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Who is Anuradha?

Anuruddha (Sanskrit: Anawrahta, Pali: Anuruddha, 1015-1078), founder of the Bagan Dynasty in Myanmar (reigned 1044-1078). Together with Mang Yinglong and Yong Jiya, they are known as the “Three National Heroes” or “Three Emperors” of Myanmar. Because of his strong support of Buddhism, he was honored as “King Ashoka of Burma”.

Introduction

Anuruddha is the son of Gongcuo Jiang Piao (one of the mixed monks), and after he ascended the throne, he first unified the situation of separate divisions, and successively conquered the Taduan kingdom in the south, the Arakan kingdom of the Rakhine in the west, and the Dali kingdom in the north. The country maintained a peaceful balance and laid the foundation for the Bagan Dynasty in 243 years (1044-1287). At that time, the domain of the dynasty stretched from Bhamo in the north, the sea in the south, the Shan tribes in the east, and the North Arakan in the west. It was the earliest unified kingdom in Myanmar.

In 1078, Anuradha was attacked and killed by wild bulls while hunting, and it is said that his enemies ambushed and killed him. After his death, his son Sulu (a Shura) ascended the throne, and soon after Bagan fell apart under the resistance of the Mon people, Jiang Xituo ascended the throne and restored the unity of Bagan.

Achievement

During the reign of Anuradha, he created the Burmese script based on the Meng script and the Pyu script. The earliest Burmese inscription on the Lei Shede tablet appeared in 1058 when he was on the throne. Translated into Burmese. However, because the Burmese script was originally created and was not perfected during the Anuradha period, Pali and Meng scripts were still popular at that time. It was not until the late Bagan Dynasty that Burmese script became fully popular.

Complete unity

Anuruddha successively conquered the direct kingdom of the Mon people in lower Myanmar and the northern part of Arakan, and made all the chieftains of the Shan State in upper Myanmar to return to their vassals one after another, realizing the first unification of Myanmar. He made the territory of the Bagan Dynasty vast, possessing Upper Burma, the homeland of the former Pyu Kingdom, Lower Burma and North Arakan in the Kingdom of Mon, and extended its power to the Chao Phraya River Basin and the vast area of ​​the Malay Peninsula. In the process of unification, Anuruddha relied on the four “sacred generals”, Jiang Xituo, E Tuiyou, Erlong Lai and Liangwu Bi.

Buddhist

Anuradha opened the precedent for Bagan rulers to build stupas, the most famous of which is the Shwesh Palace stupa built in Bagan. The pagoda houses the tooth and relics received from Ceylon. This project was so huge that it was not completed until his death. At that time, Buddhism in Ceylon, an important town of Theravada Buddhism, was declining. In 1071, Anuradha, at the request of the King of Ceylon, sent many eminent monks to Ceylon to preach and spread the Dharma, and to feed back Ceylon Buddhism.

Anuradha vigorously promoted Theravada Buddhism as an important national policy for stabilizing and uniting people’s hearts, maintaining and stabilizing rule. In the following 243 years, successive Bagan kings have implemented this national policy, followed the example of Anuruddha to protect the Buddha and spread the Dharma, and believed that building temples and pagodas would have immeasurable merits and virtues.

Character influence

As the king of Bagan, a small Burmese country, Anuradha completed the unification of the whole of Myanmar and played a key role in the development of the Burmese and the formation of the Burmese state. Therefore, he is regarded by the Burmese as “the first unification”. The founder of the Kingdom of Burma, and also the first emperor of Burma”, is listed as the “Three National Heroes of Burma” together with Mang Yinglong of the Toungoo Dynasty and Yong Jiya of the Gongbang Dynasty.

At the same time, he abolished the old Ari religion and vigorously promoted Theravada Buddhism, which established the status of Theravada Buddhism as the state religion in Myanmar.