We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from PART II - Localisation in Southeast Asia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
Arakan is one of the fourteen states and divisions that composed together in the Union of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is located on the boundary of present-day Myanmar and Bangladesh. Situated east of Vanga and Samatata of ancient India, Arakan was in olden days a thriving, independent border state beyond the Indian subcontinent. Indologists who write about the history and culture of ancient India have never mentioned this area where high standards of life, culture and art flourished. Under the cultural influence of India, city-states flourished in the first millennium of the Christian Era (CE). They are Dhaññavatī and Vesālī. The Gupta-period sculptures point the city of Dhaññavatī to the fifth century CE (Gutman 2001: 19) and art and numismatic studies place Vesālī between about sixth and tenth centuries CE (Gutman 1976; 2001: 41), although a fourteenth-century radiocarbon date from a city gatepost suggests intermittent reoccupation (Hudson 2005).
About fifty Sanskrit and Pāli inscriptions written in Gupta, Devanāgarī and proto-Bengali scripts between the period of fifth and tenth centuries CE were found in Arakan. Most of the inscriptions can be assigned to the Vesālī period. Interestingly, none of the inscriptions found in Arakan during the first millennium CE were inscribed in vernacular languages; all were written in the classical languages of Sanskrit or Pāli using Indian scripts. This is due to the cultural impact, especially the Buddhicisation, of ancient India on this region which is situated very close to the subcontinent.
Most of the inscriptions from the Vesālī period bear the gāthā (verse) of ye dhammā. According to archaeological data, the ye dhammā verses were first inscribed around the fifth-sixth centuries (Mya 1961b: 17). We do not know whether the custom of inscribing the ye dhammā gāthā appeared first among the Mahāyāna or Theravāda schools. However, most of the ye dhammā inscription of the fifth century CE were written in Pāli. Between sixth and seventh centuries, the ye dhammā gāthā were commonly in usage both in Pāli and Sanskrit languages.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
