Thu Mahar Thiri Dhammaraja (1844 – 20 September 1921), commonly known as Myingun Prince, was a royal prince during the late

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

dynasty. He is known for his role in the assassination of Crown Prince Kanaung in Myingun Myinkhondaing rebellion. Prince Myingun is portrayed as a villain by Burmese historians because his assassination of his father-in-law Crown Prince Kanaung, the kingdom's leading reformist, crippled attempts to modernize Burma's army and other institutions.

Early life

Myingun prince was born in 1844, before

King Mindon Mindon Min ( my, မင်းတုန်းမင်း, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate King of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King P ...

ascended the throne, to Mindon prince and the Royal Queen of the Southern Gilded Chamber. His given name was Maung Myo Aye. He had a younger brother Myinkhondaing Prince. He first conferred the title of Thilawa and later Thu Mahar Thiri Dhammaraja, and received the appanage of .Myingun is a town in

Magway Region Magway Region ( my, မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Magway Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative division in central Myanmar. It is the second largest of Myanmar's seven divisions, ...

. In 1858, he married his first cousin, Meen Cho Bo, Princess of Taungnyo, daughter of Crown Prince Kanaung, by his wife, Myauk-saung Shin Key. He also married to saungya kolouptaw Shin O and Khinle Pya, the widow of his younger brother, the Prince of Myingundaing.

Rebellion and later life

On 2 August 1866, Crown Prince Kanaung was beheaded by the princes of Myingun and Myinkhondaing in a failed coup against his father, King Mindon at a cabinet meeting in the palace. King Mindon, however, managed to escape the assassination. A minister and some officials were killed along with Kanaung. After the unsuccessful coup, the two brothers and their mother ran away to Myingyan and later to Yangon. The

British Colonial The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

government sent them to

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South An ...

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

and then to

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Chunar Chunar is a city located in Mirzapur district of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is nearby Mirzapur city. The railway tracks passing through Chunar Junction railway station leads to major destinations of India, including Howrah, Delhi, T ...

and

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

. Burma fell under colonial rule in 1886 and they left for Saigon, a French colony at the time. From there, he led anti-British movements among Burmese people and

saopha Chao-Pha (; Ahom language, Tai Ahom: 𑜋𑜧𑜨 𑜇𑜡, th, เจ้าฟ้า}, shn, ၸဝ်ႈၾႃႉ, translit=Jao3 Fa5 Jao3 Fa5, my, စော်ဘွား ''Sawbwa,'' ) was a royal title used by the hereditary rulers of the T ...

s in

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

. He returned to Myanmar twice in secret to supervise the fight against the British. His efforts were largely stymied when Britain and France signed an agreement in 1904 that brought the colonial powers closer together, the

Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial de ...

. He continued his fight against the British until his last days in Saigon. He died on September 20, 1921, at the age of 77 in Saigon, Vietnam.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Myingun Konbaung dynasty 1844 births 1921 deaths Burmese princes