Bagyidaw

Bagyidaw
Sagaing Min
ဘကြီးတော်
A British depiction of Bagyidaw purportedly ordering to wrest Bengal from the British
King of Burma
Prince of Sagaing
Reign5 June 1819 – 15 April 1837
Coronation7 June 1819
PredecessorBodawpaya
SuccessorTharrawaddy
BornMaung Sein (မောင်စိန်)
(1784-07-23)23 July 1784
Amarapura
Died15 October 1846(1846-10-15) (aged 62)
Amarapura
Burial
ConsortHsinbyume
Nanmadaw Me Nu
Issue5 sons, 5 daughters, including Setkya Mintha
Names
Siri Tribhavanaditya Pavarapaṇdita Mahādhammarajadhirāja
(သီရိ တြိဘဝနာဒိတျ ပဝရပဏ္ဍိတ မဟာဓမ္မရာဇာဓိရာဇာ)
HouseKonbaung
FatherThado Minsaw
MotherMin Kye, Princess of Taungdwin
ReligionTheravada Buddhism

Bagyidaw (Burmese: ဘကြီးတော်, pronounced [ba̰dʑídɔ̀]; also known as Sagaing Min, [zəɡáiɰ̃ mɪ́ɰ̃]; 23 July 1784 – 15 October 1846) was the seventh king of the 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 decline of the Konbaung dynasty. He inherited the largest Burmese empire, second only to King Bayinnaung's, but also one that shared 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.[1] 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[2] ended decisively in British favor, and the Burmese had to accept British terms without discussion.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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 in October 1846 at age 62.[4]

  1. ^ Owen 2005: 87–88
  2. ^ Myint-U 2006: 112–113
  3. ^ Phayre 1883: 237
  4. ^ a b Htin Aung 1967: 220–221
  5. ^ Steinberg et al 1987: 106

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