Smim Htaw Buddhaketi ( my, သမိန်ထောဗုဒ္ဓကိတ္တိ ) was the first king of the Restored Kingdom of Hanthawaddy which overthrew

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

's rule in

Lower Burma Lower Myanmar ( my, အောက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Lower Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar and includes the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta (Ayeyarwady Region, Ayeyarwady, Bago Region, Bago and Yangon Regions), as we ...

. From 1740 to 1747, the ethnic

Burman Burman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anneli Burman (born 1963), Swedish curler *Barney Burman Barney Burman is an American makeup artist and character actor. He was part of the team that won an Academy Award in 2009 fo ...

king was a nominal figurehead of the ethnic Mon rebellion. He was selected to be king by the leaders of the Mon insurrection for his royal lineage. Styled with the Mon title Smim Htaw Buddhaketi (; "") the former Buddhist monk found it difficult to adjust himself to the life of king. As an ethnic Burman, he was reluctant to take charge of the government or command of the army, and usually absent from the capital.Htin Aung 1967: 153 Much of the governance and fighting was left to his prime minister

Binnya Dala Binnya Dala ( my, ဗညားဒလ ; also spelled Banya Dala; died December 1774) was the last king of Restored Kingdom of Hanthawaddy, who reigned from 1747 to 1757. He was a key leader in the revival of the Mon-speaking kingdom in 1740, wh ...

, a local Mon nobleman. Forced to abdicate, he left for

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

, but was later imprisoned by

Borommakot Borommakot ( th, บรมโกศ, ) or Maha Thammarachathirat II ( th, สมเด็จพระมหาธรรมราชาธิราชที่ ๒) was the king of Ayutthaya from 1733 to 1758. His reign was the last blooming period ...

and sent to China, where he made his way back to Chiang Mai.Rajanubhab, D., 2001, Our Wars With the Burmese, Bangkok: White Lotus Co. Ltd.,

Background

He was reputedly a son of lord of

Pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

who fled to east of

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

after his unsuccessful revolt against King Taninganway in 1714.Harvey 1925: 207–213 This would make the Burmese king

Mahadhammaraza Dipadi Maha Dhammaraza Dipati ( my, မဟာ ဓမ္မရာဇာ ဓိပတိ, ; pi, Mahādhammarājadhipati; 1714–1754), was the last king of Toungoo dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1733 to 1752. The young king inherited a kingdom already i ...

a nephew of his. Smim Htaw Buddhaketi grew up among Shans and

Karens The Karen, kjp, ပ်ုဖၠုံဆိုဒ်, my, ကရင်လူမျိုး, , th, กะเหรี่ยง ( ), also known as the Kayin, Kariang or Kawthoolese, are an ethnolinguistic group of Sino-Tibetan language ...

of the region, and spoke Mon.

Accession and abdication

He was put on the throne on .''

Zatadawbon Yazawin ''Zatadawbon Yazawin'' ( my, ဇာတာတော်ပုံ ရာဇဝင်, ; also spelled ''Zatatawpon''; ) is the earliest extant chronicle of Burma. The chronicle mainly covers the regnal dates of kings as well as horoscopes of select ...

'' (Zata 1960: 44) says he came to power in

Nadaw Nadaw ( my, နတ်တော်; also spelt Natdaw) is the ninth month of the traditional Burmese calendar. Festivals and observances *Mahagiri Nat Festival, Mount Popa *Literature and Arts Festival () *Pagoda festivals **Botahtaung Pagoda Fest ...

1102 ME (19 November 1740 to 17 December 1740 NS). Per (Lieberman 1984: 215–216), his forces attacked Syriam on , a week after his accession; it means he came to power on . He was forced to abdicate his throne in January 1747.Lieberman 1984: 221

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * Toungoo dynasty Restored Hanthawaddy dynasty 18th-century Burmese monarchs {{Burma-royal-stub