Maung Pauk Kyaing ( my, မောင်ပေါက်ကျိုင်း, pronounced as ''Moung-Pauk-Kjai'' ), also known as Naga-Naing Minn ( my, နဂါးနိုင်မင်း; ), was a legendary powerful king of

Tagaung Tagaung is a town in Mandalay Region of Myanmar (Burma). It is situated on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River, 127 miles north of Mandalay. Etymology "Tagaung" derives from the Shan language term "Takawng" ( shn, တႃႈၵွင်; ), whic ...

. He is a subject of

Burmese folklore Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (horse), a ...

and ancient tales closely related to those of Sri Ksetra and the Beikthano cities. He is also said to be the last king of the second Tagaung dynasty. Maung Pauk Kyaing was a commoner who became king after killing a draconic serpent.

Names

He is most famous in

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 ...

by his common birth name 'Pauk Kyaing' (ပေါက်ကျိုင်း)''. ''His popular title 'Naga-Naing Minn' (နဂါးနိုင်မင်း) can be rendered as 'the dragon slayer king', reflecting on his victory over the dragon. His latest name Shambhu (သမ္ဘု,

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

: Sambhu, meaning 'Progenitor' ), is a

teknonym Teknonymy (from grc-gre, τέκνον, "child" and grc-gre, ὄνομα, label=none, "name"), is the practice of referring to parents by the names of their children. This practice can be found in many different cultures around the world. The term ...

related to his twin sons, the Sambava brothers, while also indicating that he is the ancestor of the main Burmese dynasties. As for his regnal title, ''Thado Maha-Raja'' (သတိုးမဟာရာဇာ, ) was the title given during his reign. Some identify him with the ninth king of the second Tagaung dynasty, ''Thado Naga-Naing'' (သတိုးနဂါးနိုင်, ), but this theory lacks legitimacy.

Legends

The Legends of Maung Pauk Kyaing is an important piece of history in the mythical foundation of Myanmar and the Chronicle of Taguang. Legend has it that the

Tagaung Kingdom Tagaung Kingdom ( my, တကောင်း နေပြည်တော်, ) was a Pyu city-state that existed in the first millennium CE. In 1832, the hitherto semi-legendary state was officially proclaimed the first kingdom of Burmese mon ...

was looking for a new king to take over along with the Queen Vacharni (ဝါစဏ္ဏီ), who had a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

for a lover. However, all of the new kings would die the night before coronation in unexplained circumstances. One day, Maung Pauk Kyaing was elected as the new king after the end of his education under the teachers of

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and ...

. But he somehow discovered that the queen had been married to several kings, and every king had mysterious deaths in bed on the wedding night. On his wedding night, he did not sleep. Eventually, a dragon appeared, and he knew the dragon was the cause of the deaths of all the past kings. He then managed to kill the dragon and became the legend he is today. He continued to be with Queen Vacharni, who later gave birth to twins. Both sons were born blind and were called Maha Thanbawa (မဟာသမ္ဘ၀) and Sula Thanbanwa (စူဠသမ္ဘ၀). The king sought treatment for his sons from various doctors until they become adults, but there was no cure. The king grew ashamed of his blind sons and ordered the queen to put them to death in secret. The queen could not kill the sons out of sympathy and decided to adrift them off on a raft down the

Ayeyarwady River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Origi ...

. The two blind princes were found by a yakshini who healed their sights. The brothers then resided at

Pyay Pyay (, ; mnw, ပြန် , ; also known as Prome and Pyè) is principal town of Pyay Township in the Bago Region in Myanmar. Pyay is located on the bank of the Irrawaddy River, north-west of Yangon. It is an important trade center for the Aye ...

(Prome) and later found the Kingdom of Sri Ksetra.

Legacy

The history of Maung Pauk Kyaing is well-described in Myanmar's former 10th-grade history book by the Ministry of Education. There is a Buddhist temple called Pauk Kyaing Pagoda in Tagaung, Mandalay. Many believe that this temple was built by Maung Pauk Kyaing himself.

References

{{Reflist Burmese monarchy Year of birth unknown Legendary people