Bagan had never been isolated, which is what the thin but rich book has elaborated. This edited book results from a 2012 international conference held in Bagan, sponsored by the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Center, ISEAS, Singapore. Participants came from across the world, including USA, Russia, Australia, Netherlands, India, Singapore, and of course, Myanmar, and their individual and collective efforts have presented “abundant evidence that the kingdom of Bagan, which flourished from around 1000 to 1300, played a major role in the development of the economy, religion, art and technology in the area” (vii). 

Very interestingly, Michael Aung-Thwin in his keynote speech (Chapter 1) refutes the conference premise that often “the history of the ancient cities of Myanmar had been examined in splendid isolation, without sufficient reference to their external links.”(p. 2) Instead, he follows to discuss how scholars, both Burmese and foreign, no matter they worked in prehistory, early history, urban period, and “classical” and early modern period of Burmese history, have worked persistently in illustrating external linkages. Meanwhile, Michael Aung-Thwin points out the existence of “splendid isolation” in Myanmar scholarship, for example, the lack of theoretical conceptualization. In order to overcome such a weakness, he suggests the translation of important foreign works for Myanmar scholars and a local center to be built in Myanmar that would be academically linked to the world.

Chapter 2 “Analysis of Construction Techniques in Pyu Cities and Bagan” by Kyaw Lat, an architect, compares the construction techniques used in Sriksetra and Bagan with those in other Southeast Asian historical sites. Within about three centuries, four thousand buildings were completed in Bagan, and this amazing achievement could not have been done without experts and skilled laborer who utilized bricks as the main building material. In addition, Bagan also distinguished itself by its construction technology, especially the use of the true arch and vault as early as about the seventh century to make the building taller and larger. 

Chapter 3 “Khraung-kaik Pitaka-taik: 16th-Century Repositories for Buddhist Scriptures in Mrauk-U” by Mya Oo examines the establishment of pitaka-taik, namely repositories or libraries in the Mrauk-U kingdom (1430-1785), the last unified Rakhine kingdom. Due to its geographical location, this kingdom established intensive political, military, and religious interactions with counterparts in Burma and Bengal. It once, for example, occupied Panwa (or Ramu) and other states from Bengal to Chittagong. Naturally, Buddhist influence from Sri Lanka, as well as architecture techniques from Indian and Bengal, was widely found in Mrauk-U. Local inscriptions, written in Brahmi script and Pali language, show the arrival of Buddhism no later than the second or third century CE. And the chronicles state that during the Mrauk-U period four Buddhist missions led by local venerable monks were invited by Sri Lanka to purify the Sanga in that island kingdom. More astonishedly, forty-eight libraries were built to store Buddhist literature. Khraung-Kaik Pitaka-taik, constructed by stone in 1591, is the only well-preserved one. Little studied, this Buddhist library representing Buddhist architectures and the history Mrauk-U, calls academic attentions for the sake of the understanding of Myanmar’s global connections.

Chapter 4 “Religious Symbols as Decorations on the Sikhara of Ancient Monuments in the Late Bagan Period” by Pyiet Phyo Kyaw follows to study Mahayana Buddhist symbols by analyzing the three motifs, namely, sikhara (square tower), goddess, and ogre heads (kirttimukha) that were popularly created in the monuments in the late Bagan period (the 13^th century). Sikhara symbolizing the vehicle, goddess wisdom or dhamma, and ogre heads time or eternity, represented the concept that Buddhist would prosper until 5,000 years had passed, and showed the indigenization of Buddhism in Bagan.

Chapter 5 “The Viṣṇu on Garuḍa from the Nat Hlaung Kyaung Temple, Bagan” by Olga Deshpande and Pamela Gutman is the most arresting and simultaneously successful in illustrating Bagan’s global connections. The Visnu on Garuda, together with other three Burmese stone sculpture are now kept in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. They were originally sent to Germany in the end of 19^th century by Friedrich Wilhelm Nӧtling (1857-1928), a German scholar who was once employed by the Geological Survey of India and worked at the Yenangyaung oil fields near Bagan, and then taken to Soviet Union after WWII. The piece of Visnu on Garuda might have originally been placed in the Nat Hlaung Kyaung, the only Brahmanic shrine remaining at Bagan; and more importantly, it illustrates many similarities with other images of visnu on garuda found in Chola, Pala, Khmer, and Champa in the 11^th and 12^th centuries when Vaisnavism became a popular cult in various courts throughout Southeast Asia, sometimes subservient to Buddhism. Therefore, the piece sculpture of Visnu on Garuda illustrates the role of Bagan in the cross-regional linkages among South India, North India, and various Southeast Asian regions such as Khmer, Thailand, Champa, and East Java around the 11^thcentury. 

Chapter 6 “A Thousand Years before Bagan: Radiocarbon Dates and Myanmar’s Ancient Pyu Cities” by Bod Hudson shares recent findings of radiocarbon dating. Sriksetra, Halin and Beikthano, these so-called ancient Pyu cities took place during the period between the late first century to the early third century, and these walled cities were independent and simultaneous achievements before the expansion of Bagan.

Chapter 7 “Ta Mok Shwe-Gu-Gyi Temple Kyaukse and Bagan” by Elizabeth Howard Moore and Win Maung examines the Ta Mok temple complex in Kyaukse, the first and only intact example of the Bagan-period architecture outside Bagan. Its distinct geographical location facilitated its absorption of Bagan elements and influence for the making of a local identity, and thus sheds new light on the interactions between Bagan and the rice fields of Kyaukse. Religion, economy and politics combined together account for the long habitation of the Ta Mok site. 

Chapter 8 “Silver Links! Bagan-Bengal and Shadowy Metal Corridors: 9^th to 13^th Centuries” by Rila Mukherjee pays attention to Bagan’s western links with medieval Bengal. She sketches the silver export through the Bagan-Bengal links, and suggests that Bagan and the southern Bengal delta be seen as “ecological and culturally compatible (p. 164), which could be illustrated by the cowrie trade that shipped these marine creatures from the Maldives though Bengal and mainland Southeast Asia to Yunnan.

Chapter 9 “Positioning Bagan in the Buddhist Ecumene: Myanmar’s Trans-Polity Connection” by Goh Geok Yian turns to the Buddhist world in which Bagan in the period of the 11^th to the 14^th centuries served as a hub. Nevertheless, her primary major efforts are made to discuss the nature of Bagan as an urban center. Predominantly based on the porcelain sheds discovered in the archaeological zone of Bagan, she proposes that Bagan was a ceremonial capital with certain heterogenetic characteristics and that highly likely it did not have a large population (p. 193). The discoveries of Chinese sherds and different types of Myanmar ones indicate the existence of international and internal trade to support this religious and urban center. 

Chapter 10 “Orthogeneity, Settlement Patterns and Earthenware Pottery Distribution in Bagan” by John N. Miksic, the most well-known (and arguably, the only one) archaeologist specializing in Southeast Asia continues to use archaeological data of pottery distribution to analyze the socio-economic complexity of Bagan, a theme being examined by Goh Geok Yian. Preliminary findings indicate that the “Pyu” cities such as Sriksetra and Bagan shared many similarities but simultaneously differed in some significant aspects such as internal settlement patterns and the presence (or absence) of Chinese ceramics. Current (and future, hopefully) archeological analyses hence has shed new light on the early Southeast Asian urbanization and urban life. 

This edited book, though contributed to by diverse scholars, remains coherent in discussing Bagan in a broader context. The history of Myanmar, to those who are extremely interested in including the reviewer himself, seems to have been done mainly by scholars outside of the country. This edited book hence provides a great opportunity to glimpse Myanmar scholars and their original works, especially through the lens of archaeological studies which have remained basically unknown to the outer world. And interdisciplinary efforts made by all these contributors have drawn a map of Bagan that were connected with various parts of our world. Splendid and never isolated, Bagan thrived (and declined). 

Rich as it is, the edited book, unfortunately, fails to include any Chinese scholarship on the Bagan kingdom or the Sino-Burmese interactions during the discussed period even when the words such as “China”, “Tang China”, “Chinese”, “Yunnan”, “Nanzhao” and “Dali” are occasionally referred to and Chinese sources or connections have been briefly mentioned by Goh Geok Yian, John N. Miksic, and Rila Mukherjee. The Bagan kingdom was contemporary with its northern neighbor the Dali kingdom (937-1254) based on today’s Yunnan, and Song China (960-1279). Buddhism thrived both at Bagan and Dali, with many colossal religious buildings completed. Furthermore, cowrie shells, originated from the Maldives and shipped via mainland Southeast Asia, were used as money in the Nanzhao kingdom (c. 7^th century – 902) and the Dali kingdom. While the Tai kingdoms constituted one major source and channel for these shells in Dali, Bagan might have been another major one. In addition, the Mongols conquered Dali in 1254, and used it as a springboard to make a siege of the Southern Song (1127-1279) and to attack mainland Southeast Asian kingdoms. The Mongol factor hence reshuffled the political map in the discussed region. Although the Bagan was not challenged by the Mongols as severely as its neighbors, its decline was stipulated and sped. Therefore, the studies of Bagan could not afford the omission of Chinese sources or efforts.