Shan Tribute Relations In The Nineteenth Century

This article focuses on the tributary system of inland Southeast Asia that was legitimized through genealogies that linked senior rulers to deities in the Buddhist Tavatimsa heaven. Accordingly, they descended from heaven with their attendants, dressed as divinities in costumes covered in gold and bedecked with fine jewels, graded according to rank. This form of dress was worn at court during tribute ceremonies until the beginning of the twentieth century. At the Delhi Durbar of 1903 it was promoted by the British as part of the spectacle of Empire.