A pagoda with a circular central building inside a five-sided wall, with a shrine on each of the five faces: the fifth is dedicated to the coming Buddha Maitreya; terracotta jataka tiles line the three terraces (English Wikipedia).
The page says it was built in 1196 in Narapatisithu's reign; it does not date a dedication. The campaign board says it was begun in 1196 and dedicated in 1198, and that the dedication inscription lists the villages given to maintain it, which is why we know who worked the land round Pagan; we could not check either statement. If the campaign board is right the pagoda was dedicated two years before 1 January 1200; if the page is right it was completed in 1196 and is about three years old.
Who holds it
- Name
- Narapatisithu (the page says the pagoda was built in his reign and names no builder)
- Title
- Patron and keepers
- Since
- 1196
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- See Narapatisithu (Sithu II).
- Confidence
- medium
English Wikipedia, Dhammayazika Pagoda; the campaign board gives the dedication date and the villages list.
What it holds
- The pagoda
- Villages given to maintain it (board; not read)
How it was acquired
Built in the king's reign, 1196.
How things stand that morning
A new royal pagoda, with a recent endowment.
Places of note
- The Dhammayazika: Five-sided pagoda at Pwasaw.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry dhammayazika puts it at 21.157, 94.883 and says begun 1196, dedicated 1198; the page gives 21.1451, 94.8835 (Pwasaw village, 1.3 km south) and 1196. The page's position is used. The brief says 1196 or 1198; the page names only 1196.
Evidence: Date from a short page; the endowment list is the campaign board's word.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
Primary sources for Kingdom of Pagan
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma, The Royal Historical Commission of King Bagyidaw (Monywe Sayadaw and others), drawing on U Kala's Maha Yazawin (about 1724) and earlier chronicles (1829 to 1832). The standard Burmese court chronicle, compiled six centuries after 1200 from older chronicles now lost. Read online
- The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- Epigraphia Birmanica, being lithic and other inscriptions of Burma, Various, edited by Taw Sein Ko, C. Duroiselle and C. O. Blagden (inscriptions of the 11th to 15th centuries; the series ran from 1919 to 1936). The Archaeological Survey of Burma's series of edited inscriptions with full translations. Read online
- Inscriptions of Pagan, Pinya and Ava; Inscriptions of Burma, Various (the Pagan kings, queens, ministers and donors), edited by Tun Nyein, Taw Sein Ko, G. H. Luce and Pe Maung Tin (inscriptions of the 11th to 14th centuries; editions 1899 and 1933 to 1956). The dedicatory inscriptions of Pagan are the only contemporary texts for the kingdom of Narapatisithu (reigning 1174 to 1211). Read online
- A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
- Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.