By the late 13th century, as much as 63 percent of the kingdom's land that had once belonged to the crown, along with the majority of its gold and silver, was in the hands of the tax-exempt Buddhist church, crippling the state's ability to fund itself.

79:13of his banished older brother. He devised a plan to place his brother on the throne first to make things look a little less suspicious, but of course he would not sit there for long. When he reached Leppan Port, Narathu, according to the oath he had sworn, went down to the boat and, shouldering his brother's sword, he raised and set him on the throne. After his anointing, his food

79:41was poisoned, and that night he died. With all these threats dealt with, King Narathu ascended to the throne himself, and he would rule in a predictably tyrannical style, as the Glass Palace Chronicle recalls. King Narathu had once been the demon guardian of a mountain who had shaded the Lord, so he was great in glory, might, and dominion. His ministers, both great and small, his followers, and all the

80:15people stood in fear and awe of him. He raged furiously with wrath and pride. The king was brutal and savage. His queens, concubines, and handmaids stood in fear and awe of him and loved him not, but hated him and cursed him in their hearts. All the inhabitants of the kingdom starved in toil and sweat, and many forts, villages, and domains were ruined. Seemingly desperate to assuage his guilt

80:46for his heinous actions, Narathu increasingly isolated himself in his palace and ordered the construction of what he intended to be the largest and most ambitious of all of Bagan's temples, known as the Dhammayangyi Temple. But Narathu would not live to see this great temple completed. It's not clear who gave the order, but Narathu was in his palace one day when he was approached by a group of eight men dressed as monks. When the men got close enough to the