Early kingdom of Bagan ခေတ်ဦး ပုဂံ ပြည်
c. 107 CE–1044
Capital	Arimaddana,Thiri Pyissaya,Tampawaddy,Pagan (Bagan)
Common languages	Burmese
Religion	Buddhism,animism,Hinduism
Government	Monarchy
• 107–152 CE (chronicles)	Thamoddarit
• 167–242 (chronicles)	Pyusawhti
• 613–640 (chronicles)	Popa Sawrahan
• 846–886	Pyinbya
• 956–1001	Nyaung-u Sawrahan
Historical era	Classical Antiquity
• Foundation	c. 107 CE
• ThiriPyissaya founded	344–387 (chronicles)
• Tampawaddy founded	516–523 (chronicles)
• Burmese calendar launched	21 March 640 (chronicles)
• Pagan founded	23 December 849
• Disestablished	16 December 1044
Preceded by Succeeded by Pyu city-states Pagan kingdom

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Theearly Pagan kingdom (Burmese:ခေတ်ဦး ပုဂံ ပြည်), also known by its classical nameTampa dīpa (တမ္ပဒီပ, lit. "Bronze Country"), was a city-state that existed in the first millenniumCE before the emergence ofthe Pagan empire in the mid 11th century. TheBurmese chronicles state that the "kingdom" was founded in the second century CE. The seat of power of the small kingdom was first located atArimaddana,Thiri Pyissaya, andTampawaddy until 849 CE when it was moved toPagan (Bagan).

Radiocarbon dating shows the earliest human settlement in the Pagan region dates only from the mid-7th century CE. It existed alongsidePyu city-states that dominated Upper Burma. The city-state of Pagan, according to mainstream scholarship, was founded in the mid 9th century by theMranma ofNanzhao kingdom. Burmans at Pagan expanded irrigation-based cultivation while borrowing extensively from the Pyus' predominantly Buddhist culture. It was one of many competingcity-states in the Pyu realm until the late 10th century when the principality began absorbing its surrounding states. The expansion accelerated in the 1050s and 1060s when KingAnawrahta founded the Pagan Empire, the first ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery.

Various Burmese chronicles do not agree on the date of foundation of Pagan. One of the earliest chronicles,Yazawin Kyaw compiled in 1520, states that the kingdom of Pagan was founded in 156 CE by KingPyusawhti.^{[Note 1]} The 18th century chronicleMaha Yazawin links the Pagan monarchs to theSri Ksetra kingdom, stating that Pagan was founded in 107 CE by KingThamoddarit, a scion ofSri Ksetra kingdom. TheBuddha visited the future site of Pagan during his lifetime and predicted that a great city would arise at the very site 651 years after his death (107 CE).^[1] The 19th century chronicleHmannan Yazawin went further, asserting that the founders of the Pagan dynasty ultimate trace their origins back to theclan of the Buddha.^[2]

Still according to the standard chronicles, Thamoddarit fixed the capital atArimaddana-pura (အရိမဒ္ဒနာပူရ), ("the City that Tramples on Enemies"), near present-dayNyaung U, and named his kingdom Pugarama. His "kingdom" included 19 villages in the region. The 19 villages were: (1) Nyaung U, (2) Naga Soe, (3) Naga Kyit, (4) Magyi Kyi, (5) Htude, (6) Kyauk Zaga, (7) Ohte Thein, (8) Nyaungwun, (9) Anuradha, (10) Dazaungkun, (11) Ywa Mohn, (12) Kyinlo, (13) Kokko, (14) Taungpa, (15) Myegedwin, (16) Thayet Ya, (17) Singu, (18) Yonlut, and (19) Ywa Zaik.^[3]

According toBurmese Buddhist tradition, Pagan was known by different classical names even in the ages ofprevious Buddhas (i.e. before the present era ofGautama Buddha).^[4] The names below are Burmese versions ofPali names.

Thamoddarit then appointedPyusawhti, the founder of Pagan according toYazawin Kyaw, as heir apparent for the commoner's bravery in defeating enemies of the state. Pyusawhti came to power in 167 CE. He ruled for 45 years, implementing foundation institutions of the state, including its first law treatise (dhammathat).^[5]

The chronicles continue that KingThili Kyaung I (r. 344–387) moved the palace toThiri Pyissaya, not far from the Pugama site. In 439, KingThihtan died without leaving an heir, and the throne was contested among three senior ministers at the court. The victor of the power struggle, the ministerThuye ruled until his death in 494. The Pyusawhti line was restored when KingTharamon Phya, a grandson of Thihtan, was put in power by the court. Tharamon Phya's successorThaik Taing (r. 516–523) moved the palace toTampawaddy, near Thiri Pyissaya.^[6]

The following is the list of Pagan kings as given in the main chronicles.^[7]

The next important king wasPopa Sawrahan (r. 613–640). The former monk seized the throne after KingHtun Chit died in 613 CE. He launched theBurmese calendar on 21 March 640 CE, with the starting date of 22 March 638.^{[Note 2]} (According to scholarship, the Burmese calendar was actually launched atSri Ksetra (Pyay/Prome) by thePyu.^[8]) Popa Sawrahan made peace with the royal line by giving his daughter toShwe Ohnthi, son of Htun Chit and rightful heir, and making his son-in-law the heir apparent. Popa Sawrahan died in 640 soon after his new calendar was launched, and Shwe Ohnthi succeeded, restoring the Pyusawhti line. Shwe Ohnthi was followed by another a dozen kings to year 846 CE.^[9] In 846 CE, KingPyinbya (r. 846–886) came to power. Three years into his reign, on 23 December 849, he moved the capital to the present-day site of Pagan.

All four main chronicles are in agreement with the regnal dates in this period.^[7]

After Pyinbya's successor and sonTannet died in 904 CE, the throne passed on to a series of usurpers for nearly a century to 1001 CE.^{[Note 3]}Nyaung-u Sawrahan (r. 956–1001), the earliest inscriptionally verified king, ruled for 45 years. A descendant of Pyusawhti,Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu restored the old royal line in 1001 but 20 years later, he was pushed out by the sons of Nyaung-u Sawrahan. In 1044,Anawrahta, son of Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu, defeatedSokkate, son of Nyaung-u Sawrahan, in single combat and seized the throne.^[10]

The chronicles again do not agree with the dates for this period. The dates in later chroniclesYazawin Thit andHmannan Yazawin now depart fromMaha Yazawin dates from 846 CE forward.^[7]

Modern scholarship, however, holds that the Pagan dynasty was founded by theMranma (Burmans) of theNanzhao Kingdom in the mid-to-late 9th century CE; that the earlier parts of the chronicle are the histories and legends of thePyu people, the earliest inhabitants of Burma of whom records are extant; and that Pagan kings had incorporated the Pyu histories and legends as their own.^[11][12]

The earliest human settlement at Pagan is radiocarbon dated to c. 650 CE. But evidence is inconclusive to prove that it was specifically a Burman settlement, not just another Pyu settlement.^[13] The 7th century settlement was part of the Pyu realm, which by then had been in existence in the Irrawaddy valley since the 2nd century BCE. (Archaeological evidence shows that as early as the 2nd century BCE, 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 CE, several walled cities and towns had emerged. The architectural and artistic evidence indicates the Pyu realm's contact with Indian culture by the 4th century CE. 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 CE. 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.^[11][14])

According toG.H. Luce's reconstruction, the millennium-old Pyu realm came crashing down under repeated attacks by theNanzhao Kingdom of Yunnan between the 750s and 830s CE. Like that of the Pyu, the original home of Burmans prior to Yunnan is believed to be present-dayQinghai andGansu provinces.^[15][16][17] After the Nanzhao attacks had greatly weakened the Pyu city-states, large numbers of Burman warriors and their familiesfirst entered the Pyu realm in the 830s and 840s and settled at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers, perhaps to help Nanzhao pacify the surrounding countryside.^[18] 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.^[19][20]

Despite the legendary nature of both pre-Buddhist and Hmannan's Buddhist-inspired stories, a historical Pyusawhti likely existed. Historians conjecture that the historical Pyusawhti was likely a minor chief of theNanzhao Kingdom, who was in the vanguard of the Nanzhao invasions of the upper Irrawaddy valley that began in 754 (and lasted until the 830s). Pyusawhti's victory over the Chinese likely refers to the Nanzhao victory over the Chinese in the same era, in which Pyusawhti and his contingents may have participated.^[21]

The Pagan "kingdom" Pyusawhti led was likely a small settlement among many other small settlements in the area. (The chronicles count 19 settlements.) In the 8th century, Pagan was not yet a city or even a city-state, let alone a "kingdom". The city was merely one of several competing city-states until the 10th century.^[22] Furthermore, the 38 kings of Pagan Dynasty—from Pyusawhti to Sokkate, prior to the historically verified kingAnawrahta—were probably contemporary chiefs of the Pagan area's settlements. According to theBritish colonial era historian GE Harvey, the Burmese chroniclers likely arranged the lists of rulers of early Burmese polities consecutively, "wishing to portray a continuous lineage stretching back to divine antiquity."^[23]

However, some scholars believe that Burmans had arrived in Myanmar much earlier than the mainstream opinion holds.Htin Aung contends that the arrival of Burmans may have been a few centuries earlier, perhaps the early 7th century.^{[Note 4]} HistoriansMichael Aung-Thwin and Matrii Aung-Thwin write that the 19 villages that first formed the city of Pagan according to the chronicles are "probably" "legendary" but "the origins of the Burmese speakers in Myanmar may well be earlier than, and had nothing to do with, the Nanzhao raid of AD 832".^[24]

Thant Myint-U summarises the mainstream opinion 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."^[19]

Evidence shows that the actual pace of Burman migration into the Pyu realm was gradual. Indeed, no firm indications have been found at Sri Ksetra or at any other Pyu site to suggest a violent overthrow. Radiocarbon dating shows that human activity existed until c. 870 atHalin, the Pyu city reportedly destroyed by an 832 Nanzhao raid.^[25] The region of Pagan received waves of Burman settlements in the mid-to-late 9th century, and perhaps well into the 10th century. 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.^[22]

Starting in the late 10th century, the principality grew in authority and grandeur.^[22] The earliest mention of Pagan in external sources occurs inSong Chinese records, which report that envoys from Pagan visited the Song capitalBianjing in 1004.^[26] The city by now was fortified. Radiocarbon dating of Pagan's walls show that Pagan was fortified most probably c. 1020 CE.^[27] TheBurmese script was already in use by 1035, and perhaps as early as 984 CE.^{[Note 5]} By Anawrahta's accession in 1044, Pagan had grown into a small principality—about 320 km (200 miles) north to south and about 130 km (80 miles) from east to west, comprising roughly the present districts ofMandalay,Meiktila,Myingyan,Kyaukse,Yamethin,Magwe,Sagaing, and the riverine portions ofMinbu andPakkoku. To the north lay the Nanzhao Kingdom, and to the east still largely uninhibitedShan Hills, to the south and the west Pyus, and farther south still,Mons.^[28]

• Pagan kings family tree
• Pagan Kingdom
• Pyu city-states
• Sri Ksetra Kingdom
• Tagaung Kingdom

• Tagaung Kingdom
• Sri Ksetra Kingdom
• Pagan Kingdom

• Aung-Thwin, Michael A. (2005).The Mists of Rāmañña: The Legend that was Lower Burma (illustrated ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.ISBN 9780824828868.
• Aung-Thwin, Michael A.; Maitrii Aung-Thwin (2012).A History of Myanmar Since Ancient Times (illustrated ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.ISBN 978-1-86189-901-9.
• Eade, J.C. (1989).Southeast Asian Ephemeris: Solar and Planetary Positions, A.D. 638–2000. Ithaca: Cornell University.ISBN 0-87727-704-4.
• Hall, D.G.E. (1960).Burma (3rd ed.). Hutchinson University Library.ISBN 978-1-4067-3503-1.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Harvey, G. E. (1925).History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
• Htin Aung, Maung (1967).A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press.
• Htin Aung, Maung (1970).Burmese History before 1287: A Defence of the Chronicles. Oxford: The Asoka Society.
• Kala, U (1724).Maha Yazawin Gyi (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (2006, 4th printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Lieberman, Victor B. (2003).Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830, volume 1, Integration on the Mainland. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-80496-7.
• Maha Thilawuntha, Shin (1928).Pe Maung Tin (ed.).Yazawin Kyaw (in Burmese) (4th printing, 2010 ed.). Yangon:Burma Research Society (original publisher), Ya-Pyei (4th printing).
• Moore, Elizabeth H. (2007).Early Landscapes of Myanmar. Bangkok: River Books.ISBN 978-974-9863312.
• Myint-U, Thant (2006).The River of Lost Footsteps—Histories of Burma. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.ISBN 978-0-374-16342-6.
• Royal Historical Commission of Burma (1832).Hmannan Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (2003 ed.). Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar.
• Than Tun (1964).Studies in Burmese History (in Burmese). Vol. 1. Yangon: Maha Dagon.

• Former countries in Burmese history
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• Former monarchies of Asia
• Burmese monarchy
• Pagan kingdom
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• 1040s disestablishments in Asia

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