The old Mon country between the Sittaung and the Salween: Pegu (Ussa), a small town on a river far from the sea of today, with two Pagan-period inscriptions of 1212 and 1266 the earliest evidence of it (English Wikipedia, Bago); Thaton, the old royal town, stripped of its king, monks and books on the chronicle's account of 1057 and now provincial, its sea silted away; and Martaban, a trading port on the Salween estuary whose glazed jars gave Arabic its word martaban, with an inscription of Sithu II of 1176 as the only dated item for 1150 to 1250.
The Mon grumble under Pagan's governors (board). Wareru takes Martaban in 1287.
Who holds it
- Title
- Mon lords and Pagan officers at Pegu, Thaton and Martaban
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source we read names a holder.
How things stand that morning
Mon, under Pagan on thin evidence.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1287Wareru seizes Martaban and founds the Mon kingdom of Lower Burma.Depends on: Pagan's collapse. Stopped by: Pagan holding the coast.
Places of note
- Pegu: Small Mon town.
- Thaton: Old royal town.
- Martaban: Mon port.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry pegu-bago: 'Ussa to its own people ... under Pagan's governors': the governors are inference.
Evidence: Two later inscriptions and one of 1176; chronicles of incompatible dates.
"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 outline takes in the lower Sittaung valley to Nyaunglebin and Shwegyin and runs south to the Mudon and Thanbyuzayat coast, which lies between Martaban and the Tenasserim claim.
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
- English Wikipedia, Bago
- English Wikipedia, Mottama
- English Wikipedia, Pagan Kingdom
- English Wikipedia, Mon people
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.