Hinayanism in Lower Burma naturally did not prevent
the arrival of Mahayanism. It has not left many certain traces but
Atisa (_c._ 1000), a great figure in the history of Tibetan
Buddhism, is reported to have studied both in Magadha and in
Suvarnadvipa by which Thaton must be meant. He would hardly have done
this, had the clergy of Thaton been unfriendly to Tantric learning.
This mediaeval Buddhism was also, as in other countries, mixed with
Hinduism but whereas in Camboja and Champa Sivaism, especially
the worship of the lingam, was long the official and popular cult and
penetrated to Siam, few Sivaite emblems but numerous statues of
Vishnuite deities have hitherto been discovered in Burma.

The above refers chiefly to Lower Burma. The history of Burmese
Buddhism becomes clearer in the eleventh century but before passing to
this new period we must enquire what was the religious condition of
Upper Burma in the centuries preceding it. It is clear that any
variety of Buddhism or Brahmanism may have entered this region from
India by land at any epoch. According to both Hsuan Chuang and I-Ching
Buddhism flourished in Samatata and the latter mentions images of
Avalokita and the reading of the Prajna-paramita. The precise position
of Samatata has not been fixed but in any case it was in the east
of Bengal and not far from the modern Burmese frontier. The existence
of early Sanskrit inscriptions at Taungu and elsewhere has been
recorded but not with as much detail as could be wished.[140] Figures
of Bodhisattvas and Indian deities are reported from Prome,[141] and
in the Lower Chindwin district are rock-cut temples resembling the
caves of Barabar in Bengal. Inscriptions also show that at Prome there
were kings, perhaps in the seventh century, who used the Pyu language
but bore Sanskrit titles. According to Burmese tradition the Buddha
himself visited the site of Pagan and prophesied that a king called
Sammutiraya would found a city there and establish the faith. This
prediction is said to have been fulfilled in 108 A.D. but the notices
quoted from the Burmese chronicles are concerned less with the
progress of true religion than with the prevalence of heretics known
as Aris.[142] It has been conjectured that this name is a corruption
of Arya but it appears that the correct orthography is _aran_
representing an original _aranyaka_, that is forest priests. It is
hard to say whether they were degraded Buddhists or an indigenous
p