The western port of the delta, known in Pali and in Ceylon as Kusima.
A Sri Lankan rock inscription of 1165 gives the first extant record of a settlement called Kusima; the Devanagala rock inscription of Parakramabahu I and the Culavamsa record the raid of 1180, in which a Ceylon fleet struck Pathein and a Crow Island near Mawlamyine and a Pathein governor was killed (chronicle, unnamed); the oldest Burmese record is of 1265. The tradition of a founding in 325 BC by a king Sri Dhammasoka is local legend. The name may come from Mon Kuthen (from Kusima) or from pathi, an old Burmese word for Muslims.
Chapata, the monk of the Ceylon order, is said to be from here (Sasanavamsa tradition; not checked). The medieval waterfront has moved with the silt, so the pin marks the town.
Who holds it
- Title
- Headman or the king's officer
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source we read names a holder.
Lord in 1200
Narapatisithu, through a governor or prince (not named; see the Bassein governor record).
How things stand that morning
A river-and-sea port in Pagan's orbit, with a governor (on the chronicle) and a population of Mon, Burmese, Indian and Muslim traders; rice goes out, cloth and ceramics come in.
Council
No council known; the governor and the merchants' headmen (inferred).
Communities
Mon, Burmese, Indian and Muslim traders; a Buddhist monastic community.
Militia
A governor's guard (inferred).
Walls and castle
Not recorded for 1200.
Trade and crafts
Rice, Indian cloth, Chinese ceramics; the arrival point for Ceylon-bound monks and traders.
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.
- 1265 (oldest Burmese record)The first Burmese record of the city.Depends on: Not applicable. Stopped by: Not applicable.
Places of note
- Pathein: Kusima.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry bassein-pathein: 'Pagan governs it through a prince': the chronicle's picture; no governor is named by any source we read.
Evidence: Two Ceylon rock inscriptions (1165, 1180) are dated evidence; Pagan's government of the port rests on inference and the chronicle.
"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.