Who Killed The King of Bagan?

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Overview

Who Killed the King of Bagan? tells the story of Bagan (and thus the founding
of Myanmar) through the device of a murder mystery. Bagan’s most important
king was Anawrahta. According to the Myanmarese chronicles, he died under
suspicious circumstances, and contemporary Burmese writers surmise he was
assassinated. But why, and by whom? The answers are tepid and unconvincing.
The book teases out a possible culprit who is overlooked today for long-standing
cultural and religious reasons. The process of examining the evidence involves two
journeys. One is through time—a rough chronology of the important kings and
the racey gossip the chronicles tell about them. The second is physical—walking
through ten different temples, each representing a theme in Bagan’s history, and
using this to unpack what the legacy of Anawrahta was.