The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s3.10

v3.c29.s3.10

Whether Pagān had hitherto been fertile or not³, it was certainly unfertile now, and the soil of the Myingyan district assumed its present desolate and barren aspect. Denudation of the forests to provide fuel for pagoda bricks had doubtless lessened the rainfall, and extensive irrigation at Kyaukse might attract rainfall thither from Pagān. Crops grow there, but not in such quantity as to supply a city of 50,000 inhabitants who eat rice. Probably this was the reason, in addition to the belief that the luck of the site was exhausted, which now led to the removal of the palace from Pagān.