d supplied its own complications, for of the many races inhabiting
it, three, the Burmese, Talaings and Shans, had rival aspirations and
founded dynasties. Of these three races, the Burmese proper appear to
have come from the north west, for a chain of tribes speaking cognate
languages is said to extend from Burma to Nepal. The Mons or
Talaings are allied linguistically to the Khmers of Camboja. Their
country (sometimes called Ramannadesa) was in Lower Burma and its
principal cities were Pegu and Thaton. The identity of the name
Talaing with Telingana or Kalinga is not admitted by all scholars, but
native tradition connects the foundation of the kingdom with the east
coast of India and it seems certain that such a connection existed in
historical times and kept alive Hinayanist Buddhism which may have
been originally introduced by this route.

The Shan States lie in the east of Burma on the borders of Yunnan and
Laos. Their traditions carry their foundation back to the fourth and
fifth centuries B.C. There is no confirmation of this, but bodies of
Shans, a race allied to the Siamese, may have migrated into this
region at any date, perhaps bringing Buddhism with them or receiving
it direct from China. Recent investigations have shown that there was
also a fourth race, designated as Pyus, who occupied territory between
the Burmese and Talaings in the eleventh century. They will probably
prove of considerable importance for philology and early history,
perhaps even for the history of some phases of Burmese Buddhism, for
the religious terms found in their inscriptions are Sanskrit rather
than Pali and this suggests direct communication with India. But until
more information is available any discussion of this interesting but
mysterious people involves so many hypotheses and arguments of detail
that it is impossible in a work like the present. Prome was one of
their principal cities, their name reappears in P'iao, the old Chinese
designation of Burma, and perhaps also in Pagan, one form of which is
Pugama.[124]

Throughout the historical period the pre-eminence both in individual
kings and dynastic strength rested with the Burmese but their contests
with the Shans and Talaings form an intricate story which can be
related here only in outline. Though the three races are distinct and
still preserve their languages, yet they conquered one another, lived
in each other's capitals and shared the same ambitions so that in more
re