Perhaps the most crucial events in his reign occurred around 1056. At that time Anawrahta defeated the Mon people to the south, established the first Burmese empire, and made Buddhism the official religion. Pagan became the wealthy hub of trade routes and was renowned as the center of Burmese monasticism.

Burmese history is generally marred by the continual bickering and conflict between ethnic groups. The rule of Anawrahta ushered in perhaps the country’s most stable and prosperous era. The passing of the Goat-Bull Monk may have alluded to the Ari monastic sect, practitioners of magic and alchemy, which Anawrahta suppressed in his efforts to establish more orthodox Theravada Buddhist traditions.

By the height of Pagan’s glory, its successive kings, wealthy merchants, and passing traders seeking good fortune had built more than ten thousand pagodas and temples. But the incredible building efforts sapped the city’s wealth and energies. By 1287, Pagan’s era was finished, and the city was abandoned in the face of invading Mongol hordes. Thousands of wooden structures were destroyed and stone buildings damaged. For the last seven hundred years the city has been little more than a ghost town, disturbed only by earth tremors and monsoons.

Considering Myanmar’s international isolation under the rule of its military dictators, it is incredible that the city of monuments now finds new life. With the help of government and UN funding, some restoration work has been accomplished. A rural township located in the southern area of the old city features thriving lacquerware factories and a busy daily market. Perhaps most significantly, a small airport and the Eastern and Orient Express cruise ships traversing the Ayeyarwady have brought a trickle of foreign visitors and trade.

A second folk story also suggests the passing of the age of magic and perhaps comments on a decline of public morality preceding the city’s fall. Apparently, a king used to judge disputes with the aid of a huge pair of magic pincers located in one of the pagodas. When giving evidence before the royal judges, witnesses had to place their hands between the powerful pincers. False testimony would cause them to snap shut, hacking off the perjurer’s hands.