely Beikthano, Halin and Sriksetra. Then, it introduces the political system and the social profile and discusses the social relation and the nature of the society. The fifth part introduces the mixed religious beliefs, words, music, dance, funeral customs and architecture and so on, and describes the splendid culture of Pyu. The sixth part is the conclusion, mainly to summarize the summary of the thesis.