Origins The origins of the Pagan kingdom have been reconstructed using archaeological evidence as well as the
Burmese chronicle tradition. Considerable differences exist between the views of modern scholarship and various chronicle narratives.
Chronicle tradition The local myths and chronicles written down in the 18th century trace its origins to 167 AD, when
Pyusawhti founded the dynasty at Pagan (Bagan). But the 19th-century Glass Palace Chronicle (
Hmannan Yazawin) connects the dynasty's origins to the clan of the
Buddha and the first Buddhist king
Maha Sammata (). The Glass Palace Chronicle traces the origins of the Pagan kingdom to India during the 9th century BC, more than three centuries before the Buddha was born.
Abhiraja ()of the
Sakya clan () – the clan of the Buddha – left his homeland with followers in 850 BC after military defeat by the neighbouring kingdom of
Panchala (). They settled at
Tagaung in present-day northern Myanmar and
founded a kingdom. The chronicle does not claim that he had arrived in an empty land, only that he was the first king. Abhiraja had two sons. The elder son
Kanyaza Gyi () ventured south, and in 825 BC founded his own kingdom in what is today
Arakan. The younger son
Kanyaza Nge () succeeded his father, and was followed by a dynasty of 31 kings, and then another dynasty of 17 kings. Some three and a half centuries later, in 483 BC, scions of Tagaung
founded yet another kingdom much farther down the Irrawaddy at
Sri Ksetra, near modern
Pyay (Prome). Sri Ksetra lasted nearly six centuries, and was succeeded in turn by the kingdom of Pagan. The site reportedly was visited by the Buddha himself during his lifetime, and it was where he allegedly pronounced that a great kingdom would arise at this very location 651 years after his death. Thamoddarit was followed by a caretaker, and then Pyusawhti in 167 AD. The chronicle narratives then merge, and agree that a dynasty of kings followed Pyusawhti. King
Pyinbya () fortified the city in 849 AD.
Scholarly reconstruction Modern scholarship holds that the Pagan dynasty was founded by the
Mranma of the
Nanzhao kingdom in the mid-to-late 9th century AD; that the earlier parts of the chronicle are the histories and legends of
Pyu people, the earliest inhabitants of Myanmar of whom records are extant; and that Pagan kings had adopted the Pyu histories and legends as their own. Indeed, the
Mranma and
Pyu people became mixed after years of immigration and settlement. The earliest archaeological evidence of civilisation dates to 11,000 BC. Archaeological evidence shows that as early as the 2nd century BC the Pyu had built water-management systems along secondary streams in central and northern parts of the Irrawaddy basin and had founded one of Southeast Asia's earliest urban centres. By the early centuries AD, several walled cities and towns, including Tagaung, the birthplace of the first Burman kingdom according to the chronicles, had emerged. The architectural and artistic evidence indicates the Pyu realm's contact with Indian culture by the 4th century AD. The city-states boasted kings and palaces, moats and massive wooden gates, and always 12 gates for each of the signs of the zodiac, one of the many enduring patterns that would continue until the British occupation. Sri Ksetra emerged as the premier Pyu city-state in the 7th century AD. Although the size of the city-states and the scale of political organisation grew during the 7th to early 9th centuries, no sizeable kingdom had yet emerged by the 9th century. According to a reconstruction by
G.H. Luce, the millennium-old Pyu realm came crashing down under repeated attacks by the
Nanzhao kingdom of Yunnan between the 750s and 830s AD. Like that of the Pyu, the original home of the Burmans prior to Yunnan is believed to be in present-day
Qinghai and
Gansu provinces. After the Nanzhao attacks had greatly weakened the Pyu city-states, large numbers of Burman warriors and their families
first entered the Pyu realm in the 830s and 840s, and settled at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers, perhaps to help the Nanzhao pacify the surrounding countryside. Indeed, the naming system of the early Pagan kings—Pyusawhti and his descendants for six generations—was identical to that of the Nanzhao kings where the last name of the father became the first name of the son. The chronicles date these early kings to between the 2nd and 5th centuries AD, scholars to between the 8th and 10th centuries CE. (A minority view led by
Htin Aung contends that the arrival of Burmans may have been a few centuries earlier, perhaps the early 7th century. The earliest human settlement at Bagan is radiocarbon dated to c. 650 AD. But evidence is inconclusive to prove that it was specifically a Burman (and not just another Pyu) settlement.)
Thant Myint-U summarises that "the Nanzhao Empire had washed up on the banks of the Irrawaddy, and would find a new life, fused with an existing and ancient culture, to produce one of the most impressive little kingdoms of the medieval world. From this fusion would result the Burmese people, and the foundations of modern Burmese culture." The region of Pagan received waves of Burman settlements in the mid-to-late 9th century, and perhaps well into the 10th century. Though
Hmannan states that Pagan was
fortified in 849—or more accurately, 876 after the
Hmannan dates are adjusted to King
Anawrahta's inscriptionally verified accession date of 1044—the chronicle reported date is likely the date of foundation, not fortification. Radiocarbon dating of Pagan's walls points to c. 980 at the earliest. (If an earlier fortification did exist, it must have been constructed using less durable materials such as mud.) Likewise, inscriptional evidence of the earliest Pagan kings points to 956. The earliest mention of Pagan in external sources occurs in
Song Chinese records, which report that envoys from Pagan visited the Song capital
Bianjing in 1004. Mon inscriptions first mentioned Pagan in 1093, respectively. Below is a
partial list of early Pagan kings as reported by
Hmannan, shown in comparison with
Hmannan dates adjusted to 1044 and the list of
Zatadawbon Yazawin (the Royal Horoscopes Chronicle). Prior to Anawrahta, inscriptional evidence exists thus far only for
Nyaung-u Sawrahan and
Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu. The list starts from
Pyinbya, the fortifier of Pagan according to
Hmannan. By the mid-10th century, Burmans at Pagan had expanded irrigation-based cultivation while borrowing extensively from the Pyus' predominantly Buddhist culture. Pagan's early iconography, architecture and scripts suggest little difference between early Burman and Pyu cultural forms. Moreover, no sharp ethnic distinction between Burmans and linguistically linked Pyus seems to have existed. The city was one of several competing city-states until the late 10th century when it grew in authority and grandeur. The size of the principality is about 6% of that of modern Burma/Myanmar.
Pagan Empire In December 1044, a Pagan prince named
Anawrahta came to power. Over the next three decades, he turned this small principality into the First Burmese Empire—the "charter polity" that formed the basis of modern-day Burma/Myanmar. Historically verifiable Burmese history begins with his accession.
Formation ; Minimal, if any, control over Arakan; Pagan's suzerainty over Arakan confirmed four decades after his death. Anawrahta proved an energetic king. His acts as king were to strengthen his kingdom's economic base. In the first decade of his reign, he invested much effort into turning the arid parched lands of central Myanmar into a rice granary, successfully building/enlarging weirs and canals, mainly around the
Kyaukse district, east of Pagan. The newly irrigated regions attracted people, giving him an increased manpower base. He graded every town and village according to the levy it could raise. The region, known as
Ledwin (, lit. "rice country"), became the granary, the economic key of the north country. History shows that one who gained control of Kyaukse became kingmaker in Upper Myanmar. By the mid-1050s, Anawrahta's reforms had turned Pagan into a regional power, and he looked to expand. Over the next ten years, he founded the Pagan Empire, the Irrawaddy valley at the core, surrounded by tributary states. Anawrahta began his campaigns in the nearer
Shan Hills, and extended conquests to
Lower Myanmar down to the
Tenasserim coast to
Phuket and
North Arakan. In the northeast, a series of 43 forts Anawrahta established along the eastern foothills, of which 33 still exist as villages, reveal the effective extent of his authority. Moreover, most scholars attribute Pagan's control of peripheral regions (Arakan, Shan Hills) to later kings—Arakan to
Alaungsithu, and
cis-Salween Shan Hills to
Narapatisithu. (Even those latter-day kings may not have had more than nominal control over the farther peripheral regions. For example, some scholars such as Victor Lieberman argue that Pagan did not have any "effective authority" over Arakan.) At any rate, all scholars accept that during the 11th century, Pagan consolidated its hold of Upper Burma, and established its authority over Lower Burma. The emergence of Pagan Empire would have a lasting impact on
Burmese history as well as the history of
mainland Southeast Asia. The conquest of Lower Burma checked the Khmer Empire's encroachment into the Tenasserim coast, secured control of the peninsular ports, which were transit points between the Indian Ocean and China, and facilitated growing cultural exchange with the external world: Mons of Lower Burma, India and Ceylon. Equally important was Anawrahta's conversion to Theravada Buddhism from his native
Ari Buddhism. The Burmese king provided 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 had emerged as the main Theravada stronghold. In 1071, it helped 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 creation of the
Burmese alphabet from the
Mon script in 1058, one year after the conquest of Thaton.
Cultural synthesis and economic growth Anawrahta was followed by a line of able kings who cemented Pagan's place in history. Pagan entered a golden age that would last for the next two centuries. Aside from a few occasional rebellions, the kingdom was largely peaceful during the period. King
Kyansittha (r. 1084–1112) successfully melded the diverse cultural influences introduced into Pagan by Anawrahta's conquests. He patronised Mon scholars and artisans who emerged as the intellectual elite. He appeased the Pyus by linking his genealogy to the real and mythical ancestors of Sri Ksetra, the symbol of the Pyu golden past, and by calling the kingdom Pyu, even though it had been ruled by a Burman ruling class. He supported and favoured Theravada Buddhism while tolerating other religious groups. To be sure, he pursued these policies all the while maintaining the Burman military rule. By the end of his 28-year reign, Pagan had emerged a major power alongside the Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia, recognised as a sovereign kingdom by the Chinese
Song dynasty, and the Indian
Chola dynasty. Several diverse elements—art, architecture, religion, language, literature, ethnic plurality—had begun to synthesize. Pagan's rise continued under
Alaungsithu (r. 1112–1167), who focused on standardising administrative and economic systems. The king, also known as Sithu I, actively expanded frontier colonies and built new irrigation systems throughout the kingdom. He also introduced standardised weights and measures throughout the country to assist administration as well as trade. The standardisation provided an impetus for the monetisation of Pagan's economy, the full impact of which however would not be felt until later in the 12th century. The kingdom prospered from increased agricultural output as well as from inland and maritime trading networks. Much of the wealth was devoted to temple building. Temple building projects, which began in earnest during Kyansittha's reign, became increasingly grandiose, and began to transition into a distinctively Burman architectural style from earlier Pyu and Mon norms. By the end of Sithu I's reign, Pagan enjoyed a more synthesised culture, an efficient government and a prosperous economy. However a corresponding growth in population also put pressure on "the fixed relationship between productive land and population", forcing the later kings to expand. The kingdom's borders expanded to its greatest extent. Military organisation and success reached their zenith. Monumental architecture achieved a qualitative and quantitative standard that subsequent dynasties tried to emulate but never succeeded in doing. The court finally developed a complex organisation that became the model for later dynasties. The agricultural economy reached its potential in Upper Myanmar. The Buddhist clergy, the
sangha, enjoyed one of its most wealthy periods. Civil and criminal laws were codified in the vernacular,
Burmese, to become the basic jurisprudence for subsequent ages. Sithu II formally founded the
Palace Guards in 1174, the first extant record of a standing army, and pursued an expansionist policy. Over his 27-year reign, Pagan's influence reached further south to the
Strait of Malacca, at least to the
Salween river in the east and below the current China border in the farther north. (Burmese chronicles also claim trans-Salween Shan states, including Kengtung and Chiang Mai.) Continuing his grandfather Sithu I's policies, Sithu II expanded the agricultural base of the kingdom with new manpower from the conquered areas, ensuring the needed wealth for a growing royalty and officialdom. Pagan dispatched governors to supervise more closely ports in Lower Myanmar and the peninsula. His reign also saw the rise of Burmese culture which finally emerged from the shadows of Mon and Pyu cultures. With the Burman leadership of the kingdom now unquestioned, the term
Mranma (Burmans) was openly used in Burmese language inscriptions. Burmese became the primary written language of the kingdom, replacing Pyu and Mon. His reign also saw the realignment of Burmese Buddhism with Ceylon's
Mahavihara school. The Pyus receded into the background, and by the early 13th century, had largely assumed the Burman ethnicity.
Decline Sithu II's success in state building created stability and prosperity throughout the kingdom. His immediate successors Htilominlo and
Kyaswa (r. 1235–1249) were able to live off the stable and bountiful conditions he passed on with little state-building on their part. Htilomino hardly did any governing. A devout Buddhist and scholar, the king gave up the command of the army, and left administration to a privy council of ministers, the forebear of the
Hluttaw. But the seeds of Pagan's decline were sowed during this seemingly idyllic period. The state had stopped expanding, but the practice of donating tax-free land to religion had not. The continuous growth of tax-free religious wealth greatly reduced the tax base of the kingdom. Indeed, Htilominlo was the last of the temple builders although most of his temples were in remote lands not in the Pagan region, reflecting the deteriorating state of royal treasury. By the mid-13th century, the problem had worsened considerably. The Upper Myanmar heartland over which Pagan exercised most political control had run out of easily reclaimed irrigable tracts. Yet their fervent desire to accumulate religious merit for better reincarnations made it impossible for Pagan kings to halt entirely their own or other courtiers' donations. The crown did try to reclaim some of these lands by periodically purging the clergy in the name of Buddhist purification, and seizing previously donated lands. Although some of the reclamation efforts were successful, powerful Buddhist clergy by and large successfully resisted such attempts. Ultimately, the rate of reclamation fell behind the rate at which such lands were dedicated to the
sangha. (The problem was exacerbated to a smaller degree by powerful ministers, who exploited succession disputes and accumulated their own lands at the expense of the crown.) By 1280, between one and two-thirds of Upper Myanmar's cultivatable land had been donated to religion. Thus the throne lost resources needed to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen, inviting a vicious circle of internal disorders and external challenges by
Mons,
Mongols and
Shans. in the west, and
Martaban (Mottama) in the south. The Martaban rebellion was easily put down but Macchagiri required a second expedition before it too was put down. The calm did not last long. Martaban again revolted in 1285. This time, Pagan could not do anything to retake Martaban because it was facing an existential threat from the north. The
Mongols of the
Yuan dynasty demanded tribute in 1271 and again in 1273. When Narathihapate refused both times, the Mongols under
Kublai Khan systematically invaded the country. The first invasion in 1277 defeated the Burmese at the
Battle of Ngasaunggyan, and secured their hold of
Kanngai (modern-day Yingjiang, Yunnan, north of
Bhamo). In 1283–85, their forces moved south and occupied the land down to Hanlin. Instead of defending the country, the king fled Pagan for Lower Myanmar, where he was assassinated by one of his sons in 1287. The Mongols invaded again in 1287. Recent research indicates that Mongol armies may not have reached Pagan itself, and that even if they did, the damage they inflicted was probably minimal. In the west too, Arakan stopped paying tribute. The chronicles report that the eastern territories including trans-Salween states of Keng Hung, Kengtung and Chiang Mai stopped paying tribute although most scholars attribute Pagan's limits to the Salween. At any rate, the 250-year-old Pagan Empire had ceased to exist.
Disintegration and fall After their 1287 invasion, the Mongols continued to control down to
Tagaung but refused to fill the power vacuum they had created farther south. Indeed, Emperor
Kublai Khan never sanctioned an actual occupation of Pagan. At Pagan, one of Narathihapate's sons
Kyawswa emerged as king of Pagan in May 1289. But the new "king" controlled just a small area around the capital, and had no real army. The real power in Upper Myanmar now rested with three brothers, who were former Pagan commanders, of nearby
Myinsaing. When the
Hanthawaddy kingdom of Lower Myanmar became a vassal of
Sukhothai in 1293/94, it was the brothers, not Kyawswa, that sent a force to reclaim the former Pagan territory in 1295–96. Though the army was driven back, it left no doubt as to who held the real power in central Myanmar. In the following years, the brothers, especially the youngest,
Thihathu, increasingly acted like sovereigns. To check the increasing power of the three brothers, Kyawswa submitted to the Mongols in January 1297, and was recognised by the Mongol emperor
Temür Khan as viceroy of Pagan on 20 March 1297. The brothers resented the new arrangement as a Mongol vassalage, as it directly reduced their power. On 17 December 1297, the three brothers overthrew Kyawswa and founded the
Myinsaing Kingdom. The Mongols did not know about the dethronement until June–July 1298. In response, the Mongols launched another invasion, reaching Myinsaing on 25 January 1301, but could not break through. The besiegers took the bribes of the three brothers and withdrew on 6 April 1301. The Mongol government at Yunnan executed their commanders but sent no more invasions. They withdrew entirely from Upper Myanmar starting on 4 April 1303. By then, the city of Pagan, once home to 200,000 people, had been reduced to a small town, never to regain its preeminence. (It survived into the 15th century as a settlement.) The brothers placed one of Kyawswa's sons as the governor of Pagan. Anawrahta's line continued to rule Pagan as governors under Myinsaing,
Pinya and
Ava Kingdoms until 1368/69. The male side of Pagan ended there although the female side passed into Pinya and Ava royalty. But the Pagan line continued to be claimed by successive Burmese dynasties down to the last Burmese dynasty
Konbaung. ==Government==