parts of Southeast Asia were linked to

Asian Agri-History Vol. 9, No. 4, 2005 279
framework is largely composed of mountainous uplands, intermontane river valleys and deltaic lowlands, each of which is characterized by a distinct type of agriculture. These three areas possess distinct historical significance – hill agriculture is concerned with the survival of limited population, dry zone farming involves the integration of people, and the deltaic cultivation is related to the surplus production of rice (Dobby, Interestingly enough, the dry zone of
Myanmar, though the perennial river
Irrawaddy flows through this region, has the features of acidity resulting from the rain- shadow effects of Arakan Yoma on the west and Shau plateau in the east. Yet, due to the environmental influences and historical processes, the dry zone emerged as an area of convergence of people in contrast to the hilly areas which segregated people and the southern deltas of Irrawaddy
(Dobby, All those who settled indifferent parts of
Myanmar, migrated at different times from the northern drier tracts (of Tibeto-Yunan plateau) rather than from the southern seaward side. Besides contributing to the development of inland irrigation system at
Kyaukse in the dry zone of central Myanmar and in the upper valleys of Siam (Thailand)
(Hall, 1968; Cady, 1976), Mons who upon settling in the coastal deltaic fringes, adopted the Indian wet-farming techniques and thus ensured food surplus in the lower Sittang valley and Irrawaddy delta. The first wave of Burmans encroached on the Kyaukse and then moved southward to Minbu-Magwe district (west of Irrawaddy) when they found an older irrigation system than the one in practice at Kyaukse. The second wave of
Tibeto-Burmans who settled in the lower
Irrawaddy valley following the collapse of
Pyu state in 8
th century AD, too learned that
Mons were pioneers in developing the irrigation systems in tune with the environmental conditions (Hall, 1968; Cady,
1976). The methods of controlled irrigation which Mons employed in the dry zone and the piedmont zone or elsewhere in the deltaic region, formed the basis of settlement and agricultural prosperity that survived until 12
th century (Hill, 1979). Thus, the lately arrived
Burmans became the rulers at Pagan symbolizing an inland agrarian polity and established their predominance over the coastal areas (Taylor, Despite the benefits they derived from their contact with the Mons, the Burmans developed small irrigation works of distributory type since 11
th century, inasmuch as the dryland agricultural concepts which they brought from their homeland in southern China were best suited to the conditions of dry zone of Myanmar. Based on the technical expertise of the kind,
Burmans impounded the natural runoff water – from the incised and violated small streams in the dry zone of middle Irrawaddy into shallow bunds for surmounting the agricultural risks as a sequel to an unreliable rainfall. This irrigation system, which was chiefly responsible for the success of agricultural farming, became vitally important to the successive regimes since
12
th century until the specialized commercial rice farming in the Irrawaddy deltaic region was evolved just before the middle of 19
th century (Dobby, 1958; Hall, 1968).

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