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. He is a subject of
Burmese folklore 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 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: Sambhu, meaning 'Progenitor' ), is a
teknonym 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 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 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