THE ART AND CULTURE OF BURMA

Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of this on-line study-guide and course-outline is to make text and visual
materials on the arts of Burma readily and inexpensively available, in particular to
students and teachers. These materials assume college level reading skills so that the
contents may be used for independent study courses, as a resource for teachers in
secondary schools, as well as anyone interested in expanding and enriching their
knowledge of the Arts and Cultures of Burma. Because the text is written for a
general audience it does not contain the detail or footnotes that are found in scholarly
publications. A select bibliography is provided at the end of each section for those who
wish to pursue topics previously discussed. The illustrations are digitized from my own
collection of color slides with the several exceptions noted.

The importance of presenting this data electronically, is that published information

concerning the arts and culture of Burma is not easily obtained. To date, there is no
readily available comprehensive survey. Those studies that have been published are
often out of print, expensive, or poorly illustrated. Therefore, this course intends to
offer a summary of the research that has been completed together with illustrations
of major buildings and sculpture. The intent here is not to be encyclopedic, but to
describe and illustrate the major developmental phases in the arts of Burma. Because
religious and cultural practices inspired and continue to inspire most of the arts of Burma,
sections describing the belief systems and history of Burma are included. These
discussions are intended to make the art forms more intelligible to the novice as well
as to the more advanced student.
 Contents

The themes of the course follow the chronological development of the major visual
art forms of Burma as they have been reconstructed from an incomplete archeological
record and very limited written records. The study of archaeology and art history is not
well developed in Burma so that benchmark dates and facts are not abundant. Patterns
and themes that are at present discernible will be traced through five major periods.
General characteristics of each period are discussed at the beginning of each section.

1.The Pre-historic Period - c. 1100 BC to c. 200 BC

Paleolithic and Neolithic sites, Animism, and Karen Bronze Drums

2.The Pre-Pagan Period - c. 200 BC to c.800 AD

Mon and Pyu City states: Thaton, Beikthano, Halin, Srikshetra

3.The Pagan Period - c. 800 AD to 1287 AD

4.The Post Pagan Period - 14th to 20th centuries

The Ava and Konbaung Periods
 Acknowledgements

I thank the United States Department of Education and the National Security
Educational Program for a three-month grant that made this project possible.

I am indebted to Dr. Susan Russell, Director of the Center for Southeast Asian
Studies, Northern Illinois University, for her support and encouragement in writing the
NSEP and Title VI grant proposals and to Professors G.M. Henry and Robert Zerwekh,
Department of Computer Science, Northern Illinois University, for their considerable
effort and patience in putting this manuscript into an electronic format.

I wish to thank Dr. Thecla Behrens Cooler for her inspired criticism and editorial
assistance.

Jessica Rhinehart, Nita Purawan and Gregory Betzel gave needed assistance in the
process of slide digitization.

I thank Dr. Michael Aung Thwin for providing me with a copy of his compact disc, The
Making of Modern Burma, before it was available to the general public. In many ways
The Making of Modern Burma (now available from cseas:@hawaii.edu) is a useful
companion to this web course on Burmese Art and Culture.

I gratefully acknowledge my debt to the many scholars who have contributed to

my understanding of Burmese Art. Several in particular have been used herein for
information or illustrations:

U Aung Thaw, Historical Sites in Burma (Rangoon, Ministry of Union Culture,

1972); Sylvia Fraser - Lu, Burmese Crafts: Past and Present (Kuala Lumpur, Oxford
University Press, 1994); Wilhelm Klein, Burma: Insight Guides (Hong Kong, APA
Publications, 1981); George H. Luce, Old Burma, Early Pagan, 3 Vols. (Locust
Valley, New York, J.J. Augustin, 1969-70); Pierre Pichard, An Inventory of monuments
at Pagan, Vols. IVI (Gartmore, Kiscadale Press, 1993 1996);Paul Strachan, Pagan:
Art and Culture of Old Burma (Arran, Scotland, Kiscadale Publications, 1989); Jane
Turner, Ed., The Dictionary of Art, 34 Vols (Macmillan Publishers, London, 1996);
Geography, Peoples and Languages

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has the largest land mass of any country in mainland
Southeast Asia and in size is comparable to the state of Texas. It is situated between and
shares long borders with two of the worlds great superpowers, India and China, as well
as having an extensive border with Thailand. For a relatively short distance, Burma
also shares a border with Bangladesh.
In form, the country resembles a diamond shaped kite with a long tail. From
the peak of the kite in the north to the southern end of its tail, the country
extends 1,275 miles. At its broadest extent from east to west, it measures
approximately 580 miles.

The dense jungles, long distances, and extended mountain ranges between
Burma and its powerful neighbors, India and China, have provided a
natural barrier to foreign military invasion. (The Mongol incursions around
the year 1287, credited with ending the Pagan Empire, are now thought
to have penetrated only into northern Burma and did not succeed in capturing or
occupying the capital city of Pagan. The incursion did serve from afar to
topple an already weakened government.) Therefore, the Indianizaton of Burma and,
particularly the adoption of art forms connected with Buddhism and Hinduism, was
a peaceful and internally motivated process. Burma and Thailand have often been at
war, having regularly plundered each others capitals, and for relatively short periods
they colonized portions of the others territory. Otherwise, with the exception of the
British Colonial period that ended with the close of World War II, Burma was not long
dominated by foreign powers and has had a generally continuous development over time

Burma is a naturally formed geographical unit consisting of a vast central plain

surrounded by three mountainous areas to the north and by the Bay of Bengal and the
Andaman Sea to the South. There are four major land divisions: the large central plains
area is encircled by mountains and plateaus; along the west and northwest by the Arakan
Yoma (mountains) and Chin Hills; along the northern border by the Kumon mountains;
and along the northeast and eastern borders by the Shan Plateau and attendant mountains..

Two major rivers, the Irrawaddy and the Salween, flow southward across
the central plains. The Irrawaddy is Burmas longest and most important
river and a succession of Burmas capitals were built within a short distance of
its banks. To the east of the Irrawaddy, the much shorter Salween
River drains the Shan Plateau and empties into the Gulf of Martaban between the
ancient cities of Pegu and Thaton.

Because the Irrawaddy river is navigable for most of its length, it has served
throughout history as the countrys major transportation route for communication, trade, and
warfare. Additionally, it has assisted in keeping alive the memory of earlier
civilizations so that successive Burmese polities up and down the river have often
asserted their legitimacy by demonstrating connections to earlier kingdoms.
Interestingly, the depth of these connections is far greater in Burma than for other
countries of mainland Southeast Asia. The Irrawaddy, including its considerable
tributary, the Chindwin, drains approximately three-fifths of the countrys surface
terminating in a broad delta below the modern capital, Rangoon (Yangon). Fertile silt
from the Irrawaddy has continually expanded this delta area that gained in economic
importance over the last two centuries as it was cleared for the production of irrigated
rice. Rangoons riverine location near the Bay of Bengal provided the British with a
seaport through which to govern their colony. Until today, Rangoon has remained the
capital and center for political and economic activity, whereas Mandalay, built in the
nineteenth century and the last royal capital, has continued to be a major center for fine
arts and education.

Climatically, Burma is unlike other Southeast Asian countries in that a considerable

dry zone exists in the center of the country where rainfall can be less than 30 inches a
year. This arid area, the dry zone, results from its location in the rain shadow of the
Arakan Mountains that are situated between the dry zone and the Bay of Bengal. The dry
climate is the result of the monsoon clouds first striking the eastern ranges of the
Arakan Mountains and then being shunted higher into the atmosphere inhibiting
rainfall until the rain clouds strike the Shan Plateau.

Paradoxically, irrigated rice was first cultivated in the central dry zone and until the
present day it has continued as a major center for rice production. Despite the lack
of rainfall, extensive irrigation has been possible because water was diverted into
canals and weirs from tributary streams before they enter the Irrawaddy. Water from
the Irrawaddy River itself is not readily available for irrigation because the water
level remains far below the surrounding countryside for much of its course. The wealth
produced by intensive rice cultivation in the dry zone supported the ambitious building
programs and patronage of the arts that is evident in the remains of the capital cites that
were situated along its banks.
The Burmese refer to the dry zone as Upper Burma, even though it is geographically
in the middle of the country. It was here that the Burmese ethnic group first settled
and it was here that most of the Burmese capitals were subsequently built, including
Pagan, Sagaign, Ava, Amarapura and Mandalay. Rangoon and the delta are referred to
as Lower Burma, an area that gained in political and economic importance during the
nineteenth century as a response to Britains need for a seaport-capital from which to
govern its colony.

Since Burma stretches into the northernmost reaches of Southeast Asia, much of central
and northern Burma has a temperate climate although the southern third of the country
is quite tropical with heavy rains and high temperatures.

A mere fifteen percent of the soil in Burma is arable. The disparity in soil fertility
between the fertile central plains and the relatively infertile mountainous areas has
defined not only an economic but also a marked cultural, religious, and language
difference between the lowland peoples and hill tribe groups. The lowlanders
typically are rice farmers, speak Burmese (or in the past, Pyu or Mon) and are
adherents of Theravada Buddhism. Eighty five percent of todays lowland population
practices Buddhism. The hill tribes typically engage in swidden or slash-and-burn
agriculture, speak a non-Burmese language, and practice one of the many forms ofAnimism.
Western missionaries have been successful in converting only members of the hill tribe
groups, so that today, for example, there are hilltribe Karen who are Christian as well
as animist.

Karen man planting dry rice Slash and burn field for cultivation

Karen family Karen women

Burma is one of the least densely populated countries in Asia having a population of 40
million that is concentrated in the arable plains bordering the Irrawaddy and Salween
rivers.
Burma is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in Southeast Asia
having more that 100 indigenous languages spoken within its borders,
although Burmese is the common and official language. Three
ethnic groups, the Mon, the Pyu, and the Burmese have made the greatest
contribution to the development of the arts and culture of Burma and they all
settled in the central plains along the middle and lower reaches of the
Irrawaddy or Salween.

The Mons are the earliest identifiable group to inhabit Burma and lived along the
eastern coastal regions centered about the ancient city of Thaton. Although
little is known about their origins or when they first settled in Burma, their language
belongs to the Mon-Khmer family; similar Mon speaking groups settled in Thailand and
Cambodia. Since the Mons occupied areas adjacent to the coast, it is not surprising that
they were the first group in Burma to be influenced by Indian ideas. The Mons were
the first to adopt the Indian religions of Buddhism and Hinduism. Mon myths tell of
two Mon brothers who visited India and received hair relics from the Buddha. The two
brothers returned to Burma bearing their precious gifts that were encased in what has
become the most revered Buddhist monument in Burma today, the Shwedagon, located
at the center of the present capital, Rangoon.

The Shwedagon Stupa, Rangoon

The Pyu Peoples settled areas located inland to the north of the Mons although some
few communities may have been interspersed among the Mon. The Pyu lived in
walled cities, the largest and most important being Srikshetra, located not far from the
Irrawaddy, near Prome. Pyu, the language of these people, belongs to the
Tibeto - Burman family of languages, as is Burmese. Therefore it is believed that when
the Burmese moved south and conquered the Pyu, they were easily absorbed into the
Burmese population. In any event, the Pyu are rarely heard of after the quadralingual
Myazedi inscription of 1113 AD and today there are no Pyu speakers.
At some time after the fifth century, the Burmese people moved South down the
Irrawaddy settling along the Irrawaddy but importantly around the bend of the
Irrawaddy where it makes a major eastward turn. This area, known as Kyaukse, became
the Burmese heartland and is where irrigated rice was first extensively cultivated. By
the 8th century, the Burmese established what was to become their most important city,
Pagan, which was located at the second major bend in the Irrawaddy where it turns and
flows southward to the Bay of Bengal. Today, about 70% of the population occupying
the central plain are ethnic Burmese.

Burma: Geographical Facts and Figures

Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal be-
tween Bangladesh and Thailand

Geographic coordinates: 22 00 N, 98 00 E

Area: Total 678,500 sq. km

Land 657,740 sq. km

Water 20,760 sq. km

Elevation extremes: Lowest point: Andaman Sea 0 m

Highest point: Hkakabo Razi 5,881 m

Natural Resources: petroleum, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper, tungsten, lead,
coal, marble, limestone, precious stones, natural gas, hydropower

Land Use: arable land 15%

Total Population: 41,734,853

Ethnic Composition: Burmese 68%, Shan 9%, Karen 7%, Rakhine (Arakanese) 4%,
Chinese 3%, Mon 2%, Indian 2%, other 5%

Religious Affiliation: Buddhist 89%, Christian 4%, (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic
1%), Muslim 4%, animist 1%, other 2%
 Art History of Burma: Synoptic Overview

A. The Prehistoric Period - c. 1100 BC to 200 BC

The Pre historic Period in Burma is known from a limited number of excavations that
were carried out in selected rock shelters, caves and other sites along the middle course
of the Irrawaddy River. Since Burma even today is sparsely populated, it would not be
surprising to find that early cultures in Burma developed in isolation. However, the
artifacts uncovered in these digs resemble those in other parts of Southeast Asia indi-
cating that there was meaningful contact over wide areas at a very early date, and the
arts in Burma were not isolated even at this early time. This pattern of intra-area contact
continued into the later historical periods.

Since there are no written records for this early period, we know little about religious
practice. However, since the artifacts that have been discovered conform to those used
in small-scale societies for animist rituals, it might be presupposed that these early
societies practiced a type of Animism. Therefore, Animism, and artifacts associated
with its practice, will be discussed as a bridge between this most remote period and
contemporary animist art forms.

B. The Pre-Pagan Period - Mon and Pyu Urbanism - c. 2nd BC 8 AD

During the Pre-Pagan Period there is ample evidence that the lowland peoples in
Burma adopted ideas from India as indicated by a few standing structures, numerous
excavated foundations, and a wide array of artifacts. These materials were produced for
worship in Animism and Hinduism as well as Mahayanna and Theravada Buddhism.

The first cities appear throughout central Burma and were directly dependent on
extensive irrigation systems. Thus begins the parmountcy of the central region of
Burma that continues until the present. The cities occur in well-planed forms that are a
combination of indigenous and Indian concepts. Within these cities, the first buildings
in non-perishable materials were constructed. These brick and mortar buildings were
all used for religious purposes whereas secular buildings, even palaces, continued to be
made of perishable materials until the modern era. This dichotomy between the type of
material used for construction and the use of the building generally continued through
all later developmental periods. Also, at this time, a particular interest develops for
two types of religious structures the Buddhist stupa and the Buddhist temple. Brick
foundations of what were most probably the first monasteries are dated to this period.

Although the number of images from the Pre-Pagan Period is limited, the diversity of
styles and subject matter is generally broader than in later periods. The Mon and Pyu
languages are written using alphabets and concepts adopted from India. A Burmese
calendar was later created that begins with the fall of the Pyu dynasty in 836 AD.

C. The Pagan Period - 11th to 13th centuries

Classic forms emerged during the Pagan Period for many aspects of Burmese culture,
including the economic, political, religious, social, and artistic. These forms were the
models used by later Burmese dynasties to create new but related forms, often through
slightly modifing their content.

Classic architectural forms emerged as embodied in the Shwezigon Stupa and the
Ananda Temple that were repeatedly copied by later donors. The styles of sculpture
from the Pagan Period were also periodically revived. Theravada Buddhism became
the preferred faith and thereafter remained the predominant Burmese religion. The
first examples of figurative painting occur on temple walls and employ the Pala style of
India and Nepal. Although Pagan ceased to be the political capital of Burma in the 13th
century, the city continued to be a respected religious center and many later monarchs
returned to Pagan to endow new foundations or refurbish old ones.

D. The Post Pagan Period -14th to 20th centuries

After the decline of Pagan, Burma fragmented into a number of small kingdoms
that looked back to Pagan for validation and for artistic inspiration. None of these
kingdoms rivaled the earlier period in art and architectural accomplishments and all
can be seen as Pagan writ small. Pagan buildings were proudly copied, but often with
significant modifications.The stupa became the most favored religious building and temples
were rarely built. Wooden monasteries constructed on a raised wooden platform largely
replaced the brick and stucco monasteries of Pagan. A number of Burmese styles arose,
particularly in sculpture, as a result of fewer contacts with India due to the Muslim
invasions there and the Muslim destruction of Buddhist religious sites. Burmese styles
of painting develop and in the nineteenth century borrow pictorial devices from the
West.

The Mandalay Style that arose during the latter half of the Post Pagan Period became
dominant in central Burma and has continued until the present as the preferred style in
Burmese art.
 Chapter I: Prehistoric and Animist Periods

A. Prehistoric Sites

1. Introduction

As infrequent archaeological excavations have slowly revealed pieces of Burmas past,

a better but still incomplete understanding of Burmas prehistory has slowly emerged.
Scant archaeological evidence suggests that cultures existed in Burma as early as
11,000 BC, long before the more recent Burmese migrations that occurred after the 8th
century AD. The conventional western divisions of prehistory into the Old Stone Age,
New Stone Age and the Iron or Metal Age are difficult to apply in Burma because there
is considerable overlap between these periods. In Burma, most indications of early
settlement have been found in the central dry zone, where scattered sites appear in close
proximity to the Irrawaddy River. Surprisingly, the artifacts from these early cultures
resemble those from neighboring areas in Southeast Asia as well as India. Although
these sites are situated in fertile areas, archaeological evidence indicates that these
early people were not yet familiar with agricultural methods.

The Anyathian, Burmas Stone Age, existed at a time thought to parallel the lower
and middle Paleolithic in Europe. At least six kinds of stone hand tools have been
discovered in the fourteen sites associated with this period. This assemblage of stone
tools in conjunction with additional archaeological evidence indicates that these people
lived by hunting animals and gathering wild fruits, vegetables and root crops.

The Neolithic or New Stone Age, when plants and animals were first domesticated
and polished stone tools appeared, is evidenced in Burma by three caves located near
Taunggyi at the edge of the Shan plateau that are dated to 10000 to 6000 BC. The
most complex of these, the Padhalin cave, contains wall paintings of animals, not
unlike those found in the Neolithic caves at Altimira, Spain or Lascaux, France. These
paintings may be interpreted as an indication that the cave was used as a site for
religious ritual. Thus, caves were among the earliest sites used for Buddhist
worship in Burma. This is of importance because the use of caves for religious purposes
continued into later periods and may be seen as a bridge between the earlier
non-Burmese, Animist period and the later Buddhist period. Numerous caves around
the ancient city of Pagan have been outfitted with Buddha images or have been
incorporated into early temples such as Kyauk Ku Umin or Thamiwhet and Hmyatha
Umin.
 Thamiwhet Umin, Nyaung-o, Pagan

Buddha image erected inside Thamiwet Umin

A Buddhist temple is referred to as a cave, whether it is naturally formed or, as is most

often the case, architecturally constructed. The Burmese word for cave is gu and
has been continually used to refer to Buddhist temples. It is frequently incorporated
into the name of a temple, for example Shwe Gu Kyi or Penatha Gu. Also, until the
twelfth century, temple interiors were intentionally dimly lit. This effect was achieved
by installing permanent stone or brick lattices in all the relatively small windows. (The
Burmese ethnic group has been credited with building their temples with larger, unob-
structed windows and thereby creating more brightly-lit interiors - a transition that is
seen in the temples of the Pagan Period).

By the second half of the first millennium BC a new developmental phase began in the
dry zone of Burma. Referred to as the early Bronze - Iron Age, these cultures shared
practices and methods of production with various neighboring areas. Burial methods
resemble those of Thailand and Cambodia. Iron working technology most likely came
from India or other parts of Southeast Asia, and ceramic forms and decoration corre-
spond to those of the bronze - iron Age levels at Ban Chiang in northern Thailand and
at Samrong Sen in Cambodia. Numerous beads have been recovered that stylistically
resemble those imported from Andrha Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in India.

2. Prehistoric: Early man at Taungthaman

The site of Taungthaman is located near the 19th century city of Mandalay, on an
alluvial terrace of the Irrawaddy River within the walls of the 18th century capital,
Amarapura, and was occupied from the late Neolithic through the early iron age,
around the middle of the first millennium BC. Many artifacts have been uncovered at
Taungthaman such as sophisticated stone tools, intricate ceramic wares, and primitive
iron metallurgy. Many of these objects would have been acquired from the prosperity
gained through industrious farming and trade. When burying their dead, their new
affluence encouraged these people to include among the grave goods fine decorative
ceramics produced by specialized potter artisans as well as the more common
household objects such as bowls and spoons. Human and animal figures discovered at
Taungthaman in the 1970s are thought to have been used for religious practices. If
this is so, these artifacts represent the oldest of their kind found in Burma. Although
no building in permanent material was discovered at Taungthaman, the excavations
uncovered a pattern of post-holes that are the results of buildings having been
supported on wooden pilings.