Pagan consolidates its hold of Upper Burma during the eleventh century, and establishes its authority over Lower Burma.

The emergence of the Pagan Empire is to have a lasting impact on Burmese history as well as the history of mainland Southeast Asia.

The conquest of Lower Burma checks the Khmer Empire's encroachment into the Tenasserim coast, secures control of the peninsular ports, which are transit points between the Indian Ocean and China, and facilitates growing cultural exchange with the external world: the Mons of Lower Burma, India and Ceylon.

Equally important is Anawrahta's conversion to Theravada Buddhism from his native Ari Buddhism.

The Burmese king provides the Buddhist school, which had been in retreat elsewhere in South Asia and Southeast Asia, a much needed reprieve and a safe shelter.

By the 1070s, Pagan has emerged as the main Theravada stronghold.

In 1071, it helps to restart the Theravada Buddhism in Ceylon, whose Buddhist clergy had been wiped out by the Cholas.

Another key development according to traditional scholarship was the emergence of the Burmese script, believed to have been derived from the Mon script in 1058, one year after the conquest of Thaton.

However recent research, though not yet settled, suggests that the Burmese script may have been derived in the tenth century from the Pyu script instead.