Governors of the peninsula ports

Who he is

Title

Governors sent to supervise the ports of Lower Burma and the peninsula

Since

in this reign on a scholarly reading

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

Lieberman, cited by English Wikipedia (Pagan Kingdom): Sithu II dispatched governors to supervise ports in Lower Burma and the peninsula more closely; English Wikipedia (Myeik, Dawei): the south was the southernmost part of the Pagan kingdom from the eleventh to the thirteenth century (uncited); Zetawun pagoda in Myeik district credited to Narapatisithu.

What it holds

• The river-mouth ports and their dues (tin, forest goods, shipping)
• The land road over the Three Pagodas pass (use in 1200 inferred from geography, not shown by a Pagan document)
• A pagoda at Zetawun, Myeik district (chronicle credit)

How things stand that morning

A tributary and supervised coast, thin. Not a province with a governor named; Khmer influence stands on the eastern side of the range (the Preah Khan stele of 1191 lists towns to Phetchaburi and the Khwae Noi).

Threats

• Khmer pressure from the east (no clash dated)
• Sea raiders
• Mon unrest (chronicle: at the accession only)

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.

1. 1287 and afterThe coast passes to Sukhothai and later Ayutthaya (English Wikipedia, Myeik and Dawei: from 1287).Depends on: Pagan's collapse. Stopped by: Pagan keeping the ports.

Places of note

• Old Dawei (Sagara): Pyu-period provincial city, about six miles north of present Dawei.
• Three Pagodas pass: Lowest crossing of the Tenasserim range.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry tavoy-dawei says Pagan's grip is 'governors and tribute rather than settlement' and 'contested by the Khmer world': agreed in outline; no source dates a contest.
• The campaign board entry tenasserim-town 'the customs house and the muster point': inference, not evidence.

Evidence: Wikipedia statements without citation, the chronicle's revolt, and one pagoda attribution.

"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