 King Narathihapate is unkindly remembered in Burmese history as Taruk-Pye Min, ("the King who Fled from the "Taruk"").In the 13th century, the Pagan Empire, along with the Khmer Empire, was one of the two main empires in mainland Southeast Asia.For much of its history, Pagan's neighbor to the northeast was not China but the independent Dali Kingdom and its predecessor Nanzhao, both with Dali as their capital city.