Keng Tawng

Keng Tawng was a Shan river town watered by the Nam Teng, in the country associated with Mongnai. Its position mattered to the movement of armies and to the defense of the Salween frontier. Local chiefs held towns and village tracts under the Burmese crown, and their rank could reflect the services they provided to troops passing through their territories.

A royal order of 13 January 1812 rewarded Keng Tawng's chief, Nga Hkun Byu. It praised his reception of marching soldiers and his care for fourteen outposts along the Salween, granting him the standing of a senior sawbwa and appropriate insignia. The same order recalled a remarkable gift: a lance believed to possess magical powers. Its reported discovery had already produced a dispute with Mongnai over the place where it was found. In October 1811 the king ordered the lance sent to court together with drawings of its stone setting. Military obligations, contested jurisdiction and the presentation of a sacred object thus all entered Keng Tawng's relationship with the royal capital.