The Palace of Sri Ksetra in Pyay Township, Bago Region, was probably renovated and used until the late Pyu period, according to U Kyaw Myo Win, director of the Department of Archaeology and National Museum (Bagan Branch).
The last remnant of the Pyu era, the Sri Ksetra Palace is a rectangular structure that stands out on the ground with a remaining wall about 22 feet wide. The city wall stretches more than 1100 feet east-west and about 1700 feet south-north, with only one gate on each of the four sides.
The western gate hasn’t been found yet and research must continue to confirm the presence of a gate in the western city wall, he posted on social media.
In the construction of the wall, the 5.5 feet inner wall and the 6 feet outer wall were separated by an intermediate layer of brick cuttings and earth, according to the study. Excavations of the gates show that the eastern gate was designed for both carts and human-only entry, while the northern gate was more complexly built, he said.
Unlike the eastern gate, the northern gate cannot be used for direct access to the palace, but only allows one person at a time to pass through its two sides. Moreover, the northern gate has no passage for carts and it seems that the original design of the palace placed a greater emphasis on security on the northern side. The presence of a southern gate can be inferred from a gate-like landscape on the ground and a row of bricks, but researchers will have to continue their excavations to investigate this.
The Sri Ksetra Palace is likely to be renovated for use in the later part of the Pyu era, he suggested, because the size of bricks found in the ancient city is the same with that used in the cave pagodas of the early Pagan era.
MT/ZN
