Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu ( my, ကွမ်းဆော် ကြောင်းဖြူ ; c. 955–1048) was king of

Pagan Dynasty The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(Myanmar) from 1001 to 1021. He was the father of

Anawrahta Anawrahta Minsaw ( my, အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော, ; 11 May 1014 – 11 April 1077) was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone ...

, the founder of Pagan Empire. The principality of Pagan continued to gain strength during his reign. Pagan's surviving walls were most likely constructed during his reign.Aung-Thwin 2005: 38 Kunhsaw is part of the pantheon of Burmese nats (spirits) as Htihpyusaung Nat.Harvey 1925: 18–19

Brief

According to the

Burmese chronicles The royal chronicles of Myanmar ( my, မြန်မာ ရာဇဝင် ကျမ်းများ ; also known as Burmese chronicles) are detailed and continuous chronicles of the monarchy of Myanmar (Burma). The chronicles were written o ...

, Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu was a son of an early Pagan king Tannet, who was assassinated as his queen was enseint with Kunhsaw. However Tannet died in the early 10th century. It is more likely that he was a descendant of Tannet. He took over the Pagan throne from King

Nyaung-u Sawrahan Nyaung-u Sawrahan ( my, ညောင်ဦး စောရဟန်း, ; also Taungthugyi Min c. 924–1001) was king of the Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from c. 956 to 1001. Although he is remembered as the Cucumber King in the Burmese chro ...

, and married three of Nyaung-u's chief queens, two of whom were pregnant and subsequently gave birth to

Kyiso Kyiso ( my, ကျဉ်စိုး, ; c. 1000–1038) was king of Pagan dynasty from 1021 to 1038. According to the Burmese chronicles, Kyiso was a son of King Nyaung-u Sawrahan but raised by King Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu. Kunhsaw married Nyuang-u's ...

and

Sokkate Sokkate ( my, စုက္ကတေး, ; 29 March 1001 – 11 August 1044) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1038 to 1044. The king lost his life in a single combat with Anawrahta, who succeeded him and went on to found the Paga ...

. Kunhsaw raised Sokkate and Kyiso as his own sons. When the two sons reached manhood, they forced Kunhsaw to abdicate the throne and become a monk. Kyiso took over as king.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 225–227 He lost the throne in 1021 although various chronicles do not agree on the dates regarding his life and reign.Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 347 The oldest chronicle ''

Zatadawbon Yazawin ''Zatadawbon Yazawin'' ( my, ဇာတာတော်ပုံ ရာဇဝင်, ; also spelled ''Zatatawpon''; ) is the earliest extant chronicle of Burma. The chronicle mainly covers the regnal dates of kings as well as horoscopes of select ...

'' is considered to be the most accurate for the Pagan period.(Maha Yazawin 2006: 346–349): Among the four major chronicles, only ''Zatadawbon Yazawin's'' dates line up with Anawrahta's inscriptionally verified accession date of 1044 CE. (Aung-Thwin 2005: 121–123): In general, ''Zata'' is considered "the most accurate of all Burmese chronicles, particularly with regard to the best-known Pagan and Ava kings, many of whose dates have been corroborated by epigraphy." The table below lists the dates given by four main chronicles, as well as ''Hmannan's'' dates when anchored by the Anawrahta's inscriptionally verified accession date of 1044. The deposed king remained a monk for over two decades. Then in 1044, Kyiso' successor Sokkate married one of Kunhsaw's queens, mother of Anawrahta, greatly angering Anawrahta. Anawrahta challenged and killed Sokkate in single combat. Anwarahta offered the throne to Kunhsaw. But the former king refused, allowing Anawrahta to ascend the throne.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 229-230 Kunhsaw died four years after his son Anawrahta ascended the throne c. 1048.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 236

Notes

References

Bibliography

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