s a religious centre, for the ecclesiastical chronicles
shift the scene elsewhere.

The two Shan states which arose from the ruin of Pagan, namely Panya
(Vijayapura) and Sagaing (Jeyyapura), encouraged religion and
learning. Their existence probably explains the claim made in Siamese
inscriptions of about 1300 that the territory of Siam extended to
Hamsavati or Pegu and this contact of Burma and Siam was of great
importance for it must be the origin of Pali Buddhism in Siam which
otherwise remains unexplained.

After the fall of the two Shan states in 1364, Ava (or Ratnapura)
which was founded in the same year gradually became the religious
centre of Upper Burma and remained so during several centuries. But
it did not at first supersede older towns inasmuch as the loss of
political independence did not always involve the destruction of
monasteries. Buddhism also flourished in Pegu and the Talaing country
where the vicissitudes of the northern kingdoms did not affect its
fortunes.

Anawrata had transported the most eminent Theras of Thaton to Pagan
and the old Talaing school probably suffered temporarily. Somewhat
later we hear that the Sinhalese school was introduced into these
regions by Sariputta,[155] who had been ordained at Pagan. About the
same time two Theras of Martaban, preceptors of the Queen, visited
Ceylon and on returning to their own land after being ordained at the
Mahavihara considered themselves superior to other monks. But the old
Burmese school continued to exist. Not much literature was produced in
the south. Sariputta was the author of a Dhammathat or code, the first
of a long series of law books based upon Manu. Somewhat later Mahayasa
of Thaton (_c._ 1370) wrote several grammatical works.

The most prosperous period for Buddhism in Pegu was the reign of
Dhammaceti, also called Ramadhipati (1460-1491). He was not of the
royal family, but a simple monk who helped a princess of Pegu to
escape from the Burmese court where she was detained. In 1453 this
princess became Queen of Pegu and Dhammaceti left his monastery to
become her prime minister, son-in-law and ultimately her
successor. But though he had returned to the world his heart was with
the Church. He was renowned for his piety no less than for his
magnificence and is known to modern scholars as the author of the
Kalyani inscriptions,[156] which assume the proportions of a treatise
on ecclesiastical laws and history. Their chief purpose is