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A First-Century Stele from Sriksetra
A sandstone stele (Fig. 1) discovered at Sriksetra (Śrīkṣetra), Central Myanmar (Burma)
(Fig. 2),1 in the 1970s and currently on display in the National Museum, Yangon (Rangoon),
can now be dated to around the beginning of the fi rst millennium of the Common Era.2 It
is possibly the earliest Indic sculpture in Southeast Asia. It will be posited that the stele
illustrates an aspect of the adaptation of Indian ideas of power and with it the spread of
Buddhism and Brahmanism in the early urban context. One side of the stele illustrates
three men. The central fi gure, apparently a leader or a cult fi gure, holds a massive weapon
and is fl anked by smaller fi gures that also hold symbols of power. The other side shows
a throne surmounted by a canopy with two women in attitudes of respect on either side.
The stele was published by John Guy, who identifi ed it as a “warrior stele” with stylistic
affi nities to the early sculpture of Andhra Pradesh and dated it to circa 4th-5th century
CE.3 He noted that the central fi gure resembled the club-bearing guardian fi gures from
the Khin Ba hoard, which infl uenced his dating, and identifi ed the objects held by the
fl anking fi gures as a garuḍadhvaja and a cakradhvaja suggesting a Vaiṣṇavite allegiance
among the ruling elite at Sriksetra.
Hero or warrior stones seem to have arrived in the art of Andhra and Tamil Nadu
during the Tamil sangam period, around the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE,4 although they differ
from the Sriksetra stele in nature, content and artistic expression. A further stylistic
analysis and investigation of the provenance of the Sriksetra stone indicates an earlier
date. While there are no obvious prototypes for such a stele in India, the massive size
* Pamela Gutman, Department of Art History and Film Studies; Bob Hudson, Department of Archaeology,
University of Sydney, Australia.
1. The authors would like to thank Hiram Woodward, Robert Brown, Tilman Frasch, Ian Glover, K. P.
Rao and Elizabeth Moore for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Radiocarbon dates in
the OZ series were the result of a grant from the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering.
2. This composite image is based on Archaeology Department photos taken before the stele was installed
in the National Museum. The stone is now supported by an iron frame which obscures some of the
outer details. The more detailed photographs in this paper were taken in the Museum by Zaw Min Yu.
3. Guy 1997: 85-94; 1999: 17-18. In 2009 Guy considered that the stele might date as late as the 6th
century. Stadtner 1998 suggests that the stele might refl ect an indigenous style, belonging to the earliest
phase of Pyu art. Moore (2007: 140) also mentions the stele.
4. Murthy 1982.
