Bagyidaw
Encyclopedia
Bagyidaw
Bagyidaw was the seventh king
of Konbaung dynasty
of Burma from 1819 until his abdication in 1837. Prince of Sagaing
, as he was commonly known in his day, was selected as crown prince
by his grandfather King Bodawpaya
in 1808, and became king in 1819 after Bodawpaya's death. Bagyidaw moved the capital from Amarapura
back to Ava
in 1823.
Bagyidaw's reign saw the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826), which marked the beginning of the end of the highly militaristic Konbaung dynasty. Bagyidaw inherited the largest Burmese empire, second only to King Bayinnaung
's, but also one that shared a long ill-defined borders with British India. In the years leading to the war, the king had been forced to suppress British supported rebellions in his grandfather's western acquisitions (Arakan
, Manipur
and Assam
), but unable to stem cross border raids from British
territories and protectorates. His ill-advised decision to allow the Burmese army to pursue the rebels along the vaguely-defined borders led to the war. The longest and most expensive war in British Indian history ended decisively in British favor, and the Burmese had to accept British terms without discussion. Bagyidaw was forced to cede all of his grandfather's western acquisitions, and Tenasserim to the British, and pay a large indemnity of one million pounds sterling, leaving the country crippled for years.
Devastated, Bagyidaw held out hope for some years that Tenasserim would be returned to him, and paid the balance of indemnity in 1832 at great sacrifice. The British redrew the border with Manipur in 1830, but by 1833, it was clear the British would not return any of the former territories. The king became a recluse, and power devolved to his queen Nanmadaw Me Nu
and her brother. His brother Crown Prince Tharrawaddy raised a rebellion in February 1837, and Bagyidaw was forced to abdicate the throne in April 1837. King Tharrawaddy executed Queen Me Nu and her brother but placed his brother under house arrest. Bagyidaw died on 15 October 1846, at age 62.
, Prince of Shwedaung and his half-sister Min Kye, Princess of Taungdwin, on 23 July 1784. The infant prince was granted Sagaing
as his fief by his grandfather King Bodawpaya, hence known as Prince of Sagaing. On 23 June 1793, the young prince, not yet 9, was made a general of the Northern and Southern Corps of Royal Cavalry. On 9 February 1803, the 18-year-old prince married 14-year-old Princess Hsinbyume, a granddaughter of Bodawpaya. The young prince was fond of shews, theater, elephant catching and boat racing.
In 1812, his first queen Princess Hsinbyume died of childbirth in Mingun
near Ava
. The crown prince built a beautiful white stupa
in memory of his first wife named Myatheindan Pagoda at Mingun. He took on five more queens as crown prince (of the eventual number of 23 queens). His third and later chief queen Nanmadaw Me Nu
built the Maha Aungmye Bonzan Monastery in 1818, more commonly known as Me Nu Ok Kyaung (Me Nu's Brick Monastery), unusual in that Burmese monasteries traditionally are wooden structures.
During his stay as crown prince, his grandfather Bodawpaya renewed his expansionism in the west. In 1813, a Burmese expeditionary force led by Lord of Myawaddy annexed Manipur, placing Marjit Singh, who grew up in Ava, as vassal king. Four years later, Burmese forces invaded neighboring Assam and placed their vassal king Chandra Kanta Singh on the Assamese throne. In early 1819, the Burmese had to return again to put down a rebellion against Chandra Kanta Singh.
The first to test Bagyidaw's rule was the Raja of Manipur, who was put on the Manipuri throne only six years earlier by the Burmese. Raja Marjit Singh failed to attend Bagyidaw's coronation ceremony, or send an embassy bearing tributes, as all vassal kings had an obligation to do. In October 1819, Bagyidaw sent an expeditionary force of 25000 soldiers and 3000 cavalry led by his favorite general Maha Bandula to reclaim Manipur. Bandula reconquered Manipur but the raja escaped to neighboring Cachar, which was ruled by his brother Chourjit Singh
. The Singh brothers continued to raid Manipur using their bases from Cachar and Jaintia, which had been declared as British protectorates.
The instabilities spread to Assam in 1821 when the vassal king of Assam, who was put on the Assamese throne only four years earlier, switched allegiance to the British. Bagyidaw again turned to Bandula. It took Bandula's 20,000 strong army about a year a half, until July 1822, to finish off the Assamese army. Bagyidaw now scrapped the six century old Assamese monarchy and made Assam a province under a military governor-general. The defeated Assamese king fled to British territory of Bengal
. The British ignored Burmese demands to surrender the fugitive king, and instead sent reinforcement units to frontier forts. Despite their success in the open battlefield, the Burmese continued to have trouble with cross border raids by rebels from British protectorates of Cachar and Jaintia into Manipur and Assam, and those from British Bengal into Arakan.
At Bagyidaw's court, the war party which included Gen. Bandula, Queen Me Nu and her brother, the lord of Salin made the case to Bagyidaw that a decisive victory could allow Ava to consolidate its gains in its new western empire in Arakan, Manipur, Assam, Cachar and Jaintia, as well as take over eastern Bengal. In January 1824, Bandula allowed one of his top lieutenants Maha Uzana into Cachar and Jaintia to chase away the rebels. The British sent in their own force to meet the Burmese in Cachar, resulting in the first clashes between the two. The war formally broke out on 5 March 1824, following border clashes in Arakan.
Instead of fighting in harsh terrain, the British took the fight to the Burmese mainland. On May 11, a British naval force of over 10,000 men, led by Archibald Campbell
entered the port city of Yangon
, taking the Burmese by surprise. Bagyidaw ordered Bandula and most of the troops back home to meet the enemy at Yangon. In December 1824, Bandula's 30,000 strong force tried to retake Yangon but was soundly defeated by the much better armed British forces. The British immediately went on an offensive on all fronts. By April 1825, the British had driven out the Burmese forces from Arakan, Assam, Manipur, Tenasserim, and the Irrawaddy delta where Gen. Bandula died in action. After Bandula's death, the Burmese fought on but their last ditch effort to retake the delta was repulsed in November 1825. In February 1826, with the British army only 50 miles away from Ava, Bagyidaw agreed to British terms.
As per the Treaty of Yandabo
, the British demanded and the Burmese agreed to:
For the Burmese, the treaty was a total humiliation and a long lasting financial burden. A whole generation of men had been wiped out in battlefield. The world the Burmese knew of conquest and martial pride, built on the back of impressive military success of prior 75 years, had come crashing down. An uninvited British Resident in Ava was a daily reminder of humiliation of defeat. The burden of indemnity would leave the royal treasury bankrupt for years. The indemnity of one million pounds sterling would have been considered a colossal sum even in Europe of that time, and it became frightening when translated to Burmese kyat equivalent of 10 million. The cost of living of the average villager in Upper Burma in 1826 was one kyat per month.
Bagyidaw could not come to terms with the loss of the territories, and the British used Tenasserim as bait for the Burmese to pay the installments of indemnity. In 1830, the British agreed to redraw the Manipuri border with Burma, giving back Kabaw Valley
to the Burmese. Bagyidaw delivered the balance of the indemnity at great sacrifice in November 1832. But by 1833, it was clear that the British had no intention of returning any of the territories. The king, who used to love theater and boat racing, grew increasingly reclusive, afflicted by bouts of depression. The palace power devolved to his chief queen Me Nu and her brother. In February 1837, Bagyidaw's crown prince and brother Tharrawaddy rebelled, and two months later in April, Bagyidaw was forced to abdicate. Tharrawaddy executed Me Nu and her brother, and kept his brother under house arrest. Bagyidaw died on 15 October 1846, at age 62. The former king had 23 queens, five sons and five daughters.
Bagyidaw was the seventh king
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
of Konbaung dynasty
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung Dynasty was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. The dynasty created the second largest empire in Burmese history, and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of modern state of Burma...
of Burma from 1819 until his abdication in 1837. Prince of Sagaing
Sagaing
Sagaing is the capital of Sagaing Region in Myanmar. Located on the Ayeyarwady River, 20 km to the southwest of Mandalay on the opposite bank of the river, Sagaing with numerous Buddhist monasteries is an important religious and monastic center. The pagodas and monasteries crowd the numerous...
, as he was commonly known in his day, was selected as crown prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
by his grandfather King Bodawpaya
Bodawpaya
Bodawpaya was the sixth king of the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma. Born Maung Shwe Waing and later Badon Min, he was the fourth son of Alaungpaya, founder of the dynasty and the Third Burmese Empire. He was proclaimed king after deposing his nephew Phaungkaza Maung Maung, son of his oldest brother...
in 1808, and became king in 1819 after Bodawpaya's death. Bagyidaw moved the capital from Amarapura
Amarapura
Amarapura is a former capital of Myanmar, and now a township of Mandalay. Amarapura is bounded by the Ayeyarwady river in the west, Chanmyathazi township in the north, and the city of Innwa in the south...
back to Ava
Ava
Innwa is a city in the Mandalay Division of Burma , situated just to the south of Amarapura on the Ayeyarwady River. Its formal title is Ratanapura , which means City of Gems in Pali. The name Innwa means mouth of the lake, which comes from in , meaning lake, and wa , which means mouth...
in 1823.
Bagyidaw's reign saw the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826), which marked the beginning of the end of the highly militaristic Konbaung dynasty. Bagyidaw inherited the largest Burmese empire, second only to King Bayinnaung
Bayinnaung
Bayinnaung Kyawhtin Nawrahta was the third king of the Toungoo dynasty of Burma . During his 30-year reign, which has been called the "greatest explosion of human energy ever seen in Burma", Bayinnaung assembled the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, which included much of modern day...
's, but also one that shared a long ill-defined borders with British India. In the years leading to the war, the king had been forced to suppress British supported rebellions in his grandfather's western acquisitions (Arakan
Rakhine State
Rakhine State is a Burmese state. Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between...
, Manipur
Manipur
Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...
and Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
), but unable to stem cross border raids from British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
territories and protectorates. His ill-advised decision to allow the Burmese army to pursue the rebels along the vaguely-defined borders led to the war. The longest and most expensive war in British Indian history ended decisively in British favor, and the Burmese had to accept British terms without discussion. Bagyidaw was forced to cede all of his grandfather's western acquisitions, and Tenasserim to the British, and pay a large indemnity of one million pounds sterling, leaving the country crippled for years.
Devastated, Bagyidaw held out hope for some years that Tenasserim would be returned to him, and paid the balance of indemnity in 1832 at great sacrifice. The British redrew the border with Manipur in 1830, but by 1833, it was clear the British would not return any of the former territories. The king became a recluse, and power devolved to his queen Nanmadaw Me Nu
Nanmadaw Me Nu
Nanmadaw Me Nu was the chief queen of King Bagyidaw of Konbaung dynasty of Burma from 1819 to 1837. Married to Bagyidaw in 1801, Me Nu became queen when Bagyidaw ascended the throne on 5 June 1819, with the title Namadaw Mibaya Khaunggyi .Me Nu was part of the war party along with Gen...
and her brother. His brother Crown Prince Tharrawaddy raised a rebellion in February 1837, and Bagyidaw was forced to abdicate the throne in April 1837. King Tharrawaddy executed Queen Me Nu and her brother but placed his brother under house arrest. Bagyidaw died on 15 October 1846, at age 62.
Early life
The future king was born Maung Sein to Crown Prince Thado MinsawThado Minsaw
Thado Minsaw was crown prince of Burma from 13 July 1783 to 9 April 1808, during the reign of his father King Bodawpaya of Konbaung dynasty. Prince of Shwedaung and Dabayin was entrusted by the king to manage the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom, and when necessary, to lead the Royal Army against...
, Prince of Shwedaung and his half-sister Min Kye, Princess of Taungdwin, on 23 July 1784. The infant prince was granted Sagaing
Sagaing
Sagaing is the capital of Sagaing Region in Myanmar. Located on the Ayeyarwady River, 20 km to the southwest of Mandalay on the opposite bank of the river, Sagaing with numerous Buddhist monasteries is an important religious and monastic center. The pagodas and monasteries crowd the numerous...
as his fief by his grandfather King Bodawpaya, hence known as Prince of Sagaing. On 23 June 1793, the young prince, not yet 9, was made a general of the Northern and Southern Corps of Royal Cavalry. On 9 February 1803, the 18-year-old prince married 14-year-old Princess Hsinbyume, a granddaughter of Bodawpaya. The young prince was fond of shews, theater, elephant catching and boat racing.
Crown Prince
His father Crown Prince Thado Minsaw died on 9 April 1808. Nine days later, the young prince at 23 was suddenly elevated to the position of Crown Prince by his grandfather King Bodawpaya. The prince was also allowed to inherit his father's fiefs of Dabayin and Shwedaung. The Crown Prince was Master-General of the Ordnance in the Burmese-Siamese War of 1808, which ended in a stalemate. His elevation to crown prince also brought his royal servants, including Maung Yit (later Gen. Maha Bandula) of Dabayin and Maung Sa (later Lord of Myawaddy) of Sagaing to prominence. Myawaddy became his long time adviser and personal secretary (atwinwn) until his abdication in 1837. He promoted Maung Yit to governor of Ahlon-Monywa.In 1812, his first queen Princess Hsinbyume died of childbirth in Mingun
Mingun
Mingun is a town in Sagaing Region, northwest Myanmar , located 11 km up the Ayeyarwady River on the west bank from Mandalay. Its main attraction is the ruined Mingun Pahtodawgyi.-Mingun Pahtodawgyi:...
near Ava
Ava
Innwa is a city in the Mandalay Division of Burma , situated just to the south of Amarapura on the Ayeyarwady River. Its formal title is Ratanapura , which means City of Gems in Pali. The name Innwa means mouth of the lake, which comes from in , meaning lake, and wa , which means mouth...
. The crown prince built a beautiful white stupa
Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
in memory of his first wife named Myatheindan Pagoda at Mingun. He took on five more queens as crown prince (of the eventual number of 23 queens). His third and later chief queen Nanmadaw Me Nu
Nanmadaw Me Nu
Nanmadaw Me Nu was the chief queen of King Bagyidaw of Konbaung dynasty of Burma from 1819 to 1837. Married to Bagyidaw in 1801, Me Nu became queen when Bagyidaw ascended the throne on 5 June 1819, with the title Namadaw Mibaya Khaunggyi .Me Nu was part of the war party along with Gen...
built the Maha Aungmye Bonzan Monastery in 1818, more commonly known as Me Nu Ok Kyaung (Me Nu's Brick Monastery), unusual in that Burmese monasteries traditionally are wooden structures.
During his stay as crown prince, his grandfather Bodawpaya renewed his expansionism in the west. In 1813, a Burmese expeditionary force led by Lord of Myawaddy annexed Manipur, placing Marjit Singh, who grew up in Ava, as vassal king. Four years later, Burmese forces invaded neighboring Assam and placed their vassal king Chandra Kanta Singh on the Assamese throne. In early 1819, the Burmese had to return again to put down a rebellion against Chandra Kanta Singh.
Troubles on the western front
Bodawpaya died on 5 June 1819, and Bagyidaw ascended to the throne without opposition. On 7 June 1819, he was crowned at Amarapura with the reign name of Sri Pawara Suriya Dharmaraja Maharajadhiraja. It was later expanded to Siri Tribhawanaditya Dhipati Pawara Pandita Mahadhammarajadhiraja. Bagyidaw inherited the second largest Burmese empire but also one that shared a long vaguely defined borders with British India. The British, disturbed by the Burmese control of Manipur and Assam which threatened their own influence on the eastern borders of British India, supported rebellions in the region.The first to test Bagyidaw's rule was the Raja of Manipur, who was put on the Manipuri throne only six years earlier by the Burmese. Raja Marjit Singh failed to attend Bagyidaw's coronation ceremony, or send an embassy bearing tributes, as all vassal kings had an obligation to do. In October 1819, Bagyidaw sent an expeditionary force of 25000 soldiers and 3000 cavalry led by his favorite general Maha Bandula to reclaim Manipur. Bandula reconquered Manipur but the raja escaped to neighboring Cachar, which was ruled by his brother Chourjit Singh
Chourjit Singh
Chourjit Singh was a Manipuri royal who fought for power during the internal power struggles in Manipur after the death of Ching-Thang Khomba.-References:Hodson, Thomas Callan.The Meitheis. Harvard University, 1908....
. The Singh brothers continued to raid Manipur using their bases from Cachar and Jaintia, which had been declared as British protectorates.
The instabilities spread to Assam in 1821 when the vassal king of Assam, who was put on the Assamese throne only four years earlier, switched allegiance to the British. Bagyidaw again turned to Bandula. It took Bandula's 20,000 strong army about a year a half, until July 1822, to finish off the Assamese army. Bagyidaw now scrapped the six century old Assamese monarchy and made Assam a province under a military governor-general. The defeated Assamese king fled to British territory of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. The British ignored Burmese demands to surrender the fugitive king, and instead sent reinforcement units to frontier forts. Despite their success in the open battlefield, the Burmese continued to have trouble with cross border raids by rebels from British protectorates of Cachar and Jaintia into Manipur and Assam, and those from British Bengal into Arakan.
At Bagyidaw's court, the war party which included Gen. Bandula, Queen Me Nu and her brother, the lord of Salin made the case to Bagyidaw that a decisive victory could allow Ava to consolidate its gains in its new western empire in Arakan, Manipur, Assam, Cachar and Jaintia, as well as take over eastern Bengal. In January 1824, Bandula allowed one of his top lieutenants Maha Uzana into Cachar and Jaintia to chase away the rebels. The British sent in their own force to meet the Burmese in Cachar, resulting in the first clashes between the two. The war formally broke out on 5 March 1824, following border clashes in Arakan.
War
In the beginning of the war, battle hardened Burmese forces, who were more familiar with the terrain which represented "a formidable obstacle to the march of a European force", were able to push back better armed British forces made up of European and Indian soldiers. By May, Uzana's forces had overrun Cachar and Jaintia, and Lord of Myawaddy's forces had defeated the British inside Bengal, causing a great panic in Calcutta.Instead of fighting in harsh terrain, the British took the fight to the Burmese mainland. On May 11, a British naval force of over 10,000 men, led by Archibald Campbell
Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Baronet
General Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Baronet GCB was an officer of the British Army, and from 1831 to 1837, the administrator of the colony of New Brunswick. From 1824 to 1826, Gen...
entered the port city of Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
, taking the Burmese by surprise. Bagyidaw ordered Bandula and most of the troops back home to meet the enemy at Yangon. In December 1824, Bandula's 30,000 strong force tried to retake Yangon but was soundly defeated by the much better armed British forces. The British immediately went on an offensive on all fronts. By April 1825, the British had driven out the Burmese forces from Arakan, Assam, Manipur, Tenasserim, and the Irrawaddy delta where Gen. Bandula died in action. After Bandula's death, the Burmese fought on but their last ditch effort to retake the delta was repulsed in November 1825. In February 1826, with the British army only 50 miles away from Ava, Bagyidaw agreed to British terms.
As per the Treaty of Yandabo
Treaty of Yandabo
The Treaty of Yandabo was the peace treaty that ended the First Anglo-Burmese War. The treaty was signed on 24 February 1826, nearly two years after the war formally broke out on 5 March 1824, by General Sir Archibald Campbell on the British side, and by Governor of Legaing Maha Min Hla Kyaw Htin...
, the British demanded and the Burmese agreed to:
- Cede to the British AssamAssamAssam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, ManipurManipurManipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...
, ArakanRakhine StateRakhine State is a Burmese state. Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between...
, and Tenasserim coast south of Salween riverSalween RiverThe Salween is a river, about long, that flows from the Tibetan Plateau into the Andaman Sea in Southeast Asia. It drains a narrow and mountainous watershed of that extends into the countries China, Burma and Thailand. Steep canyon walls line the swift, powerful and undammed Salween, one of the...
, - Cease all interference in Cachar and Jaintia,
- Pay an indemnity of one million pounds sterling in four installments,
- Allow for an exchange of diplomatic representatives between Ava and Calcutta,
- Sign a commercial treaty in due course.
After the war
The treaty imposed highly severe financial burden to the Burmese kingdom, and effectively left it crippled. The British terms in the negotiations were strongly influenced by the heavy cost in lives and money which the war had entailed. Some 40,000 British and Indians troops had been involved of whom 15,000 had been killed. The cost to the British India's finances had been almost ruinous, amounting to approximately 13 million pounds sterling. The cost of war contributed to a severe economic crisis in India, which by 1833 had bankrupted the Bengal agency houses and cost the British East India Company its remaining privileges, including the monopoly of trade to China.For the Burmese, the treaty was a total humiliation and a long lasting financial burden. A whole generation of men had been wiped out in battlefield. The world the Burmese knew of conquest and martial pride, built on the back of impressive military success of prior 75 years, had come crashing down. An uninvited British Resident in Ava was a daily reminder of humiliation of defeat. The burden of indemnity would leave the royal treasury bankrupt for years. The indemnity of one million pounds sterling would have been considered a colossal sum even in Europe of that time, and it became frightening when translated to Burmese kyat equivalent of 10 million. The cost of living of the average villager in Upper Burma in 1826 was one kyat per month.
Bagyidaw could not come to terms with the loss of the territories, and the British used Tenasserim as bait for the Burmese to pay the installments of indemnity. In 1830, the British agreed to redraw the Manipuri border with Burma, giving back Kabaw Valley
Kabaw Valley
The Kabaw Valley is a highland valley in northern Burma , western Sagaing division. It is drained by the Mu River. The valley is the home of a number of ethnic minorities including the Zo, the Mizo, the Kadu and the Kanan.-History:...
to the Burmese. Bagyidaw delivered the balance of the indemnity at great sacrifice in November 1832. But by 1833, it was clear that the British had no intention of returning any of the territories. The king, who used to love theater and boat racing, grew increasingly reclusive, afflicted by bouts of depression. The palace power devolved to his chief queen Me Nu and her brother. In February 1837, Bagyidaw's crown prince and brother Tharrawaddy rebelled, and two months later in April, Bagyidaw was forced to abdicate. Tharrawaddy executed Me Nu and her brother, and kept his brother under house arrest. Bagyidaw died on 15 October 1846, at age 62. The former king had 23 queens, five sons and five daughters.