title: Ana Montes

text: Carmichael further alleged that, unlike many in the US intelligence community, he believed that Montes' penetration of the DIA was not the exception, but the rule, and that the Cuban intelligence services had multiple spies and moles within US intelligence agencies.


title: Ana Montes

text: In 2004 a federal indictment alleged that Montes had assistance from another Cuban agent, Marta Rita Velázquez, once a legal officer at the United States Agency for International Development, who was further alleged to have recruited Montes into espionage. The federal indictment was unsealed in April 2013. Velázquez has been outside the US since 2002, apparently in Sweden, which does not have an extradition treaty with the US for spy cases.


title: Ana Montes

text: Montes was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at her office on September 21, 2001. Prosecutors stated that Montes had been privy to classified information about the US military's impending invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, and that they did not want her revealing this information to potential enemies.


title: Ana Montes

text: In 2002, Montes pleaded guilty to the charge which could have carried the death penalty, but was sentenced to 25 years in prison in October of the same year after accepting a plea agreement with the US government. Her lawyer, Plato Cacheris, said that Montes spied for Cuba because "she felt the Cubans were treated unfairly by the U.S. government." After pleading guilty, Montes told CIA debriefers that she desired to protect Cuba from the U.S. and that she believed that "all the world is one country." In a 2013 letter from prison to a friend, Montes wrote that "I believe that the morality of espionage is relative. The activity always betrays someone, and some observers will think that it is justified and others not, in every case."


title: Ana Montes

text: As of December 2019, Montes is incarcerated at FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. FMC Carswell is listed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a facility located in the northeast corner of the Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base, Fort Worth, which provides specialized medical and mental health services to female offenders.


title: Ana Montes

text: Montes is listed as FMC Register #25037-016. Her tentative release date is listed as January 8, 2023.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: Laadla () is a 1994 Indian drama film directed by Raj Kanwar, from a screenplay written by Anees Bazmee. The film stars Sridevi and Anil Kapoor, with Raveena Tandon, Anupam Kher, Farida Jalal, Shakti Kapoor, Aruna Irani, Alok Nath, Mohnish Bahl and Prem Chopra featured in supporting roles. The film initially starred Divya Bharti as the female lead and she had shot most of the film. However, due to her untimely death in 1993, the film was reshot with Sridevi replacing her. The film is the remake of Kannada film "Anuraga Aralithu" (1986). In the film, a headstrong factory owner marries the union leader of the factory, to quell his spirit and teach him a lesson. In the process, she ends up learning a few lessons herself.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: "Laadla" was released theatrically on 25 March 1994. The film, upon release, was a commercial success grossing ₹11 crore domestically, becoming the seventh highest grossing Indian movie of 1994. Sridevi's performance in a negative role as Sheetal Jaitley was widely acclaimed and earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: Raj "Raju" Verma lives with his disabled and paralyzed mother Gayatri. Before a job interview, he saves textile mill owner Laxminarayan Jetley who offers him job in his factory run by his ambitious adopted daughter, Sheetal. Her competitive attitude and open insults result in several enemies including her henchman Tilak, whom she often slaps and insults.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: As a mechanic, Raju confronts her several times for proper treatment of workers. She is enraged when he turns union leader. Raju falls for the mill's modest worker Kajal. Suryadev, a competing owner tries to eliminate Sheetal. Charismatic, Raju guides her on how to handle rival and the workers. Egoistic and angered, Sheetal slaps him who retaliates this reaching her cabin and slaps her too.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: Sheetal cannot fire Raju as then she would have to admit. Vengeful, she convinces Gayatri to get her married to Raju.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: Reluctantly on Gayatri's order, Raju sacrifices his love for Kajal and marries Sheetal. He lives in his own house and works as a mechanic but moves to Sheetal's luxurious house later upon Gayatri's request. Slowly, he falls in love with Sheetal.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: Tensions arise when Sheetal eliminates Kajal, seeing her visiting Raju's house frequently. Kajal turns caretaker of Gayatri. Later, labour issues cause the workers to go on strike. Competing mill owner for benefit of this hires people to set it on fire. Raju is mistakenly arrested. Gayatri visits Sheetal's house to clarify matters.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: Insulted and taunted, she collapses but Raju saves her and slaps Sheetal. Guilty, Sheetal who has now feelings for Raju too is kidnapped by Suryadev. Luckily, Raju rescues her. Sheetal improves herself. Kajal turns managing director of her company, as Sheetal quits her job. Everyone live happily ever after.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: Divya Bharti was originally cast in the role of Sheetal and filmed most of her role, but due to her sudden death on 5 April 1993, she could not complete the film. Later, Sridevi was signed to play the role.


title: Laadla (1994 film)

text: Producer Nitin Manmohan repeated music directors Anand–Milind and lyricist Sameer after hits like "", "Maha Sangram", "Adharm" and "Bol Radha Bol". The music topped the charts when released. It was among the best selling albums of 1994.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: Mehbooba Mufti (born 22 May 1959) is an Indian politician of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who served as the 9th and last Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 4 April 2016 to 19 June 2018. After the revocation of the special status (autonomy) of the state in August 2019, Mufti was detained without any charges at first and later under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. She was released only in October 2020, after the Supreme Court of India quizzed the government about the length of her detention.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: Mufti was the first woman to hold the office of Chief Minister in the J&K. She formed a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir jointly with the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). She resigned in June 2018 after the BJP withdrew from the coalition.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: Mufti was the president of the PDP and was a member of the Indian parliament, representing Anantnag in the 16th Lok Sabha; before she was sworn in as the Chief Minister of J&K. She also represented Anantnag in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004–09).


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: She is the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Gulshan Ara, born in 1959 in Akhran Nowpora, J&K, India. She graduated in English literature from Government College for Women in Jammu, and has a law degree from the University of Kashmir. Post 1989, she shifted to N. Delhi and joined the Bombay Mercantile Bank, after which she worked with East West Airlines, before moving back to J&K. Her ex-husband is a political analyst, an animal-rights activist, and was briefly with National Conference party. She has two daughters, Iltija and Irtiqa.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: When elections for the state assembly were held in 1996, Mehbooba became one of the most popular members elected from Bijbehara on an Indian National Congress ticket. Her father had returned to the Congress, which he had left in 1987, angry at the alliance that party had formed with its traditional rival in the state, the National Conference. She later served as the leader of the opposition in the assembly, taking on the government of chief minister Farooq Abdullah with asperity.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: She resigned her assembly seat and went on to contest the parliamentary elections in 1999 from Srinagar, where she lost to incumbent member Omar Abdullah. She won the Pahalgam seat in the state assembly from South Kashmir, defeating Rafi Ahmed Mir, when assembly elections were held again in 2002. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from Anantnag seat in 2004 and 2014. She defeated Mirza Mehboob Beg who was the incumbent MP in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: After her father's death in January 2016, when he was heading the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, she took forward the same alliance with Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the second time the BJP and the PDP formed a government in Jammu and Kashmir. On 4 April 2016, she took the oath and became the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: On 25 June 2016, she won an Assembly seat in a by-election in Anantnag with the highest margin in any recent elections there and thereafter focussed on settling of Rohingyas.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: On 19 June 2018, she resigned as chief minister of Kashmir. Her government had been an alliance between the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP, but there was a rift in the alliance in February 2018, when two BJP ministers expressed public support for a man who was alleged to have raped and killed an eight-year-old girl in Kathua District. The BJP's National General Secretary, Ram Madhav, announced the end of the alliance between the BJP and the PDP, and said that it was because of the deteriorating security situation. Mehbooba and the state government had tried suspending security operations for Ramadan, but the militants had not reciprocated, and 30 people were killed during the ceasefire. So the BJP withdrew from the alliance with the PDP so that the Indian government could get tough with the militants. When the alliance between the PDP and the BJP ended, Mehbooba resigned as chief minister. Mehbooba said "the muscular policy will not work in Kashmir".


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: She again contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag seat but lost it to Hasnain Masoodi of National Conference.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: On 5 August 2019, she was detained by the Central government. Her daughter Iltija Mufti took over her mother's Twitter account on the 46th day of detention. In November, Iltija Mufti wrote a letter to the Srinagar Deputy Commissioner to shift her mother to a place better equipped for the valley's winter.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: In February 2020 she was further detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. She was released on 13 October 2020.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: 25 Nov 2020, Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti was detained by Jammu and Kashmir Police and was not allowed to visit South Kashmir's Pulwama to meet the family of senior PDP leader Waheed Parra, who was arrested by the National Investigating Agency earlier that week.


title: Mehbooba Mufti

text: Mufti & 7 other former politicians were asked to leave the government quarters by the Jammu and Kashmir administration on 27 Nov 2022.


title: Gabriel Damon

text: Gabriel Damon Lavezzi (born April 23, 1976) is an American former actor. His acting career involved a leading voice role as a child in the 1988 film "The Land Before Time", and a variety of live-action guest roles on television.


title: Gabriel Damon

text: Damon's career began with appearances in numerous commercials, with his first role in the 1984 TV series "Call to Glory". He voiced Littlefoot the "Apatosaurus" in the first "The Land Before Time" movie, and Little Nemo in "". In 1990 he appeared as the juvenile criminal Hob in "RoboCop 2" and in 1992 as Spot Conlon in "Newsies". Damon has also made guest appearances in several television series, such as "ER", "Call to Glory", "" and "Baywatch".


title: James J. Jeffries

text: James Jackson "Jim" Jeffries (April 15, 1875 – March 3, 1953) was an American professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: He was known for his enormous strength and stamina. Using a technique taught to him by his trainer, former Welterweight and Middleweight Champion Tommy Ryan, Jeffries fought out of a crouch with his left arm extended forward. He was able to absorb tremendous punishment while wearing his opponents down.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: A natural left-hander, he possessed one-punch knockout power in his left hook, and brawled his way to the top of the rankings. He is perhaps most famous for being United States "Great White Hope", since the nation expected him to come out of his retirement to beat the African-American boxer Jack Johnson, who was at the time the Heavyweight Champion.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries stood tall and weighed in his prime. He could run in just over ten seconds, and could high jump over .


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries moved with his family from their Ohio farm to Los Angeles, California at age seven. He worked for a while as a boilermaker before going into boxing. In later life, "The Boilermaker" was one of his professional nicknames.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: As a powerfully built and athletic teenager, Jeffries boxed as an amateur until age 20, when he started fighting professionally.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: In his third fight, Jeffries knocked out the highly regarded boxer Hank Griffin in the fourteenth round. Jack Johnson would subsequently fight Griffin on three separate occasions.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries fought the top heavyweight contender, Gus Ruhlin, to a draw. Ruhlin was knocked down with a brutal punch at the end of the final round and was saved by the bell from being counted out. The decision was met with unfavorable reactions from the audience, many of whom felt Jeffries won.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: On his way to the title in 1898, Jeffries knocked out Peter Jackson, the great boxer whom John L. Sullivan had refused to fight, in three rounds. This had been only the second defeat in Jackson's entire career; his first loss was from a four-round fight over thirteen years earlier around the beginning of his career. Jackson retired shortly afterward.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries defeated the formidable Mexican Pete Everett by knockout in only the third round on April 22, 1898.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: His next fight was against the Irishman Tom Sharkey. The fight went the full twenty rounds and Sharkey was knocked down in the eleventh round. Jeffries won the decision.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: After defeating the big, fast-moving, sharp-jabbing Bob Armstrong, Jeffries had earned the right to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: On June 9, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York he defeated Bob Fitzsimmons by KO in the eleventh round to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World. That August, he embarked on a tour of Europe, putting on exhibition fights for the fans. Jeffries was involved in several motion pictures recreating portions of his championship fights. Filmed portions of his other bouts and of some of his exhibition matches survive to this day.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries set the record for the quickest KO in a Heavyweight title fight ever, which was 45 seconds against Jack Finnegan in his second title defense.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: His next defense was against the former Heavyweight Champion and legendary technician, James J. Corbett. Corbett had put up a perfect defense and could have arguably won had the fight gone the distance. However, Corbett was knocked out cold from a left to the jaw in the twenty-third round of the scheduled twenty-five round fight.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries later got the chance to avenge his controversial draw with Gus Ruhlin when he defended his title against him on November 15, 1901. Claims that Ruhlin quit during the fifth round are incorrect. All of the local next-day San Francisco sources agree that Ruhlin's manager, Billy Madden, threw in the towel to retire Gus during the one-minute interval between the fifth and sixth rounds.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: An example of Jeffries' ability to absorb punishment and recover from a severe battering to win a bout came in his rematch for the title with Fitzsimmons, who is regarded as one of the hardest punchers in boxing history. The rematch with Jeffries occurred on July 25, 1902 in San Francisco. To train for the bout Jeffries' daily training included a run, 2 hours of skipping rope, medicine ball training, 20 minutes sparring on the heavy bag, and at least 12 rounds of sparring in the ring. He also trained in wrestling.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: For nearly eight rounds Fitzsimmons subjected Jeffries to a vicious battering. Jeffries suffered a broken nose, both his cheeks were cut to the bone, and gashes were opened over both eyes. It appeared that the fight would have to be stopped, as blood freely flowed into Jeffries' eyes. Then in the eighth round, Jeffries lashed out with a terrific right to the stomach, followed by a left hook to the jaw which knocked Fitzsimmons unconscious.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries and Corbett met one last time in the ring on August 14, 1903. This time Jeffries was in total control for all ten rounds of the scheduled twenty round bout. Tommy Ryan, Corbett's chief second, threw a large palm-leaf fan into the ring to alert Referee Graney that he should stop the fight.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries had his seventh and final title defense against Canadian Jack Munroe, whom he stopped in only two rounds.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries broke the ribs of three opponents in title fights: Jim Corbett, Gus Ruhlin and Tom Sharkey. Jeffries retired undefeated in May 1905. He served as a referee for the next few years, including the bout in which Marvin Hart defeated Jack Root to stake a claim at Jeffries' vacated title. Jeffries had never been knocked down in his prime.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Jeffries had likely fought many more bouts than twenty-two at this time. Many of his fights were lost in history. Jeffries, however, had never been defeated before his original retirement.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Over five years after retiring, Jeffries made a comeback on July 4, 1910, at Reno, Nevada, in a match against champion Jack Johnson, who had won the Heavyweight Championship in 1908 by defeating Canadian champion Tommy Burns at Rushcutters Bay in Australia. Burns was the first heavyweight champion to fight black challengers.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: The media put pressure onto Jeffries and promoters dangled wealth in front of him to take the fight. In addition to a guaranteed purse of $40,000 (equivalent to approximately $ in dollars), to woo the ex-champ back into the ring, promoter Tex Rickard had signed him to a $75,000 personal contract.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: After a six-year lay-off, the 35-year-old Jeffries was out of shape and had lost most of his muscle. Jeffries weighed over 330 pounds (150 kg), while Johnson was in superb physical condition. The ex-champ had to lose 110 pounds to get down to his fighting weight of 226, a Herculean task in the time he had before the fight. Previous Heavyweight Champion John L. Sullivan (an ethnic Irish American who refused to fight African-American contenders) remarked during an interview with "The New York Times" that Jeffries' personal doctor was so amazed at Johnson's physical condition that he felt Jeffries could win only if Johnson had a lack of skill on the day. While the media instigated racist remarks about winning the title for whites, Jeffries' final words before the fight were, "It is my intention to go right after my opponent and knock him out as soon as possible" His wife also commented, "I'm not interested in prizefighting but I am interested in my husband's welfare, I do hope this will be his last fight."


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Before the fight, which was scheduled for 45 three-minute rounds, famous boxers who had traveled to Reno to witness the contest were introduced to the crowd, including Sam Langford, a black boxer who was unable to secure a title fight, even from Jack Johnson. The greatest applause went to Jake Kilrain, who had battled John L. Sullivan back in the bare-knuckle days.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: At three minutes to one P.M., Johnson entered the ring (his contract provided that he would always be first to enter the ring, to satisfy a superstition of his). The thermometer read 110° Fahrenheit, which meant the match would be even more brutal due to heat. Jeffries soon joined Johnson in the ring. Rickard served as referee. (Johnson and Jeffries could not agree on a referee, and Rickard's publicity-minded offers to President William Howard Taft and writer Arthur Conan Doyle to serve as referee were declined. Rickard took the position although he had never refereed a prize fight before.)


title: James J. Jeffries

text: In the first three rounds, the boxers sparred to feel each other out. Johnson, having read that no one could tie Jeffries up on the inside due to his power, told the press that not only would he do so, but that he planned to neutralize Jeffries' power by twisting his arms behind him. Toward the end of the fourth round, he did just that, pinning Jeffries' arms in back of him for a moment, but Jeffries broke the clinch. Johnson landed a solid overhand right to Jeffries' head just before the bell.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Johnson began dominating the fight in rounds five through twelve, as his opponent faded in the heat and from Johnson's onslaught. The heat began to get to Johnson, too, by round 13, but he was still the stronger and younger man in the ring. Toward the end of that round, he delivered a right and a right uppercut to Jeffries' head that took their toll. In the next round, Jeffries eluded Johnson, who stalked him all over the ring.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: In round 15, Johnson went after Jeffries and caught him against the ropes with a right upper-cut, followed by three left uppercuts that sent the ex-champ to the canvas for the first time in his career. He could no longer put up a defense and, as Jeffries got up, Johnson hit him with a left hook that sent him to the canvas and through the ropes, putting his torso outside the ring. Helped to his feet by one of his seconds and a fan, as soon as Jeffries was back in the ring he was rushed by Johnson, who knocked him down again with a right to the head. As Rickard moved in to separate the fighters, Jeffries got up, but his manager had entered the ring to stop the fight and save his fighter from being knocked out. Johnson retained the title by a technical knockout.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Johnson later remarked that he knew the fight was over in the 4th round when he landed an uppercut to Jeffries' face and saw the look in his eyes. "I knew what that look meant," he said. "The old ship was sinking." John L. Sullivan commented for "The New York Times" after the fight that Johnson won deservedly, fairly, and convincingly:


title: James J. Jeffries

text: In his later years, Jeffries trained boxers and worked as a fight promoter. He promoted many fights out of a structure known as "Jeffries Barn", which was located on his alfalfa ranch at the southwest corner of Victory Boulevard and Buena Vista, Burbank, California. (His ranch house was on the southeast corner until the early 1960s.) Jeffries Barn is now part of Knott's Berry Farm, a Southern California amusement park.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Seven years after suffering a stroke, Jeffries died on March 3, 1953, in bed at his home, in the presence of his niece Lillian Bull. Bull had been living with Jeffries as his housekeeper and he had instructed her to call a doctor. Jeffries died before the doctor arrived. The doctor, William M. Nethery, attributed his death to a heart attack caused by coronary thrombosis. His body was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.


title: James J. Jeffries

text: Today, the legacy of Jeffries is widely forgotten. However, he was once considered one of the greatest Heavyweight Champions of all time by many fellow boxers and boxing experts:


title: James J. Jeffries

text: The city of Burbank embedded a small bronze plaque in the sidewalk at the site where James Jeffries died. The plaque was located on the southeast side of Buena Vista ~150 yards south of Victory Boulevard, before being stored at Burbank City Hall, and now is located at the Gordon R. Howard Museum. Jeffries Avenue that runs parallel between Burbank and Victory Blvds in the city is named after him.


title: Ritesh Sidhwani

text: Ritesh Sidhwani (born 1973) is an Indian film producer. He is the co-founder of Excel Entertainment along with Farhan Akhtar. His first film as a producer, "Dil Chahta Hai", won the National Award in 2001. Through his vision, Excel Entertainment now is one of the first major Indian production companies in the over-the-top (OTT) content space. Their first show "Inside Edge" (2017) was nominated for Best Drama series at 46th International Emmy Awards, followed by "Mirzapur" (2018) and "Made in Heaven" (2019).


title: Ritesh Sidhwani

text: Ritesh Sidhwani was born in a Sindhi family in Mumbai, where he received his education. His father is Chandan Tootaram Sidhwani.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue to its east.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Mercer Island is connected to the mainland on both sides by bridges carrying Interstate 90, with the city of Seattle to the west and the city of Bellevue to the east. The Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and the parallel Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge are floating bridges that span Lake Washington and carry, respectively, eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 90 and connect Mercer Island to the northern portion of Seattle's South End. I-90 traverses the northern portion of Mercer Island and is then carried from the island to Bellevue over the East Channel of Lake Washington by the East Channel Bridge. Mercer Island is located closer to Bellevue than it is to Seattle, and is therefore often considered to be part of King County's Eastside.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The ZIP code 98040 is unique to Mercer Island. Mercer Island has the fifth highest per-capita income in the state of Washington and is one of the 100 richest ZIP codes in the USA according to the IRS figures for Adjusted Gross Income.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The western side of the island was home to two Snoqualmie villages prior to white settlement in the Puget Sound region. Mercer Island, named for the Mercer family of Seattle, was first settled by non-indigenous people between 1870 and 1880. The Mercer brothers often rowed between the island and Seattle to pick berries, hunt, and fish. Those brothers, Thomas Mercer and Asa Mercer, were members of the Mercer family of Virginia. The first large settlement, East Seattle, was toward the northwest side of the island—near the McGilvara neighborhood. During 1889, a C C Calkins built a large and gilded resort, the Calkins Hotel. The hotel was reached via steamboat between Madison Park, Leschi Park, and the Eastside. Guests included President Benjamin Harrison, of 1901, amongst other well-to-do dignitaries from Seattle to the East Coast of the United States. Burned by a mysterious fire, the hotel was razed during 1908.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The Calkins Landing continued service and presumably aided the establishment of a more permanent population. A denser urban community with business district developed toward the central northern island between the McGilvra neighborhood and Luther Burbank Park. This community now composes the majority of the island's crest through the Middle Island neighborhood.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: In 1923, the East Channel Bridge was built to connect the island with Bellevue. In 1930, George W. Lightfoot requested a bridge between Mercer Island and Seattle. The Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge, currently the second longest floating bridge in the world, was built and opened in 1940. In 1989, a second bridge, the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, was built parallel to the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge. The East Channel Bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge, and Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, carry Interstate 90 from Seattle, across Mercer Island, and into Bellevue.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The City of Mercer Island was incorporated from East Seattle on July 5, 1960, and comprised all the island minus the business district. Just over one month later, August 9, the Town of Mercer Island was incorporated from that business district. The two aforementioned municipalities merged as the City of Mercer Island on May 19, 1970.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Mercer Island City Hall is located at (47.5775, -122.212). The peak elevation in the city is about , near the center of the island.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and are water.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Mercer Island has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The Mercer Island School District operates seven schools on the island: four primary schools (Lakeridge Elementary, Island Park Elementary, West Mercer Elementary and Northwood Elementary); one middle school (Islander Middle School); one high school (Mercer Island High School); and one alternative secondary school (Crest Learning Center).


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Mercer Island is also home to St. Monica School's, the French American School of Puget Sound, and the Northwest Yeshiva High School (9-12).


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: An estimated 25% of city households are Jewish; the island also has two synagogues and a Jewish Community Center.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: As of the census of 2020, there were 25,748 people and 10,128 households residing in the city. The population density was .


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: According to the 2020 United States Census, Mercer Island's racial and ethnic composition is as follows:


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: There were 10,128 households, of which 62.5% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no spouse present, 2.5% had a male householder with no spouse present, and 29.6% were non-families. 34.2% of households had children under the age of 18 living with them. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.03.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: 23.6% of residents were under the age of 18, and 20.6% were over the age of 65. 52.5% of residents were female. The median household income was $150,506.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 22,699 people, 9,109 households, and 6,532 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 9,930 housing units at an average density of .


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: According to the 2010 United States Census, Mercer Island's racial and ethnic composition is as follows:


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: There were 9,109 households, of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.3% were married couples living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 28.3% were non-families. 24.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.97.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The median age in the city was 46 years. 24.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19% were from 25 to 44; 32% were from 45 to 64; and 19.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.7% male and 51.3% female.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 22,036 people, 8,437 households, and 6,277 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,452.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,333.6/km). There were 8,806 housing units at an average density of 1,379.5 per square mile (532.9/km). The racial makeup of the city was 84.09% White, 1.14% African American, 0.16% Native American, 11.87% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 0.52% from other races, and 2.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.86% of the population.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: There were 8,437 households, out of which 35.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.6% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.6% were non-families. 22.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.03.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: In the city the population was spread out, with 26.0% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 21.2% from 25 to 44, 29.9% from 45 to 64, and 18.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.3 males.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The median income for a household in the city was $91,904, and the median income for a family was $110,830. Males had a median income of $82,855 versus $46,734 for females. The per capita income for the city was $53,799. About 1.9% of families and 3.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.4% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Mercer Island uses a Council–manager government and the city council selects the mayor. The City Hall building in the northeast part of the city hosts offices for the City Manager and most local administrative employees, the municipal court, and the police department.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: At the national level, Mercer Island is located in Washington's 9th congressional district, which is currently represented by Democrat Adam Smith. The City of Mercer Island is part of the 41st Legislative District, served by two State Representatives and one State Senator.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The Mercer Island Fire Department operates out of two facilities, both of which are close to Island Crest Way. The Mercer Island Police Department operates out of one facility, which is adjacent to I-90. The city operates neither a potable water treatment facility nor a wastewater treatment facility, the latter being handled by the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, which owns and operates a collector sewer around the island. The Public Works Department operates an office facility, street maintenance facility, and city shop from a building south of the City Hall.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: In February 2021, a 6–1 majority of the Mercer Island City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting outdoor camping on public property, mainly to restrict homeless and unhoused people from overnight stays. The ordinance was criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and other public advocates for the homeless.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Luther Burbank Park covers of land and has of waterfront. The park has a public boat dock and fishing pier, a swimming beach, an amphitheater, tennis courts, barbecues and picnic facilities, and an off-leash dog area. The city assumed maintenance of the park on January 1, 2003 from King County, which had purchased the park land in 1969.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The Aubrey Davis Park is atop the I-90 tunnel entrances. This park has softball fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, picnic shelters, and the Freeway Sculpture Park. Due to its location atop the I-90 tunnel, the park is also locally referred to as "The Lid."


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Pioneer Park covers and has equestrian, bicycle, and hiking trails. Deane's Children's Park, also known as "Dragon Park", is a small park with playground equipment including a large concrete dragon structure.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Clarke Beach is located at the south end of Mercer Island and is home to the annual polar bear swim on New Year's Day.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Mercer Island also has many smaller parks maintained by the city, some of which have waterfront access. In 2010, the city built a well in Rotary Park to supply the area with water in the event of a major disaster, specifically an earthquake.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Mercer Island's sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International, is Thonon-les-Bains, France.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: Mercer Island is bisected by Interstate 90, which connects the city to Seattle in the west and Bellevue in the east. The freeway travels over the Lacey V. Murrow and Homer M. Hadley floating bridges over Lake Washington to Seattle and the East Channel Bridge towards Bellevue. The bridges also carry the Mountains to Sound Greenway, which includes a multi-purpose pedestrian and bicycle path. A significant section of the freeway is recessed below street level and covered by the Mercer Island Lid, which includes several parks.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: The city's public transportation is provided by King County Metro and Sound Transit, mainly consisting of express bus routes to Seattle and the Eastside. Several routes connect to a park and ride on the north side of the island with 447 stalls. It was expanded into a two-story parking garage in 2008. All-day service for most of the island is provided by Metro Route 204, which is supplemented by Route 630 and several school bus routes during peak periods.


title: Mercer Island, Washington

text: In 2023, a light rail station at the park and ride facility will be opened by Sound Transit, providing service on the 2 Line to Seattle and the Eastside. The light rail line will replace several express routes on Interstate 90 and Mercer Island will function as a major bus–rail interchange.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The Kingdom of Pagan (, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-day Myanmar. Pagan's 250-year rule over the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery laid the foundation for the ascent of Burmese language and culture, the spread of Bamar ethnicity in Upper Myanmar, and the growth of Theravada Buddhism in Myanmar and in mainland Southeast Asia.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The kingdom grew out of a small 9th-century settlement at Pagan (present-day Bagan) by the Mranma/Burmans, who had recently entered the Irrawaddy valley from the Kingdom of Nanzhao. Over the next two hundred years, the small principality gradually grew to absorb its surrounding regions until the 1050s and 1060s when King Anawrahta founded the Pagan Empire, for the first time unifying under one polity the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. By the late 12th century, Anawrahta's successors had extended their influence farther to the south into the upper Malay peninsula, to the east at least to the Salween river, in the farther north to below the current China border, and to the west, in northern Arakan and the Chin Hills. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Pagan, alongside the Khmer Empire, was one of two main empires in mainland Southeast Asia.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The Burmese language and culture gradually became dominant in the upper Irrawaddy valley, eclipsing the Pyu, Mon and Pali norms by the late 12th century. Theravada Buddhism slowly began to spread to the village level although Tantric, Mahayana, Brahmanic, and animist practices remained heavily entrenched at all social strata. Pagan's rulers built over 10,000 Buddhist temples in the Bagan Archaeological Zone of which over 2000 remain. The wealthy donated tax-free land to religious authorities.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The kingdom went into decline in the mid-13th century as the continuous growth of tax-free religious wealth by the 1280s had severely affected the crown's ability to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen. This ushered in a vicious circle of internal disorders and external challenges by the Arakanese, Mons, Mongols and Shans. Repeated Mongol invasions (1277–1301) toppled the four-century-old kingdom in 1287. The collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation that lasted well into the 16th century.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The origins of the Pagan kingdom have been reconstructed using archaeological evidence as well as the Burmese chronicle tradition. Considerable differences exist between the views of modern scholarship and various chronicle narratives.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Burmese chronicles do not agree on the origins of the Pagan kingdom. Chronicles down to the 18th century trace its origins to 167 CE, when Pyusawhti, a descendant of a solar prince and a dragon princess, founded the dynasty at Pagan (Bagan). But the 19th-century Glass Palace Chronicle ("Hmannan Yazawin") connects the dynasty's origins to the clan of the Buddha and the first Buddhist king Maha Sammata ().


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The Glass Palace Chronicle traces the origins of the Pagan kingdom to India during the 9th century BC, more than three centuries before the Buddha was born. Prince Abhiraja () of Kosala () of the Sakya clan () – the clan of the Buddha – left his homeland with followers in 850 BC after military defeat by the neighbouring kingdom of Panchala (). They settled at Tagaung in present-day northern Myanmar and founded a kingdom. The Chronicle does not claim that he had arrived in an empty land, only that he was the first king.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Abhiraja had two sons. The elder son Kanyaza Gyi () ventured south, and in 825 BC founded his own kingdom in what is today Arakan. The younger son Kanyaza Nge () succeeded his father, and was followed by a dynasty of 31 kings, and then another dynasty of 17 kings. Some three and a half centuries later, in 483 BC, scions of Tagaung founded yet another kingdom much farther down the Irrawaddy at Sri Ksetra, near modern Pyay (Prome). Sri Ksetra lasted nearly six centuries, and was succeeded in turn by the Kingdom of Pagan. The Glass Palace Chronicle goes on to relate that around 107 AD, Thamoddarit (), nephew of the last king of Sri Ksetra, founded the city of Pagan (formally, Arimaddana-pura (), lit. "the City that Tramples on Enemies"). The site reportedly was visited by the Buddha himself during his lifetime, and it was where he allegedly pronounced that a great kingdom would arise at this very location 651 years after his death. Thamoddarit was followed by a caretaker, and then Pyusawhti in 167 AD.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The chronicle narratives then merge, and agree that a dynasty of kings followed Pyusawhti. King Pyinbya () fortified the city in 849 AD.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Modern scholarship holds that the Pagan dynasty was founded by the Mranma of the Nanzhao Kingdom in the mid-to-late 9th century AD; that the earlier parts of the chronicle are the histories and legends of the Pyu people, the earliest inhabitants of Myanmar of whom records are extant; and that Pagan kings had adopted the Pyu histories and legends as their own. Indeed, European scholars of the British colonial period were even more skeptical, dismissing outright the chronicle tradition of early Burmese history as "copies of Indian legends taken from Sanskrit or Pali originals", and the Abhiraja story as a vain attempt by Burmese chroniclers to link their kings to the Buddha. They doubted the antiquity of the chronicle tradition, and dismissed the possibility that any sort of civilisation in Burma could be much older than 500 AD.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The Abhiraja myth notwithstanding, more recent research does indicate that many of the places mentioned in the royal records have indeed been inhabited continuously for at least 3500 years. The earliest evidence of civilisation thus far dates to 11,000 BC. Archaeological evidence shows that as early as the 2nd century BC the Pyu had built water-management systems along secondary streams in central and northern parts of the Irrawaddy basin and had founded one of Southeast Asia's earliest urban centres. By the early centuries AD, several walled cities and towns, including Tagaung, the birthplace of the first Burman kingdom according to the chronicles, had emerged. The architectural and artistic evidence indicates the Pyu realm's contact with Indian culture by the 4th century AD. The city-states boasted kings and palaces, moats and massive wooden gates, and always 12 gates for each of the signs of the zodiac, one of the many enduring patterns that would continue until the British occupation. Sri Ksetra emerged as the premier Pyu city-state in the 7th century AD. Although the size of the city-states and the scale of political organisation grew during the 7th to early 9th centuries, no sizeable kingdom had yet emerged by the 9th century.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: According to a reconstruction by G.H. Luce, the millennium-old Pyu realm came crashing down under repeated attacks by the Nanzhao Kingdom of Yunnan between the 750s and 830s AD. Like that of the Pyu, the original home of Burmans prior to Yunnan is believed to be in present-day Qinghai and Gansu provinces. After the Nanzhao attacks had greatly weakened the Pyu city-states, large numbers of Burman warriors and their families "first" entered the Pyu realm in the 830s and 840s, and settled at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers, perhaps to help the Nanzhao pacify the surrounding countryside. Indeed, the naming system of the early Pagan kings—Pyusawhti and his descendants for six generations—was identical to that of the Nanzhao kings where the last name of the father became the first name of the son. The chronicles date these early kings to between the 2nd and 5th centuries AD, scholars to between the 8th and 10th centuries CE. (A minority view led by Htin Aung contends that the arrival of Burmans may have been a few centuries earlier, perhaps the early 7th century. The earliest human settlement at Bagan is radiocarbon dated to c. 650 AD. But evidence is inconclusive to prove that it was specifically a Burman (and not just another Pyu) settlement.)


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Thant Myint-U summarises that "the Nanzhao Empire had washed up on the banks of the Irrawaddy, and would find a new life, fused with an existing and ancient culture, to produce one of the most impressive little kingdoms of the medieval world. From this fusion would result the Burmese people, and the foundations of modern Burmese culture."


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Evidence shows that the actual pace of Burman migration into the Pyu realm was gradual. Indeed, no firm indications have been found at Sri Ksetra or at any other Pyu site to suggest a violent overthrow. Radiocarbon dating shows that human activity existed until c. 870 at Halin, the Pyu city reportedly destroyed by an 832 Nanzhao raid. The region of Pagan received waves of Burman settlements in the mid-to-late 9th century, and perhaps well into the 10th century. Though "Hmannan" states that Pagan was "fortified" in 849—or more accurately, 876 after the "Hmannan" dates are adjusted to King Anawrahta's inscriptionally verified accession date of 1044—the chronicle reported date is likely the date of foundation, not fortification. Radiocarbon dating of Pagan's walls points to c. 980 at the earliest. (If an earlier fortification did exist, it must have been constructed using less durable materials such as mud.) Likewise, inscriptional evidence of the earliest Pagan kings points to 956. The earliest mention of Pagan in external sources occurs in Song Chinese records, which report that envoys from Pagan visited the Song capital Bianjing in 1004. Mon inscriptions first mentioned Pagan in 1093, respectively.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Below is a "partial" list of early Pagan kings as reported by "Hmannan", shown in comparison with "Hmannan" dates adjusted to 1044 and the list of "Zatadawbon Yazawin" (the Royal Horoscopes Chronicle). Prior to Anawrahta, inscriptional evidence exists thus far only for Nyaung-u Sawrahan and Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu. The list starts from Pyinbya, the fortifier of Pagan according to "Hmannan".


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: By the mid-10th century, Burmans at Pagan had expanded irrigation-based cultivation while borrowing extensively from the Pyus' predominantly Buddhist culture. Pagan's early iconography, architecture and scripts suggest little difference between early Burman and Pyu cultural forms. Moreover, no sharp ethnic distinction between Burmans and linguistically linked Pyus seems to have existed. The city was one of several competing city-states until the late 10th century when it grew in authority and grandeur. By Anawrahta's accession in 1044, Pagan had grown into a small principality—about north to south and about from east to west, comprising roughly the present districts of Mandalay, Meiktila, Myingyan, Kyaukse, Yamethin, Magwe, Sagaing, and the riverine portions of Minbu and Pakkoku. To the north lay the Nanzhao Kingdom, and to the east still largely uninhabited Shan Hills, to the south and the west Pyus, and farther south still, Mons. The size of the principality is about 6% of that of modern Burma/Myanmar.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: In December 1044, a Pagan prince named Anawrahta came to power. Over the next three decades, he turned this small principality into the First Burmese Empire—the "charter polity" that formed the basis of modern-day Burma/Myanmar. Historically verifiable Burmese history begins with his accession.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Anawrahta proved an energetic king. His acts as king were to strengthen his kingdom's economic base. In the first decade of his reign, he invested much effort into turning the arid parched lands of central Myanmar into a rice granary, successfully building/enlarging weirs and canals, mainly around the Kyaukse district, east of Pagan. The newly irrigated regions attracted people, giving him with an increased manpower base. He graded every town and village according to the levy it could raise. The region, known as Ledwin (, lit. "rice country"), became the granary, the economic key of the north country. History shows that one who gained control of Kyaukse became kingmaker in Upper Myanmar.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: By the mid-1050s, Anawrahta's reforms had turned Pagan into a regional power, and he looked to expand. Over the next ten years, he founded the Pagan Empire, the Irrawaddy valley at the core, surrounded by tributary states. Anawrahta began his campaigns in the nearer Shan Hills, and extended conquests to Lower Myanmar down to the Tenasserim coast to Phuket and North Arakan. Estimates of the extent of his empire vary greatly. The Burmese and Siamese chronicles report an empire which covered the present-day Myanmar and northern Thailand. The Siamese chronicles assert that Anawrahta conquered the entire Menam valley, and received tribute from the Khmer king. One Siamese chronicle states that Anawrahta's armies invaded the Khmer kingdom and sacked the city of Angkor, and another one goes so far as to say that Anawrahta even visited Java to receive his tribute.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Archaeological evidence however confirms only a smaller empire of the Irrawaddy valley and nearer periphery. Anawrahta's victory terracotta votive tablets emblazoned with his name in Sanskrit have been found along the Tenasserim coastline in the south, Katha in the north, Thazi in the east and Minbu in the west. In the northeast, a series of 43 forts Anawrahta established along the eastern foothills, of which 33 still exist as villages, reveal the effective extent of his authority. Moreover, most scholars attribute Pagan's control of peripheral regions (Arakan, Shan Hills) to later kings—Arakan to Alaungsithu, and cis-Salween Shan Hills to Narapatisithu. (Even those latter-day kings may not have had more than nominal control over the farther peripheral regions. For example, some scholars such as Victor Lieberman argue that Pagan did not have any "effective authority" over Arakan.)


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: At any rate, all scholars accept that during the 11th century, Pagan consolidated its hold of Upper Burma, and established its authority over Lower Burma. The emergence of Pagan Empire would have a lasting impact on Burmese history as well as the history of mainland Southeast Asia. The conquest of Lower Burma checked the Khmer Empire's encroachment into the Tenasserim coast, secured control of the peninsular ports, which were transit points between the Indian Ocean and China, and facilitated growing cultural exchange with the external world: Mons of Lower Burma, India and Ceylon. Equally important was Anawrahta's conversion to Theravada Buddhism from his native Ari Buddhism. The Burmese king provided the Buddhist school, which had been in retreat elsewhere in South Asia and Southeast Asia, a much needed reprieve and a safe shelter. By the 1070s, Pagan had emerged as the main Theravada stronghold. In 1071, it helped to restart the Theravada Buddhism in Ceylon whose Buddhist clergy had been wiped out by the Cholas. Another key development according to traditional scholarship was the creation of the Burmese alphabet from the Mon script in 1058, one year after the conquest of Thaton.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Anawrahta was followed by a line of able kings who cemented Pagan's place in history. Pagan entered a golden age that would last for the next two centuries. Aside from a few occasional rebellions, the kingdom was largely peaceful during the period. King Kyansittha (r. 1084–1112) successfully melded the diverse cultural influences introduced into Pagan by Anawrahta's conquests. He patronised Mon scholars and artisans who emerged as the intellectual elite. He appeased the Pyus by linking his genealogy to the real and mythical ancestors of Sri Ksetra, the symbol of the Pyu golden past, and by calling the kingdom Pyu, even though it had been ruled by a Burman ruling class. He supported and favoured Theravada Buddhism while tolerating other religious groups. To be sure, he pursued these policies all the while maintaining the Burman military rule. By the end of his 28-year reign, Pagan had emerged a major power alongside the Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia, recognised as a sovereign kingdom by the Chinese Song Dynasty, and the Indian Chola Dynasty. Several diverse elements—art, architecture, religion, language, literature, ethnic plurality—had begun to synthesize.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Pagan's rise continued under Alaungsithu (r. 1112–1167), who focused on standardising administrative and economic systems. The king, also known as Sithu I, actively expanded frontier colonies and built new irrigation systems throughout the kingdom. He also introduced standardised weights and measures throughout the country to assist administration as well as trade. The standardisation provided an impetus for the monetisation of Pagan's economy, the full impact of which however would not be felt until later in the 12th century. The kingdom prospered from increased agricultural output as well as from inland and maritime trading networks. Much of the wealth was devoted to temple building. Temple building projects, which began in earnest during Kyansittha's reign, became increasingly grandiose, and began to transition into a distinctively Burman architectural style from earlier Pyu and Mon norms. By the end of Sithu I's reign, Pagan enjoyed a more synthesised culture, an efficient government and a prosperous economy. However a corresponding growth in population also put pressure on "the fixed relationship between productive land and population", forcing the later kings to expand.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Pagan reached the height of political and administrative development during the reigns of Narapatisithu (Sithu II; r. 1174–1211) and Htilominlo (r. 1211–1235). The Sulamani Temple, Gawdawpalin Temple, Mahabodhi Temple, and Htilominlo Temple were built during their reigns. The kingdom's borders expanded to its greatest extent. Military organisation and success reached their zenith. Monumental architecture achieved a qualitative and quantitative standard that subsequent dynasties tried to emulate but never succeeded in doing. The court finally developed a complex organisation that became the model for later dynasties. the agricultural economy reached its potential in Upper Myanmar. The Buddhist clergy, the "sangha", enjoyed one of its most wealthy periods. Civil and criminal laws were codified in the vernacular, Burmese, to become the basic jurisprudence for subsequent ages.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Sithu II formally founded the Palace Guards in 1174, the first extant record of a standing army, and pursued an expansionist policy. Over his 27-year reign, Pagan's influence reached further south to the Strait of Malacca, at least to the Salween river in the east and below the current China border in the farther north. (Burmese chronicles also claim trans-Salween Shan states, including Kengtung and Chiang Mai.) Continuing his grandfather Sithu I's policies, Sithu II expanded the agricultural base of the kingdom with new manpower from the conquered areas, ensuring the needed wealth for a growing royalty and officialdom. Pagan dispatched governors to supervise more closely ports in Lower Myanmar and the peninsula. In the early 13th century, Pagan, alongside the Khmer Empire, was one of two main empires in mainland Southeast Asia.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: His reign also saw the rise of Burmese culture which finally emerged from the shadows of Mon and Pyu cultures. With the Burman leadership of the kingdom now unquestioned, the term "Mranma" (Burmans) was openly used in Burmese language inscriptions. Burmese became the primary written language of the kingdom, replacing Pyu and Mon. His reign also saw the realignment of Burmese Buddhism with Ceylon's Mahavihara school. The Pyus receded into the background, and by the early 13th century, had largely assumed the Burman ethnicity.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Sithu II's success in state building created stability and prosperity throughout the kingdom. His immediate successors Htilominlo and Kyaswa (r. 1235–1249) were able to live off the stable and bountiful conditions he passed on with little state-building on their part. Htilomino hardly did any governing. A devout Buddhist and scholar, the king gave up the command of the army, and left administration to a privy council of ministers, the forebear of the Hluttaw. But the seeds of Pagan's decline were sowed during this seemingly idyllic period. The state had stopped expanding, but the practice of donating tax-free land to religion had not. The continuous growth of tax-free religious wealth greatly reduced the tax base of the kingdom. Indeed, Htilominlo was the last of the temple builders although most of his temples were in remote lands not in the Pagan region, reflecting the deteriorating state of royal treasury.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: By the mid-13th century, the problem had worsened considerably. The Upper Myanmar heartland over which Pagan exercised most political control had run out of easily reclaimed irrigable tracts. Yet their fervent desire to accumulate religious merit for better reincarnations made it impossible for Pagan kings to halt entirely their own or other courtiers' donations. The crown did try to reclaim some of these lands by periodically purging the clergy in the name of Buddhist purification, and seizing previously donated lands. Although some of the reclamation efforts were successful, powerful Buddhist clergy by and large successfully resisted such attempts. Ultimately, the rate of reclamation fell behind the rate at which such lands were dedicated to the "sangha". (The problem was exacerbated to a smaller degree by powerful ministers, who exploited succession disputes and accumulated their own lands at the expense of the crown.) By 1280, between one and two-thirds of Upper Myanmar's cultivatable land had been donated to religion. Thus the throne lost resources needed to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen, inviting a vicious circle of internal disorders and external challenges by Mons, Mongols and Shans.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The first signs of disorder appeared soon after Narathihapate's accession in 1256. The inexperienced king faced revolts in Arakanese state of Macchagiri (present-day Kyaukpyu District) in the west, and Martaban (Mottama) in the south. The Martaban rebellion was easily put down but Macchagiri required a second expedition before it too was put down. The calm did not last long. Martaban again revolted in 1285. This time, Pagan could not do anything to retake Martaban because it was facing an existential threat from the north. The Mongols of the Yuan dynasty demanded tribute, in 1271 and again in 1273. When Narathihapate refused both times, the Mongols under Kublai Khan systematically invaded the country. The first invasion in 1277 defeated the Burmese at the battle of Ngasaunggyan, and secured their hold of Kanngai (modern-day Yingjiang, Yunnan, north of Bhamo). In 1283–85, their forces moved south and occupied down to Hanlin. Instead of defending the country, the king fled Pagan for Lower Myanmar where he was assassinated by one of his sons in 1287.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The Mongols invaded again in 1287. Recent research indicates that Mongol armies may not have reached Pagan itself, and that even if they did, the damage they inflicted was probably minimal. But the damage was already done. All the vassal states of Pagan revolted right after the king's death, and went their own way. In the south, Wareru, the man who had seized the governorship of Martaban in 1285, consolidated Mon-speaking regions of Lower Myanmar, and declared Ramannadesa (Land of the Mon) independent on 30 January 1287. In the west too, Arakan stopped paying tribute. The chronicles report that the eastern territories including trans-Salween states of Keng Hung, Kengtung and Chiang Mai stopped paying tribute although most scholars attribute Pagan's limits to the Salween. At any rate, the 250-year-old Pagan Empire had ceased to exist.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: After their 1287 invasion, the Mongols continued to control down to Tagaung but refused to fill the power vacuum they had created farther south. Indeed, Emperor Kublai Khan never sanctioned an actual occupation of Pagan. His real aim appeared to have been "to keep the entire region of Southeast Asia broken and fragmented." At Pagan, one of Narathihapate's sons Kyawswa emerged king of Pagan in May 1289. But the new "king" controlled just a small area around the capital, and had no real army. The real power in Upper Myanmar now rested with three brothers, who were former Pagan commanders, of nearby Myinsaing. When the Hanthawaddy Kingdom of Lower Myanmar became a vassal of Sukhothai in 1293/94, it was the brothers, not Kyawswa, that sent a force to reclaim the former Pagan territory in 1295–96. Though the army was driven back, it left no doubt as to who held the real power in central Myanmar. In the following years, the brothers, especially the youngest Thihathu, increasingly acted like sovereigns.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: To check the increasing power of the three brothers, Kyawswa submitted to the Mongols in January 1297, and was recognised by the Mongol emperor Temür Khan as viceroy of Pagan on 20 March 1297. The brothers resented the new arrangement as a Mongol vassalage as it directly reduced their power. On 17 December 1297, the three brothers overthrew Kyawswa, and founded the Myinsaing Kingdom. The Mongols did not know about the dethronement until June–July 1298. In response, the Mongols launched another invasion, reaching Myinsaing on 25 January 1301, but could not break through. The besiegers took the bribes by the three brothers, and withdrew on 6 April 1301. The Mongol government at Yunnan executed their commanders but sent no more invasions. They withdrew entirely from Upper Myanmar starting on 4 April 1303.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: By then, the city of Pagan, once home to 200,000 people, had been reduced to a small town, never to regain its preeminence. (It survived into the 15th century as a human settlement.) The brothers placed one of Kyawswa's sons as the governor of Pagan. Anawrahta's line continued to rule Pagan as governors under Myinsaing, Pinya and Ava Kingdoms until 1368/69. The male side of Pagan ended there although the female side passed into Pinya and Ava royalty. But the Pagan line continued to be claimed by successive Burmese dynasties down to the last Burmese dynasty Konbaung.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Pagan's government can be generally described by the mandala system in which the sovereign exercised direct political authority in the core region ("pyi", lit. "country", , ), and administered farther surrounding regions as tributary vassal states ("naingngans", lit. "conquered lands", , ). In general, the crown's authority diffused away with the increasing distance from the capital. Each state was administered at three general levels: "taing" (, province), "myo" (, town), and "ywa" (, village), with the high king's court at the centre. The kingdom consisted of at least 14 "taings".


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The core region was the present-day dry zone of Upper Myanmar, measuring approximately in radius from the capital. The region consisted of the capital and the key irrigated hubs ("khayaings", , ) of Kyaukse and Minbu. Because of the irrigated hubs, the region supported the largest population in the kingdom, which translated into the largest concentration of royal servicemen who could be called into military service. The king directly ruled the capital and its immediate environs while he appointed most trusted members of the royal family to rule Kyaukse and Minbu. Newly settled dry zone "taik" (, ) areas on the west bank of the Irrawaddy were entrusted to the men of lesser rank, as well as those from powerful local families known as "taik" leaders ("taik-thugyis", , ). The governors and taik-leaders lived off apanage grants and local taxes. But unlike their frontier counterparts, the core zone governors did not have much autonomy because of the close proximity to the capital.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Surrounding the core region were the "naingngans" or tributary states, governed by local hereditary rulers as well as Pagan appointed governors, drawn from princely or ministerial families. Because of their farther distances from the capital, the regions' rulers/governors had greater autonomy. They were required to send tributes to the crown but they generally had a freehand in the rest of the administration. They were chief justices, commanders-in-chief, and tax collectors. They made local officer appointments. In fact, no evidence of royal censuses or direct contact between the Pagan court and headmen beneath the governors has been found.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Over the course of 250 years, the throne slowly tried to integrate the most strategically and economically important regions—i.e. Lower Myanmar, Tenasserim, northernmost Irrawaddy valley—into the core by appointing its governors in place of hereditary rulers. In the 12th and 13th centuries, for example, Pagan made a point of appointing its governors in the Tenasserim coast to closely supervise the ports and revenues. By the second half of the 13th century, several key ports in Lower Myanmar (Prome, Bassein, Dala) were all ruled by senior princes of the royal family. However, the escape of Lower Myanmar from Upper Myanmar's orbit in the late 13th century proves that the region was far from fully integrated. History shows that the region would not be fully integrated into the core until the late 18th century.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The royal authority attenuated further in farther "naingngans": Arakan, Chin Hills, Kachin Hills, and Shan Hills. These were tributary lands over which the crown only had a "largely ritual" or nominal sovereignty. In general, the king of Pagan received a periodic nominal tribute but had "no substantive authority", for example, on such matters as the selection of deputies, successors, or levels of taxation. Pagan largely stayed out of the affairs of these outlying states, only interfering when there were outright revolts, such as Arakan and Martaban in the late 1250s or northern Kachin Hills in 1277.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The court was the centre of administration, representing at once executive, legislative and judiciary branches of the government. The members of the court can be divided into three general categories: royalty, ministers, and subordinate officials. At the top were the high king, princes, princesses, queens and concubines. The ministers were usually drawn from more distant branches of the royal family. Their subordinates were not royal but usually hailed from top official families. Titles, ranks, insignia, fiefs and other such rewards helped maintain the loyalty-patronage structure of the court.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The king as the absolute monarch was the chief executive, legislator and justice of the land. However, as the kingdom grew, the king gradually handed over the responsibilities over to the court, which became more extensive and complex, adding more administrative layers and officials. In the early 13th century, c. 1211, part of the court evolved into the king's privy council or "Hluttaw". The role and power of the Hluttaw grew greatly in the following decades. It came to manage not only day-to-day affairs but also military affairs of the kingdom. (No Pagan king after Sithu II ever took command of the army again.) The powerful ministers also became kingmakers. Their support was an important factor in the accession of the last kings of Pagan from Htilominlo (r. 1211–1235) to Kyawswa (r. 1289–1297).


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The court was also the chief justice of the land. Sithu I (r. 1112–1167) was the first Pagan king to issue an official collection of judgments, later known as the "Alaungsithu hpyat-hton", to be followed as precedents by all courts of justice. A follow-up collection of judgments was compiled during the reign of Sithu II (r. 1174–1211) by a Mon monk named Dhammavilasa. As another sign of delegation of power, Sithu II also appointed a chief justice and a chief minister.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Pagan's military was the origin of the Royal Burmese Army. The army was organised into a small standing army of a few thousand, which defended the capital and the palace, and a much larger conscript-based wartime army. Conscription was based on the "kyundaw" system (called the "ahmudan" system by later dynasties), which required local chiefs to supply their predetermined quota of men from their jurisdiction on the basis of population in times of war. This basic system of military organisation was largely unchanged down to the precolonial period although later dynasties, especially the Toungoo Dynasty, did introduce standardisation and other modifications.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The early Pagan army consisted mainly of conscripts raised just prior to or during the times of war. Although historians believe that earlier kings like Anawrahta must have had permanent troops on duty in the palace, the first specific mention of a standing military structure in the Burmese chronicles is 1174 when Sithu II founded the Palace Guards—"two companies inner and outer, and they kept watch in ranks one behind the other". The Palace Guards became the nucleus round which the mass levy assembled in war time. Most of the field levy served in the infantry but the men for the elephantry, cavalry, and naval corps were drawn from specific hereditary villages that specialised in respective military skills. In an era of limited military specialisation, when the number of conscripted cultivators offered the best single indication of military success, Upper Myanmar with a greater population was the natural centre of political gravity.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Various sources and estimates put Pagan's military strength anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 men. One inscription by Sithu II, who expanded the empire to its greatest extent, describes him as the lord of 17,645 soldiers while another notes 30,000 soldiers and cavalry under his command. A Chinese account mentions a Burmese army of 40,000 to 60,000 (including 800 elephants and 10,000 horses) at the battle of Ngasaunggyan in 1277. However, some argue that the Chinese figures, which came from eye estimates of a single battle, are greatly exaggerated. As Harvey puts it: the Mongols "erred on the side of generosity as they did not wish to diminish the glory in defeating superior numbers". But assuming that the precolonial population of Myanmar was relatively constant, the estimates of 40,000 to 60,000 of the "entire military" are not improbable, and are in line with figures given for the Burmese military between the 16th and 19th centuries in a variety of sources.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The economy of Pagan was based primarily on agriculture, and to a much smaller degree, on trade. The growth of the Pagan Empire and subsequent development of irrigated lands in new lands sustained a growth in the number of population centres and a growing prosperous economy. The economy also benefited from the general absence of warfare that would stunt the economies of later dynasties. According to Victor Lieberman, the prosperous economy supported "a rich Buddhist civilization whose most spectacular feature was a dense forest of pagodas, monasteries, and temples, totaling perhaps 10,000 brick structures, of which the remains of over 2000 survive."


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Agriculture was the primary engine of the kingdom from its beginnings in the 9th century. Burman immigrants are believed to have either introduced new water management techniques or greatly enhanced existing Pyu system of weirs, dams, sluices, and diversionary barricades. At any rate, the Kyaukse agricultural basin's development in the 10th and 11th centuries enabled the kingdom of Pagan to expand beyond the dry zone of Upper Myanmar, and to dominate its periphery, including the maritime Lower Myanmar.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: As reconstructed by Michael Aung-Thwin, G.H. Luce and Than Tun, the main driver for this agriculture-based economic expansion was the practice of donating tax-free lands to the Buddhist clergy. For some two hundred years between 1050 and 1250, wealthy and powerful segments of the Pagan society—members of the royalty, senior court officials, and wealthy laymen—donated to the clergy enormous acreages of agricultural land, along with hereditary tied cultivators to attain religious merit. (Both religious lands and cultivators were permanently tax exempt.) Although it ultimately became a major burden on the economy, the practice initially helped expand the economy for some two centuries. First, the monastery-temple complexes, typically located some distances away from the capital, helped anchor new population centres for the throne. Such institutions in turn stimulated associated artisan, commercial, and agricultural activities critical to the general economy.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Secondly, the need to accumulate land for endowments, as well as for awards for soldiers and servicemen, drove the active development of new lands. The earliest irrigation projects focused on Kyaukse where Burmans built a large number of new weirs and diversionary canals, and Minbu a similarly well-watered district south of Pagan. After these hubs had been developed, in the mid-to-late 12th century, Pagan moved into as yet undeveloped frontier areas west of the Irrawaddy and south of Minbu. These new lands included both irrigable wet-rice areas and non-irrigable areas suitable for rain-fed rice, pulses, sesame, and millet. Agricultural expansion and temple construction in turn sustained a market in land and certain types of labour and materials. Land reclamation, religious donations, and building projects expanded slowly before 1050, increased to 1100, accelerated sharply with the opening of new lands between c. 1140 and c. 1210 and continued at a lower level from 1220 to 1300.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: By the second half of the 13th century, Pagan had developed an enormous amount of cultivated lands. Estimates based on surviving inscriptions alone range from 200,000 to 250,000 hectares. (In comparison, Pagan's contemporary Angkor relied on its main rice basin of over 13,000 hectares.) But donations to the sangha over the 250 years of the empire accumulated to over 150,000 hectares (over 60%) of the total cultivated land. Ultimately, the practice proved unsustainable when the empire had stopped growing physically, and a major factor in the empire's downfall.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Internal and external trade played an important but minor role in Pagan's economy. Trade was not the main engine of economic growth for much of the Pagan period although its share of the economy probably increased in the 13th century when the agricultural sector stopped growing. That is not to say that Pagan did not have any interest in trade. On the contrary, Pagan closely administered its peninsular ports, which were transit points between the Indian Ocean and China. Maritime trade provided the court with revenues and prestige goods (coral, pearls, textiles). Evidence shows that Pagan imported silver from Yunnan, and that traded upland forest products, gems and perhaps metals with the coast. Still, no archaeological, textual or inscriptional evidence to indicate that such exports supported large numbers of producers or middlemen in Upper Myanmar itself, or that trade constituted a large part of the economy.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: For all the innovations that Pagan Dynasty introduced, one area that it regressed was the use of coinage. The Pyu practice of issuing gold and silver coinage was not retained. The common medium of exchange was lump silver "coinage", followed by gold and copper lump coinage. Silver came from domestic mines as well as Yunnan. The base unit of currency of the silver "kyat (unit)" (), which was not a unit of value but rather a unit of weight at approximately 16.3293 grams. Other weight-based units in relation to the "kyat" were also in use.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: A "kyat", unless specified, always meant a silver "kyat". Other metals were also in use. The value of other metal currencies vis-a-vis the silver kyat are shown below.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The lack of standardised coinage certainly complicated commerce. For instance, many types of silver "kyats" with varying degrees of purity were in use. Records show that people also used a system of barter to conduct commerce.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Surviving records provide a glimpse of the kingdom's economic life. A "pe" (, 0.71 hectare) of fertile land near Pagan cost 20 silver "kyats" but only 1 to 10 "kyats" away from the capital. Construction of a large temple in the reign of Sithu II cost 44,027 "kyats" while a large "Indian style" monastery cost 30,600 "kyats". Manuscripts were rare and extremely costly. In 1273, a complete set of the "Tripiṭaka" cost 3000 "kyats".


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Various estimates put the population of Pagan Empire as anywhere between one and two and a half million but most estimates put it between one and a half and two million at its height. The number would be closer to the upper end, assuming that the population of pre-colonial Burma remained fairly constant. (The size of population in medieval times tended to stay flat over the course of many centuries. England's population between the 11th and 16th centuries remained at around 2.25 million, and China's population until the 17th century remained between 60 and 100 million for 13 centuries.) Pagan was the most populous city with an estimated population of 200,000 prior to the Mongol invasions.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The kingdom was an "ethnic mosaic". In the late 11th century, ethnic Burmans were still "a privileged but numerically limited population", heavily concentrated in the interior dry zone of Upper Burma. They co-existed with Pyus, who dominated the dry zone, until the latter came to identify themselves as Burmans by the early 13th century. Inscriptions also mention a variety of ethnic groups in and around Upper Burma: Mons, Thets, Kadus, Sgaws, Kanyans, Palaungs, Was and Shans. The peoples who lived in the highland perimeter were collectively classified as "hill peoples" ("taungthus", ) although Shan migrants were changing the ethnic makeup of the hill region. In the south, Mons were dominant in Lower Burma by the 13th century, if not earlier. In the west, an Arakanese ruling class who spoke Burmese emerged.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: To be sure, the notion of ethnicity in pre-colonial Burma was highly fluid, heavily influenced by language, culture, class, locale, and indeed political power. People changed their in-group identification, depending on the social context. The success and longevity of the Pagan Empire sustained the spread of Burman ethnicity and culture in Upper Burma in a process that came to be called "Burmanization", which Lieberman describes as "assimilation by bi-lingual peoples, eager to identify with the imperial elite". According to Lieberman, Pagan's imperial power enabled the "construction of Burman cultural hegemony", evidenced by "the growth of Burmese writing, the concomitant decline in Pyu (and perhaps Mon) culture, new trends in art and architecture, and the expansion of Burmese-speaking cultivators into new lands".


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Nonetheless, by the end of Pagan period, the process of Burmanization, which would continue into the 19th century, and eventually blanket the entire lowlands, was still in an early stage. The first extant Burmese language reference to "Burmans" appeared only in 1190, and the first reference to Upper Burma as "the land of the Burmans" ("Myanma pyay") in 1235. The notion of ethnicity continued to be highly fluid, and closely tied to political power. While the rise of Ava ensured the continued spread of Burman ethnicity in post-Pagan Upper Burma, the similar emergence of non-Burmese speaking kingdoms elsewhere helped develop ethnic consciousness closely tied to respective ruling classes in Lower Burma, Shan states and Arakan. For example, according to Lieberman and Aung-Thwin, "the very notion of Mons as a coherent ethnicity may have emerged only in the 14th and 15th centuries after the collapse of Upper Burman hegemony".


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Pagan's society was highly stratified among different social classes. At the top of the pyramid were the royalty (immediate royal family), followed by the upper officialdom (the extended royal family and the court), lower officialdom, artisans and crown service groups, and the commoners. The Buddhist clergy was not a class in the secular society but nonetheless represented an important social class.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The majority of the people belonged to one of four broad groups of commoners. First, royal servicemen were bondsmen ("kyundaw", ) of the king, and were often assigned to individual headmen and officials who acted as the king's representatives. They received land grants from the crown, and were exempt from most personal taxes in exchange for regular or military service. Second, "Athi" () commoners lived not on royal land but on communally-held land, and owed no regular royal service but paid substantial head taxes. Private bondsmen ("kyun", ) owed labour only to their individual patron, and lay outside the system of royal obligation. Finally, religious bondsmen ("hpaya-kyun", ) were also private bondsmen who owed labour only to monasteries and temples but not to the crown.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Of the three bonded (non-"athi") classes, royal bondsmen and religious bondsmen were hereditary while private bondsmen were not. A private bondsman's servitude to his patron stood until his debt was fully repaid. A bondman's obligations ceased with death, and could not be perpetuated down to his descendants. On the other hand, royal servicemen ("kyundaw") were hereditary, and were exempt from personal taxes in exchange for royal service. Similarly, religious servicemen ("hpaya-kyun") were hereditary, and were exempt from personal taxes and royal service in exchange for maintaining the affairs of monasteries and temples. Unlike royal servicemen or even "athi" commoners, the religious bondsmen could not be conscripted into military service.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The primary language of the ruling class of Pagan was Burmese, a Tibeto-Burman language related to both the Pyu language and the language of the ruling class of Nanzhao. But the spread of the language to the masses lagged behind the founding of the Pagan Empire by 75 to 150 years. In the early Pagan era, both Pyu and Mon were lingua francas of the Irrawaddy valley. Pyu was the dominant language of Upper Myanmar while Mon was sufficiently prestigious for Pagan rulers to employ the language frequently for inscriptions and perhaps court usages. Inscriptional evidence indicates that Burmese became the lingua franca of the kingdom only in the early 12th century, and perhaps the late 12th century when the use of Pyu and Mon in official usage declined. Mon continued to flourish in Lower Myanmar but Pyu as a language had died out by the early 13th century.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Another important development in Burmese history and Burmese language was the rise of Pali, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism. The use of Sanskrit, which had been prevalent in the Pyu realm and in the early Pagan era, declined after Anawrahta's conversion to Theravada Buddhism.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The spread of Burmese language was accompanied by that of the Burmese alphabet. Mainstream scholarship holds that the Burmese alphabet was developed from the Mon script in 1058, a year after Anawrahta's conquest of the Thaton Kingdom. Burmese script may have instead been derived from the Pyu script in the 10th century based on whether the Mon script found in Myanmar was sufficiently different from the older Mon script found in the Mon homelands of Dvaravati and on whether a recast 18th century copy of an original stone inscription is permissible as evidence.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Whatever the origin of the Burmese alphabet may be, writing in Burmese was still a novelty in the 11th century. A written Burmese language became dominant in court only in the 12th century. For much of the Pagan period, written materials needed to produce large numbers of literate monks and students in the villages simply did not exist. According to Than Tun, even in the 13th century, "the art of writing was then still in its infancy with the Burmans". Manuscripts were rare and extremely costly. As late as 1273, a complete set of the "Tripiṭaka" cost 3000 "kyats" of silver, which could buy over 2000 hectares of paddy fields. Literacy in Burmese, not to mention Pali, was the effective monopoly of the aristocracy and their monastic peers.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: At Pagan and at main provincial centres, Buddhist temples supported an increasingly sophisticated Pali scholarship, which specialised in grammar and philosophical-psychological ("abhidhamma") studies, and which reportedly won the admiration of Sinhalese experts. Besides religious texts, Pagan's monks read works in a variety of languages on prosody, phonology, grammar, astrology, alchemy, and medicine, and developed an independent school of legal studies. Most students, and probably the leading monks and nuns, came from aristocratic families. At any rate, local illiteracy probably prevented the sort of detailed village censuses and legal rulings that became a hallmark of post-1550 Toungoo administration.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The religion of Pagan was fluid, syncretic and by later standards, unorthodox—largely a continuation of religious trends in the Pyu era where Theravada Buddhism co-existed with Mahayana Buddhism, Tantric Buddhism, various Hindu (Saivite, and Vaishana) schools as well as native animist ("nat") traditions. While the royal patronage of Theravada Buddhism since the mid-11th century had enabled the Buddhist school to gradually gain primacy, and produce over 10,000 temples in Pagan alone in its honour, other traditions continued to thrive throughout the Pagan period to degrees later unseen. While several Mahayana, Tantric, Hindu and animist elements have remained in Burmese Buddhism to the present day, in the Pagan era, however, "Tantric, Saivite, and Vaishana elements enjoyed greater elite influence than they would later do, reflecting both the immaturity of Burmese literary culture and its indiscriminate receptivity to non-Burman traditions". In this period, "heretical" did not mean non-Buddhist, merely unfaithful to one's own scriptures, whether Brahmanic, Buddhist or whatever.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: One of the most enduring developments in Burmese history was the gradual emergence of Theravada Buddhism as the primary faith of the Pagan Empire. A key turning point came c. 1056 when the Buddhist school won the royal patronage of an ascendant empire with Anawrahta's conversion from his native Tantric Buddhism. According to mainstream scholarship, Anawrahta proceeded to revitalise Theravada Buddhism in Upper Myanmar with help from the conquered kingdom of Thaton in 1057 in Lower Myanmar. More recently, however, Aung-Thwin has argued forcefully that Anawrahta's conquest of Thaton is a post-Pagan legend without contemporary evidence, that Lower Myanmar in fact lacked a substantial independent polity prior to Pagan's expansion, and that the Mon influence on the interior is greatly exaggerated. Instead, he argues that it is more likely that Burmans borrowed Theravada Buddhism from their neighbour Pyus, or directly from India. The Theravada school prevalent in the early and mid Pagan periods, like in the Pyu realm, was probably derived from the Andhra region in southeast India, associated with the famous Theravada Buddhist scholar, Buddhaghosa. It was the predominant Theravada school in Myanmar until the late 12th century when Shin Uttarajiva led the realignment with Ceylon's Mahavihara school.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: To be sure, the Theravada Buddhist scene of the Pagan era had little semblance to those of Toungoo and Konbaung periods. Much of the institutional mechanisms prevalent in later centuries simply did not yet exist. For instance, in the 19th century, a network of Theravada monasteries in every village used Burmese-language manuscripts to provide youths from diverse backgrounds with basic Buddhist literacy. This was a reciprocal exchange: monks relied on villagers for their daily food, while villagers depended on monks for schooling, sermons, and an opportunity to gain merit by giving alms and inducting their young men into the community of monks, the "sangha". Such arrangements produced a male literacy rates of over 50 percent, and remarkable levels of textual Buddhist knowledge on the village level. But in the Pagan era, key 19th century elements were not yet in place. No village-level network of monasteries or meaningful interdependence between the monks and villagers existed. The monks relied on the royal donations, and those from major sects, which had vast landed holdings, did not have to rely on daily alms, inhibiting close interaction with villagers. The low levels of interaction in turn retarded literacy in Burmese, and limited most commoners' understanding of Buddhism to non-textual means: paintings at the great temples, pageants, folkloric versions of the "Jataka" stories of the Buddha's life, etc. Most commoners retained the worship of "nat" spirits and other beliefs.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Other traditions also continued to thrive not only at the village level but also at the nominally Theravadin court. One powerful group was the Forest Dweller or "Ari" monks, who enjoyed wide influence at the Pagan court. Contemporary inscriptions show that the Aris ate evening meals, and presided over public ceremonies where they drank liquor and where cattle and other animals were sacrificed—activities considered scandalous by Burmese Buddhist norms of the 18th and 19th centuries. Aris reportedly also enjoyed a form of "ius primae noctis", at least prior to Anawrahta. (Though Anawrahta is said to have driven out the Aris from his court, they were certainly back at the court by the late Pagan period, and continued to be a presence at the later Burmese courts down to the Ava period.) Ari Buddhism itself was a mix of Tantric Buddhism and local traditions. For example, ceremonial animal slaughter and alcohol consumption long antedated the Burmans' arrival, and continued in remote parts of mainland and maritime Southeast Asia until recent times.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The state also accommodated the powerful animist traditions, as shown in the official spirit ("nat") propitiation ceremonies, and in the court's sponsorship of an elaborate "nat" pantheon that sought to assimilate local deities and persons of prowess to a more unified cultus. The Burmans may have derived the concept of an official pantheon from Mon tradition. Likewise, the early Pagan court worshiped snakes ("nagas") venerated in pre-Buddhist times. To judge by 14th-century patterns, sacrifices to nat spirits mediated by shamans, were still a central village ritual. As elsewhere in Southeast Asia, homosexuals or transvestites (who already inhabited two "incompatible" realms) as well as women with appropriate powers provided a shamanic bridge from the human world to that of the spirits.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Bagan is well known today for its architecture, and over 2000 remaining temples that dot the modern-day Pagan (Bagan) plains today. Other, non-religious aspects of Pagan architecture were equally important to later Burmese states.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Burman immigrants are believed to have either introduced new water management techniques or greatly enhanced existing Pyu system of weirs, dams, sluices, and diversionary barricades. The techniques of building dams, canals and weirs found in pre-colonial Upper Myanmar trace their origins to the Pyu era and the Pagan era. Pagan's several water management projects in the dry zone provided Upper Myanmar with an enduring economic base to dominate the rest of the country.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: In the areas of city planning and temple design, Pagan architecture borrowed heavily from existing Pyu architectural practices, which in turn were based on various Indian styles. Pagan-era city planning largely followed Pyu patterns, the most notable being the use of 12 gates, for each of the signs of the zodiac.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Pagan stands out not only for the sheer number of religious edifices but also for the magnificent architecture of the buildings, and their contribution to Burmese temple design. Pagan temples fall into one of two broad categories: the "stupa"-style solid temple and the "gu"-style () hollow temple.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: A "stupa", also called a pagoda, is a massive structure, typically with a relic chamber inside. The Pagan "stupas" or pagodas evolved from earlier Pyu designs, which in turn were based on the "stupa" designs of the Andhra region, particularly Amaravati Stupa and Nagarjunakonda in present-day southeastern India, and to a smaller extent to Ceylon. The Pagan-era stupas in turn were the prototypes for later Burmese stupas in terms of symbolism, form and design, building techniques and even materials.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: Originally, an Indian/Ceylonese "stupa" had a hemispheric body (, "the egg") on which a rectangular box surrounded by a stone balustrade ("harmika") was set. Extending up from the top of the "stupa" was a shaft supporting several ceremonial umbrellas. The "stupa" is a representation of the Buddhist cosmos: its shape symbolises Mount Meru while the umbrella mounted on the brickwork represents the world's axis.


title: Pagan Kingdom

text: The original Indic design was gradually modified first by the Pyu, and then by Burmans at Pagan where the "stupa" gradually developed a longer, cylindrical form. The earliest Pagan "stupas" such as the Bupaya (c. 9th century) were the direct descendants of the Pyu style at Sri Ksetra. By the 11th century, the "stupa" had developed into a more bell-shaped form in which the parasols morphed into a series of increasingly smaller rings placed on one top of the other, rising to a point. On top the rings, the new design replaced the "harmika" with a lotus bud. The lotus bud design then evolved into the "banana bud", which forms the extended apex of most Burmese pagodas. Three or four rectangular terraces served as the base for a pagoda, often with a gallery of terra-cotta tiles depicting Buddhist "jataka" stories. The Shwezigon Pagoda and the Shwesandaw Pagoda are the earliest examples of this type. Examples of the trend toward a more bell-shaped design gradually gained primacy as seen in the Dhammayazika Pagoda (late 12th century) and the Mingalazedi Pagoda (late 13th century).