Contexts - The Rough Guide to Myanmar - page 486

cing Mon and Pyu scripts. The region's ethnic Pyu increasingly merged with the Bamar ma-
jority,duringwhichtheirlanguagediedoutandtheirlegendsandhistorieswereappropriated
by the rulers of Bagan.
Decline and fall
A further four decades of peace and stability followed under Narapatisithu's successors, the
devout but ineffectual Htilominlo (ruled 1211-35), the last of Bagan's great temple builders,
and his successor Kyazwa (ruled 1235-50). The empire's former dynamism had been lost,
however. Revenues remained static, while expenses continued to rise, as kings and nobles
continuedtheirattemptstoaccruereligiousmeritbyendowingyetmoretemplesandmonast-
ic foundations - by 1280, it's estimated, as much as two-thirds of Upper Burma's available
agricultural land had been donated to the Buddhist clergy, effectively destroying the rulers'
own revenues.
The agents of change came, once more, from the northeast. In 1271, and again in 1273, the
Mongol armies of Kublai Khan demanded tribute of King Narathihapate (ruled 1256-87;)
and,whenthiswasrefused,launchedaseriesofattacksagainstthenorthernBaganprovinces
in 1277, 1283 and 1287, moving progressively southwards on each occasion, eventually
reaching Bhamo. Narathihapate fled south and was subsequently murdered, at which point
many of the empire's tributary states, including Arakan and the southern Mon territories, re-
belled and declared independence. Almost overnight, the great empire of Bagan had ceased
to exist.
Aperiodofconfusionensued.TheMongolsmovedstillfurthersouthintoTagaung,northof
Mandalay(althoughitappearstheypossiblyneverreachedBaganitself),butshowednosigns
of wishing to permanently occupy the lands of the empire whose demise they had just pre-
cipitated. A new king, Kyawswa (ruled 1289-97), appeared in Bagan, although real power
was held by three local brothers and former military commanders - Athinhkaya, Yazathingy-
an and Thihathu. Kyawswa submitted to Mongol authority and was recognized as governor
of Bagan in 1297, only to be promptly overthrown by the three brothers, who proceeded to
foundtheshort-lived MyinsaingKingdom .TheMongolsdespatchedyetanotherforcetore-
instate Kyawswa, but this was beaten back, and Mongol forces finally left Myanmar for the
final time in 1303, never to return.
Bagan, meanwhile, had been reduced from a once flourishing city of 200,000 people to an
unimportant town. Further descendants of Anawrahta continued to rule as local governors
owing allegiance to subsequent kingdoms until 1369, but the town itself would never regain
its former political pre-eminence.
After Bagan: the successor kingdoms
The collapse of Bagan left a power vacuum in Myanmar during which a series of smaller
successor kingdoms - Ava , the Shan States , the Mon territories and Arakan - jostled for