The rice and port country of the delta: Bassein (Pathein, Kusima in the Pali and Ceylon records) on the western arm, where a seagoing ship can lie and a river boat can reach; Dala across the Rangoon river from the low hill of Dagon; Twante on the cut between the western channels and the Rangoon river.
The evidence for Pagan's hold is thin: a Sinhalese rock inscription of 1165 names Kusima, the Culavamsa records a raid of 1180 on Pathein, and the oldest Burmese record of Pathein is of 1265 (English Wikipedia). The chronicle sets governors at Bassein and Dala. The shore ran well inland of today's, so the coast and the delta mouths are much further north than the map shows.
Who holds it
- Title
- The governors of Bassein and Dala (the chronicle's offices); the port merchants
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source we read names a holder.
What it holds
- The ports, the river dues and the rice
How things stand that morning
Under Pagan's governors on the chronicle and a few foreign records; ports, rice, tolls.
Places of note
- Bassein: Western port.
- Dala: Eastern port.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry twante-kilns calls Twante 'on the short cut between the western channels and the Rangoon river'; the Twante canal is of 1903 to 1915 and does not exist in 1200.
Evidence: A rock inscription, a chronicle raid and a later Burmese record.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: The 1200 shore lay inland of today's; the southern part of the polygon was sea or mud. The north-east corner is drawn up to Hlegu and Tharrawaddy so that the head of the delta and the road to the Pegu plain lie inside it.
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.