The Kingdom of Pong or Pong Kingdom was an ethnically

Tai Tai or TAI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain *Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless'' *Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon'' Businesses and organisations ...

state that controlled several smaller states along the frontier of what is now

Myanmar 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 ...

and

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. It was bounded on the north by the mountain ranges that divide present-day

and Assam State, in the south by

Khambat Khambhat (, ), also known as Cambay, is a city and the surrounding urban agglomeration in Anand district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was once an important trading center, but its harbour gradually silted up, and the maritime trade moved ...

, reaching to

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

in the east and the

Chin Hills The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state. Geography The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State, whic ...

in the west.Phanjoubam Tarapot, ''Bleeding Manipur'', Har Anand Publications (July 30, 2007) Its capital was

Mogaung Mogaung ( my, မိုးကောင်း ; ( Shan: မိူင်းၵွင်း) is a town in Kachin State, Myanmar. It is situated on the Mandalay-Myitkyina railway line. History Mogaung or Möngkawng was the name and capital (roya ...

, known by the

Shan people The Shan people ( shn, တႆး; , my, ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; ), also known as the Tai Long, or Tai Yai are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar) and primarily live in th ...

Mongkawng Mogaung ( my, မိုးကောင်း) or Möngkawng ( tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥐᥩᥒᥰ; zh, 孟拱) was a Shan state in what is present-day Myanmar. It was an outlying territory, located away from the main Shan State area in present-day ...

.Naorem Sanajaoba ed. ''Manipur, Past and Present: The Heritage and Ordeals of a Civilization,'' Volume 4 p. 32

History

Like most of

Tai Yai The Shan people ( shn, တႆး; , my, ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; ), also known as the Tai Long, or Tai Yai are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar) and primarily live in th ...

history, the history of the Kingdom of Pong is largely legendary and existing chronicles and traditions include conflicting names and dates which have led to different interpretations. According to ancient tradition the state of Pong has its origin in the legendary kingdom of Udiri Pale, founded in 58 BC. The Manipuri chronicle of the region, titled the '' Cheitharol Kumbaba'', written much later, mentions an alliance between the

Kangleipak Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a States and territories of India, state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It ...

State and the Kingdom of Pong. It also mentions that the King of Pong visited

Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the f ...

in 698 AD and resided for some time in the town. The Kingdom of Pong is also mentioned among the conquests of Anoratha, the

King of Pagan Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wou ...

. Some scholars also identify the Kingdom of Pong with

Mong Mao Mong may refer to: People *A proposed original name for the Hmong people, based on the main group, the Mong community *Bob Mong (), American journalist and academic administrator * Henry Mong (), American surgeon and Presbyterian missionary * Mong ...

as well as with the kingdom of Lu-chuan/Ping-mian mentioned in Chinese chronicle

Ming Shilu The ''Ming Shilu'' () contains the imperial annals of the emperors of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). It is the single largest historical source for the dynasty. According to modern historians, it "plays an extremely important role in the histo ...

.Yos Santasombat, ''Lak Chang: A Reconstruction of Tai Identity in Daikong'', p. 3-4 In the 13th century there was a dynastic squabble among different princes. Chukapha, one of those who had been prevented from becoming the ruler of Pong, left the country and found refuge in the Patkoi Hills, entering Assam through the

Namrup Namrup is a small town situated close to the foothills of the Patkai Hills in the extreme southeastern part of Assam, India. The river Dihing or Disang flows through it. Namrup is situated in amidst wet-paddy fields, indigenous Assamese villa ...

river, a tributary of the

Burhi Dihing Dihing or Burhi Dihing (Dihong = wide river ) is a large tributary, about long, of the Brahmaputra River in Upper Assam in northeastern India. The river originates at above sea level in the Eastern Himalayas (the Patkai Hills) in Arunachal Pra ...

. Chukapha took the name of 'Aham' meaning 'without equal' and name his subjects 'those without equal' giving origin to the

Ahom people The Ahom (Pron: ), or Tai-Ahom is an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The members of this group are admixed descendants of the Tai people who reached the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in 1228 and the local indi ...

and the country of Assam. The king of Pong Khek Khomba, together with king

Senbi Kiyamba ) , title = Ningthou, Meidingu of Kangleipak (Manipur) , titletext = , more = , type = , image = "Senpi Kiyampa" (Ancient Meitei name) and "Senbi Kiyamba" (Modern Meitei name) of the Meitei king, the rul ...

of Manipur, invaded Kyang Khambat in the

Kabaw Valley The Kabaw Valley also known as Kubo valley is a highland valley in Myanmar's western Sagaing division, close to the border with India's Manipur. The valley is located between Heerok or Yoma ranges of mountains, which constitute the present day bo ...

in 1467.History Of Medieval Manipur
/ref>

References

Bibliography

External links

Crucible of War: Burma and the Ming in the Tai Frontier Zone (1382–1454)
by Jon Fernquest
Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan states
{{Shan states Former countries in Asia History of Myanmar Tai history Kachin State Shan States

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links