Thado Minsaw ( my, သတိုးမင်းစော ; 15 June 1762 – 9 April 1808), also known as
Shwedaung Min (), was
heir-apparent of Burma from 1783 to 1808, during the reign of his father King
Bodawpaya
Bodawpaya ( my, ဘိုးတော်ဘုရား, ; th, ปดุง; 11 March 1745 – 5 June 1819) 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, fou ...
of
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
. As Prince of
Shwedaung and
Dabayin
Depeyin ( my, ဒီပဲယင်း; also spelled Dabayin, Debayin, Depayin, or Tabayin) is a town in the Sagaing Division in Myanmar.
Etymology
The town's classical name is (), which means 'continental theatre' or 'dyed field' in Pali. Acc ...
, he was entrusted by the king to manage the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom, and when necessary, to lead the Royal Army against enemies. Thado Minsaw is best known for his conquest of
Arakan
Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
(now Rakhine State) in 1784–1785 and the subsequent removal of
Mahamuni Buddha
The Mahamuni Buddha Temple ( my, မဟာမုနိဘုရားကြီး, ) is a Buddhist temple and major pilgrimage site, located southwest of Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma). The Mahamuni Image () is enshrined in this temple, and originally ...
from
Mrauk-U
Mrauk U ( ) is a town in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is the capital of Mrauk-U Township, a subregion of the Mrauk-U District.
Mrauk U is of great cultural importance to the local Rakhine (Arakanese) people, and is the location of many ...
to
Amarapura.
[Myint-U 2006: 109–110] He also led the successful defense of
Tenasserim (Taninthayi) coast in 1792 in the war with
Siam
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...
. The crown prince also led the revitalization of Burmese theater in the late 18th century by bringing a group of young artists to his court.
Thado Minsaw died at age 45 in 1808, and was succeeded as crown prince by his son Prince of Sagaing (later King
Bagyidaw
Bagyidaw ( my, ဘကြီးတော်, ; also known as Sagaing Min, ; 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 ...
). The rest of Konbaung kings traced lineage to him.
Early life
Thado Minsaw was born
Maung Paw ( ) to then Prince of Badon (later King Bodawpaya) and his third wife
Me Lun Thu (later Queen of Northern Palace) in 1762 in
Shwebo
Shwebo ( my, ရွှေဘိုမြို့ ) is a city in Sagaing Region, Burma, 110 km north-west of Mandalay between the Irawaddy River, Irrawaddy and the Mu River, Mu rivers. The city was the origin of the Konbaung Dynasty, establi ...
. On 26 March 1781, Maung Yit was granted
Shwedaung in
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...
by King
Singu
Singu is a town in the Mandalay Region of central Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speaker ...
, a first-cousin of his, and became known as Prince of Shwedaung. On 13 July 1783, nearly a year and a half after his father Bodawpaya ascended to Burmese throne, Prince of Shwedaung, just 21, was made crown prince, and was granted
Dabayin
Depeyin ( my, ဒီပဲယင်း; also spelled Dabayin, Debayin, Depayin, or Tabayin) is a town in the Sagaing Division in Myanmar.
Etymology
The town's classical name is (), which means 'continental theatre' or 'dyed field' in Pali. Acc ...
and
Taungdwingyi
Taungdwingyi ( my, တောင်တွင်းကြီး ) is a town located in Magway Region, Myanmar.
Town scape
The town is divided into ten main quarters. They are Ohndaw Quarter 1, Ohndaw Quarter 2, Taungbyin Quarter 1, Taungbyin Qua ...
in fiefs.
Crown prince
Conquest of Arakan
Thado Minsaw's first major assignment as crown prince was to lead the Burmese invasion of Arakan, an independent kingdom in the west, separated by the Arakan Yoma mountains. In October 1784, Thado Minsaw as
commander-in-chief led an expedition force consisted of four divisions, totaling 30,000 men (including 2500 cavalry and 200 elephants). Three divisions crossed the Arakan Yoma from three different passes with Thado Minsaw's division crossing the mountains from its
Minbu
Minbu ( my, မင်းဘူးမြို့) is a city in Magwe Division, Myanmar. , the city has an urban population of 22,962. The area consists of low plain-land towards the Ayeyarwady River, and of undulating country inland rising highe ...
base. The fourth was a
flotilla
A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.
Composition
A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...
which came up from the Indian Ocean coastline from the erstwhile British base at Negrais. On the last day of the year, the Burmese forces captured the Arakanese capital
Mrauk-U
Mrauk U ( ) is a town in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is the capital of Mrauk-U Township, a subregion of the Mrauk-U District.
Mrauk U is of great cultural importance to the local Rakhine (Arakanese) people, and is the location of many ...
, ending nearly five centuries of Arakanese independence.
[Myint-U 2001: 14][Harvey 1925: 267] Twenty thousand people were deported to populate the king's new capital Amarapura. In the looting and destruction that followed, much of Arakan's cultural and intellectual heritage was lost. The royal library was burned to the ground. The country was annexed and ruled through four governorships, each backed by a garrison. The
Mahamuni Buddha
The Mahamuni Buddha Temple ( my, မဟာမုနိဘုရားကြီး, ) is a Buddhist temple and major pilgrimage site, located southwest of Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma). The Mahamuni Image () is enshrined in this temple, and originally ...
, the very symbol of Arakanese sovereignty, was forcibly brought back to Amarapura.
[
]
Administration
Though still in his twenties, Thado Minsaw came to be relied upon by his father for both domestic and military affairs. In late 1785, Thado Minsaw was entrusted to govern in Amarapura while the king personally led a large scale invasion of Siam
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...
. After the invasion, which ended in total failure, Bodawapaya handed over managing the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom to Thado Minsaw, and concentrated on religion.
Defense of Tenasserim
The crown prince was called on to service again in 1792 when the Siamese again invaded Tenasserim, the coastal region directly west of Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
. The Siamese forces, which also invaded the region in 1787, successfully captured Tavoy
Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...
(Dawei) this time in March 1792, and laid siege to Mergui
Myeik (, or ; mnw, ဗိက်, ; th, มะริด, , ; formerly Mergui, ) is a rural city in Tanintharyi Region in Myanmar (Burma), located in the extreme south of the country on the coast off an island on the Andaman Sea. , the estimat ...
(Myeik). Thado Minsaw as commander-in-chief of a 10,000 strong force first marched down to Burmese held Martaban
Mottama ( my, မုတ္တမမြို့, ; Muttama mnw, မုဟ်တၟံ, ; formerly Martaban) is a town in the Thaton District of Mon State, Myanmar. Located on the west bank of the Thanlwin river (Salween), on the opposite side ...
(Mottama) at the north of Tenasserim coast as his forward base. By December 1792, Thado Minsaw was able to drive out the Siamese from Tavoy and relieved Mergui which the Burmese governor had successfully held. Thado Minsaw left a portion of troops to guard the southeastern frontier.[Phayre 1967: 213–220]
Theater
The crown prince was also instrumental in revitalizing Burmese theater. In the 1780s, he brought together a circle of innovative young artists in his private court, including Maung Sa, the future Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa
Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa ( my, မြဝတီမင်းကြီး ဦးစ, ; 28 October 1766 – 6 August 1853) was a Konbaung-era Burmese poet, composer, playwright, general and statesman. In a royal service career that spanned over six de ...
. In 1789, a Royal Commission consisted of princes and ministers was charged with translating Siamese and Javanese dramas from Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
to Burmese. With the help of Siamese artists captured from Ayutthaya Ayutthaya, Ayudhya, or Ayuthia may refer to:
* Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767
** Ayutthaya Historical Park, the ruins of the old capital city of the Ayutthaya Kingdom
* Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province (locally ...
in 1767,[Brandon 1967: 27] the commission adapted two important epics from Thai to Burmese: the Siamese Ramayana and the Enao, the Siamese version of Javanese Panji tales
The Panji tales (formerly spelled Pandji) are a cycle of Javanese stories, centred around the legendary prince of the same name from East Java, Indonesia. Along with the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the tales are the basis of various poems and a ge ...
into Burmese Yama Zatdaw
Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. ...
and Enaung Zatdaw.
Death
Crown Prince Thado Minsaw died at Amarapura at age 45 on 9 April 1808. He had 22 queens, 32 sons and 26 daughters. Although he was not to be king, the crown prince was father of two future kings, Bagyidaw
Bagyidaw ( my, ဘကြီးတော်, ; also known as Sagaing Min, ; 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 ...
and Tharrawaddy. The rest of Konbaung kings traced lineage to him.
References
Bibliography
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{{s-end
Burmese princes
Konbaung dynasty
Burmese generals
1762 births
1808 deaths
Heirs apparent who never acceded