The ''Byedaik'' ( my, ဗြဲတိုက်, lit. "Bachelor Chambers") served as the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in pre-colonial Burma, by handling the court's internal affairs and also served as an interlocutor between the king and other royal agencies, including the

Hluttaw The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စု လွှတ်တော် lit. Assembly of the Union) is the ''de jure'' national-level bicameral legislature of Myanmar (officially known as the ''Republic of the Union of My ...

Origins

The Restored

Taungoo Dynasty , conventional_long_name = Toungoo dynasty , common_name = Taungoo dynasty , era = , status = Empire , event_start = Independence from Ava , year_start ...

saw the establishment of a state administration system involving two major administrative bodies, the Hluttaw, and the Byedaik, that was left unchanged until the demise of the

Konbaung dynasty The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...

in 1885.

Etymology

The word ''bye'' stems from Mon ''blai'' ( ), meaning "bachelor."

Composition

During the

, the Byedaik consisted of: *Eight ''Atwinwun'' (, c.f. 'Ministers of the Interior')- communicated business affairs of the Hluttaw to the king, administered internal transactions of general affairs relating to the royal court. *''Thandawzin'' (, "Heralds") - performed secretarial duties and attended king's audiences to note king's orders and forward them to Hluttaw for inscription. *''Simihtunhmu'' (, lit. "Lamp Lighters") - kept a list of all persons sleeping in the palace *''Hteindeinyanhmu'' (, "caretakers of royal appointments") - performed menial tasks such as maintaining the palace furniture, draperies and other appointments

Responsibilities

The Byedaik maintained the inner affairs of the royal court, whereas the Hluttaw was responsible for state affairs, including fiscal, executive, and judicial responsibilities and managed the kingdom's government. The Byedaik relayed and facilitated communication between the monarch and the Hluttaw, and filtered information that was relayed from the Hluttaw. This gave the Byedaik immense influence in the court, as they were able to censor communications and formulate edicts returned to the Hluttaw, and serve as confidential advisors to the monarch. The Byedaik also supervised military security in the palace's royal living quarters. The Byedaik's influence created constant tensions with the Hluttaw, especially during coup attempts.

Notes

References