Front Cover:

Obverse and reverse of two Pyu coins, silver, apparently counterfeits of coinspopular in First Millennium. BC. 87.04.01 and BC. 87.04.02. Courtesy of the Centerfor Burma Studies, Northern Illinois University.

Cover design: Jeff Strohm, Northern Illinois University

These two Pyu coins are exemplars of the coins found in Central and Upper Burma,minted in the First Millennium under the Pyu Kingdom, c.500–800 CE.

Called Rising Sun/Srivatsa, their stamped design bears on the obverse a stylizedrising sun with 12 rays separated by a dot; the whole enclosed by a solid circular linebeads in the perimeter, and a raised outer rim. A horizontal line divides the coin.

On the reverse is the Srivatsa symbol, viewed by some numismatic scholars as a referenceto the temple of Sri, goddess of fertility with the sun and moon above and severalancillary symbols at the sides: the swastika with a dot at each end on the left , and thebhadrapitha throne on the right, placed below a line of three dots. Srivatsa comprisingcombinations of triangles and sinuous lines, have been interpreted variously as microcosmicsymbols which might be associated with either Hinduism or Buddhism.

As early as the sixth and seventh centuries CE, Chinese sources noted the Pyao (Pyu)for their silver coinage. Alternatively, they called themselves the Tircul, which wasthe name given to the Pyu by Arab merchants. It is thus unsurprising to have foundexamples of this type of rising sun coinage in following the actual trade route fromimportant Pyu sites, but encountered also in Dvaravati (now in Thailand), up to thetip of the former Funan kingdom (now southern Cambodia and Vietnam).

However, these raise a question of authenticity: the two coins depicted here each inobverse and reverse, although quite similar to unquestioned originals found in thePyu archaeological sites, could be fakes but were presented to us specifically to beused for educational purposes.

They thus raise the question of “ethics and authenticity” which is in part the maintheme of this issue: a topic which should be also examined within the world of Artand Culture, no less than within the ambit of the Social Sciences.

— Catherine Raymond, curator, Burma Art Collection at Northern Illinois University

Journal of Burma Studies

In this Issue

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Thinking about Ethics in Burma Research
Lisa Brooten, Rosalie Metro
pp. 1-22
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2014.0001
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The Academic Life of Savages
Violet Cho
pp. 23-31
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2014.0003
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Fostering an Objectionable Burma Discourse
Elliott Prasse-Freeman
pp. 97-122
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2014.0010
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Ethnic Histories: Reflections from the Field
Patrick McCormick
pp. 123-135
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2014.0000
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On Michael Aung-Thwin’s “Those Men in Saffron Robes”
F. K. Lehman
pp. 181-186
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2014.0004
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Reply to F. K. Lehman (F. K. L. Chit Hlaing)
Michael Aung-Thwin
pp. 187-192
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2014.0007
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About the Cover
Catherine Raymond
p. ii
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2014.0005
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