Anawrahta - Founding of Pagan Empire

Founding of Pagan Empire

By the mid-1050s, Anawrahta's reforms had turned Pagan into a regional power, and he looked to expand. Over the next ten years, he founded the Pagan Empire, the Irrawaddy valley at the core, surrounded by tributary kingdoms.

Estimates of the extent of his empire vary greatly. The Burmese and Thai chronicles report an empire which covered the present-day Burma and northern Thailand. The Thai chronicles assert that Anawrahta conquered the entire Menam valley, and received tribute from the Khmer king. One states that Anawrahta's armies invaded the Khmer kingdom and sacked the city of Angkor, and another one goes so far as to say that Anawrahta even visited Java to receive his tribute. However, Western historians (Harvey, Hall, et al) present a much smaller empire, consisted of the Irrawaddy valley and nearer periphery. His victory terracotta votive tablets (emblazoned with his name in Sanskrit) have been found along the Tenasserim coastline in the south, Katha in the north, Thazi in the east and Minbu in the west.