Pyay
Pyay (Burmese: ပ္ရည္; MLCTS: prany, formerly Prome), is a town (1983 population 83,000) and district of the Bago Division in Lower Myanmar, located some 161 km, or 7 hours north of Yangon by road, or an overnight boat trip south of Bagan. The British Irrawaddy Flotilla Company established the current town in the late 1800s on the Ayeyarwady River as a transshipment point for cargo between upper and lower Myanmar. It is also called Pyi by the locals.
The name "Pyi" means "capital" in Burmese, and refers to the ruins of the Pyu capital of Sri Ksetra (Sanskrit: City of Splendor, Burmese: သရေခေတ္တရာ; MLCTS: sa. re hkett ra), which is located 8 km to the southeast of modern Pyi and is known today as the village of Hmawa. Sri Ksetra was built around 638 AD and was the capital of the new Pyu dynasty of Vikrama. The city was circular with walls enclosing an around of 46 sq km. The city fell to Bagan in 1057, and the Pyu retreated northward. The Burmese came continued to call the old Pyu center Pyi. The extensive ruins have been the subject of intensive archaeological investigation.
Prome was a district in the Pegu division of Lower Burma, with an area of 2QIc sq. m. and a population (1901) of 804.
It occupies the whole breadth of the valley of the Ayeyarwady River, between Thayetmyo district on the north and Henzada and Tharrawaddy districts on the south, and originally extended as far as the frontier of Independent Burma, but in 1870 Thayetmyo was formed into an independent jurisdiction. There are two mountain ranges in Prome, which form respectively the eastern and western boundaries. The Arakan Yomas extends along the whole of the western side, and that portion of the district lying on the right bank of the Irrawaddy is broken up by thickly wooded spurs running in a south-easterly direction, the space for cultivation being but limited and confined to the parts adjacent to the river. On the eastern side lies the Pegu Yomas, and north and north-east of the district its forest-covered spurs form numerous valleys and ravines, the torrents from which unite in one large stream called the Na-weng River. The most important of the plains lie in the south and south-west portions of Prome, and extend along the whole length of the railway that runs between. the towns of Paungde and Prome; they are mostly under cultivation, and those in the south are watered by a series of streams forming the Myit-ma-kha or upper portion of the Hlaing. There are in. addition large tracts of land covered by tree-jungle which are available for cultivation. The principal river is the Irrawaddy, which intersects the district from north to south; next in importance are the Tha-ni and its tributaries and the Na-weng system of rivers. In the hills near the capital the soil is of Tertiary formation, and in the plains it is an alluvial deposit. The climate is much drier than other districts in Lower Burma, the annual rainfall being about 48 in. The temperature ranges from about 100 in June to 60 in January. The staple crop is rice, but some cotton and tobacco are grown, while the custard apples are famous. Sericulture is extensively carried on by a special class. The forests yield teak and cutch, cotton and silk-weaving are important industries; there are also manufactures of ornamental boxes, coarse brown sugar and cutch.
The early history of the once flourishing kingdom of Prome, like that of the other states which now form portions of Burma, is veiled in obscurity. After the conquest of Pegu in I758 by Alompra, the founder of the last dynasty of Ava kings, Prome remained a portion of the Burman kingdom till the close of the second Burmese War in 1853, when the province of Pegu was annexed to British territory.
PROME, the chief town of the district, is situated on the left bank of the Ayeyarwady River, 161 m. N. of Rangoon, population (1901),27,375.
To the south and south-east the town is closed in by low pagoda-topped hills, on one of which stands the conspicuous gilded Shwe Tsan-daw. The town. was taken. by the British in 1825 and again in 1852, on. both occasions with hardly any opposition. In 1862 it was almost entirely destroyed by fire, and was afterwards relaid out in straight and broad streets. It was erected into a municipality in 1874, and since then great improvements have been made, including waterworks. Its principal manufactures are silk doths and lacquer ware. It is the terminus of a railway, from Rangoon, which runs through the district. The other chief towns in. the district are Shwedaung (pop. 10,787) and Paungde (pop. 11,105).