From Myths to Historical Artefacts: Tagaung, Pyu City-States, and the Origins of Myanmar’s History

By Khin Maung Myint

WHILE the historical details in this article might spark debate among some readers, traditional Tagaung folklore, such as the tales of Maung Pauk Kyaing and the dragon, is simply too mythical to accept as absolute fact. Though I am not a historical researcher but rather a passionate history enthusiast, I used both local and international literary evidence alongside AI technology to re­search and write this piece.

In exploring early Myanmar history, fascinating accounts emerge at the intersection of myth, religion, and archaeology. At the centre of this crossroad sit two closely intertwined yet debated topics: Tagaung (the Tagaung Dynasty), which royal chronicles celebrate as the birth­place of Myanmar’s monarchies, and the Pyu city-states, an urban civilization that flourished along the Ayeyawady (formerly called Irrawaddy) River basin during the first millennium AD.

To understand the connec­tion between Tagaung and the Pyu, we must separate royal oral traditions from modern archaeo­logical evidence. Doing so reveals how early societies built cities, shaped their environments, and constructed their national origin stories.

1. Mythical Origins: Tagaung in Myanmar Royal Chronicles

According to Myanmar tradi­tion, especially the Glass Palace Chronicle compiled in the 19th century, urban civilization in My­anmar did not develop gradually. Instead, it was founded by princes who arrived from northern India.

These accounts state that King Abhiraja, a Sakyan prince of the same lineage as Gautama Buddha, founded Tagaung around 850 BC before the time of the Bud­dha. Fleeing conflicts in his own kingdom, he marched east with a diverse force of followers and established Tagaung as his capital on the eastern bank of the upper Irrawaddy River.

 

Chronicles divide Tagaung’s history into two major eras:

• The First Dynasty: Founded by King Abhiraja, it lasted through 33 successive kings until it collapsed due to invad­ers infiltrating from the north.

• The Second Dynasty: King Dhajaraja, another Sakyan prince from India, restored the kingdom by marrying the chief queen of the previous dynas­ty. However, this line also fell to northern tribal invasions, driving the survivors south to build new cities.

The Political Role of the Tagaung Myth

For centuries – particularly during the Konbaung Dynasty (1752-1885) – the Tagaung legend provided Myanmar kings with cru­cial political legitimacy. By linking Tagaung’s founders directly to the Buddha’s Sakya clan, court his­torians elevated the monarchs to “Sun Lineage” (Adiccavamsa) status. This narrative portrayed Myanmar kings not merely as lo­cal rulers, but as universal mon­archs (Cakkavatti) destined to rule under Buddhist cosmology.

2. Historical Influence: Pyu Culture (2nd Century BC – 9th Century AD)

While grand chronicles place the founding of Tagaung at the start of the 1st millennium BC, modern archaeology reveals a different timeline.

Excavations across central and northern Myanmar show that the Pyu were actually the first to build an urban civilization in the region, creating a network of city-states along the Irrawaddy River basin.

Pyu culture was not a cen­tralized empire under a single king, but a network of independ­ent city-states. They shared a common script, art, religion, and complex hydraulic engineering and irrigation technologies. The most prominent Pyu cities were Hanlin, Beikthano, Sri Ksetra, and Tagaung.

3. Archaeological Profile of Pyu City-States. In 2014, UN­ESCO designated Hanlin

Beikthano, and Sri Ksetra as World Heritage Sites. Archaeologi­cal discoveries at these sites prove that the Pyu were pioneers in ur­ban planning and environmental engineering.

4. Where Tagaung and Pyu Converge

How do historians reconcile Tagaung’s myths with Pyu phys­ical evidence?

Excavations at ancient Tagaung, revealing city walls, moats, traditional Pyu urns, ter­racotta votive tablets, and iron artefacts, confirm that Tagaung was a northern Pyu city- state flourishing between the 1st and 9th centuries AD.

Tagaung did not predate the Pyu by centuries; rather, it was a vital part of the Pyu world. Posi­tioned along the upper Irrawaddy, it served as a river trade post and a northern border fortress, con­necting central Pyu cities with overland trade routes to Yunnan and northeastern India.

The story of King Abhiraja was likely a literary creation from the Bagan and post-Bagan eras. It was crafted to link historic Pyu cities like Tagaung to the sacred lineage of the Buddha.

5. The Decline of the Pyu and the Dawn of Bagan. Although the Pyu city-state system

thrived for nearly a millenni­um, internal and external pres­sures caused it to collapse in the 8th and 9th centuries AD.

Nanzhao Invasions: The Nan­zhao kingdom from the Yunnan re­gion launched military campaigns into the Irrawaddy basin. Chinese Tang Dynasty records note that in 832 AD, Nanzhao forces captured a major Pyu capital (likely Hanlin), took many captives, and shattered Pyu defence networks.

Environmental Degradation: Intense farming, shifting river courses, and heavy silt accumula­tion clogged the irrigation systems that sustained these cities in the dry zone.

Migration of the Bamar Peo­ple: As Pyu influence waned, the Bamar people migrated from the northern hills down into the cen­tral dry plains. They settled at a strategic bend of the Irrawaddy River and founded Bagan.

Rather than destroying Pyu culture, the Bagan Dynasty inher­ited and integrated their irriga­tion techniques, bricklaying skills, art, and religious literature. In the mid-11th century, King Anawrahta unified Pyu territories, including Tagaung, to establish the First Myanmar Empire. Historical Leg­acy: The history of Tagaung and the Pyu highlights two sides of historical memory. On one hand, Tagaung exists as a literary and symbolic origin story. On the other, physical evidence confirms the Pyu as a true ancient river-valley civilization in South-East Asia, renowned for urban engineering and cultural synthesis.

Together, both myth and ar­chaeology reflect the deep foun­dations that shaped the modern state of Myanmar.