In connection with these data must be taken the important statement that the celebrated Tantrist Atisa studied in Lower Burma about 1000 A.D.  Up to a certain point the conclusion seems clear.  Pali Hinayanism in Burma was old:  intercourse with southern India and Ceylon tended to keep it pure, whereas intercourse with Bengal and Orissa, which must have been equally frequent, tended to import Mahayanism.  In the time of Anawrata the religion of Upper Burma probably did not deserve the name of Buddhism.  He introduced in its place the Buddhism of Lower Burma, tempered by reference to Ceylon.  After 1200 if not earlier the idea prevailed that the Mahavihara was the standard of orthodoxy and that the Talaing church (which probably retained some Mahayanist features) fell below it.  In the fifteenth century this view was universally accepted, the opposition and indeed the separate existence of the Talaing church having come to an end.

But it still remains uncertain whether the earliest Burmese Buddhism came direct from Magadha or from the south.  The story of Asoka’s missionaries cannot be summarily rejected but it also cannot be accepted without hesitation.[160] It is the Ceylon chronicle which knows of them and communication between Burma and southern India was old and persistent.  It may have existed even before the Christian era.

After the fall of Pagan, Upper Burma, of which we must now speak, passed through troubled times and we hear little of religion or literature.  Though Ava was founded in 1364 it did not become an intellectual centre for another century.  But the reign of Narapati (1442-1468) was ornamented by several writers of eminence among whom may be mentioned the monk poet Silavamsa and Ariyavamsa, an exponent of the Abhidhamma.  They are noticeable as being the first writers to publish religious works, either original or translated, in the vernacular and this practice steadily increased.  In the early part of the sixteenth century[161] occurred the only persecution of Buddhism known in Burma.  Thohanbwa, a Shan who had become king of Ava, endeavoured to exterminate the order by deliberate massacre and delivered temples, monasteries and libraries to the flames.  The persecution did not last long nor extend to other districts but it created great indignation among the Burmese and was perhaps one of the reasons why the Shan dynasty of Ava was overthrown in 1555.

Bayin (or Bureng) Naung stands out as one of the greatest personalities in Burmese history.  As a Buddhist he was zealous even to intolerance, since he forced the Shans and Moslims of the northern districts, and indeed all his subjects, to make a formal profession of Buddhism.  He also, as related elsewhere, made not very successful attempts to obtain the tooth relic from Ceylon.  But it is probable that his active patronage of the faith, as shown in the construction and endowment of religious buildings, was exercised chiefly in Pegu and this must be the reason why the Sasanavamsa (which is interested chiefly in Upper Burma) says little about him.