Kingdom of Mrauk U
Kingdom of Mrauk-U မြောက်ဦးဘုရင့်နိုင်ငံ | |||||||||||||||||
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September 1430–1785 | |||||||||||||||||
View of Mrauk-U in the XVII century | |||||||||||||||||
Feudal monarchy (until 1782) | |||||||||||||||||
• 1429–1433 | Min Saw Mon (first) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1433–1459 | Min Khayi | ||||||||||||||||
• 1531–1554 | Min Bin | ||||||||||||||||
• 1593–1612 | Min Razagyi | ||||||||||||||||
• 1622–1638 | Thiri Thudhamma | ||||||||||||||||
• 1652–1674 | Sanda Thudhamma | ||||||||||||||||
• 1782–1785 | Maha Thammada (last) | ||||||||||||||||
Legislature | Royal Parliamentary System | ||||||||||||||||
Historical era | AD 15th to 18th Century | ||||||||||||||||
• Founding of dynasty | September 1430 | ||||||||||||||||
• Vassalage of Bengal Sultanate | 1429–1437[1] | ||||||||||||||||
• Conquest of Chittagong | 1459[2] | ||||||||||||||||
• Joint-control of Lower Burma | 1599–1603 | ||||||||||||||||
• Loss of Chittagong | 1666 | ||||||||||||||||
• End of kingdom | 2 January 1785 | ||||||||||||||||
Currency | Dinga | ||||||||||||||||
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History of Myanmar |
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The Kingdom of Mrauk-U (
It was home to a
History
Launggyet Dynasty
Although Arakan kings paid tribute to the
Vassal state of Bengal Sultanate
Background
Arakan had close contact with
Reign of Narameikhla
Following the death of Ahmed Shah in 1426, his son Nazir Shah took the throne of Bengal.
Narameikhla founded the city of Mrauk U, which was declared the capital of the Arakanese kingdom in 1431. As the city grew, many
Independence from Bengal
Narameikhla was succeeded by his brother,
During Minbin's reign, Arakan came under attack both from the north, from the coast, and from the east. In 1544, the armies of King
Golden Age
In the historiography of Mrauk U, the kingdom's history is typically divided into early and late periods. Though historians disagree on the specific cutoffs- the 17th century is both the kingdom's
Down the line of kings came
From 1531 to 1629, Arakanese raiders and
Crisis of the Millenium
In 1628, the Laungkrakca (governor of Launggyet) rebelled during Thiri Thudhamma's reign. The rebelion was put down and many leading men executed, but this only furthered the importance of future Laungkrakca.
At the time, the Arakanese chronicle tradition had prophecised that the Mrauk U lineage of kings would end by the turn of the first millenium- roughly 1638 according to the Arakanese era. Various royal court ministers, including the Laungkrakca became more aggressive in vying for power. On 31 May 1638, Thiri Thudhamma mysteriously died. His son and crown prince Min Sanay ascended the throne, only to die 26 days later. After this, the Laugkrakca ascended the throne as Narapati.[20] Historian Jacques Leider ascribes this chain of events as a coup d'état by the Laungkrakca, creating instability within the kingdom[27]
After his ascension, the governor of Chittagong rebelled claiming the throne for himself. The rebellion was quashed, but in December 1643, the new governor of Chittagong rebelled, taking a large group of Portuguese mercenaries with him into Mughal territory. Narapati sent substantial army to quell this second rebellion, choosing to pillage Chittagong. His troops brought back 80,000 people - mostly weavers-- and several tens of thousands of cattle. This effectively destroyed the importance of Chittagong as a trade centre and created deep division in Arakan as the Dutch East India Company and various nobles protested the move. The sceptics of the king's plan were eventually proven correct as the resettled craftsmen were decimated by a famine in 1645 caused by the sudden change in population, effectively destroying Arakan's textile industry as well.[20]
This destruction and Narapati's attitude to the Dutch, pushed trade in eastern Bengal further west. Furthermore, advances in Dutch shipbuilding diminished the impact of Arakanese raids in
Mughal-Arakan wars
The 1666
The
Burmese conquest
Following
Cultural legacy
Arakanese chronicle records that more than six million shrines and pagodas flourished in Mrauk-U. A British archaeologist, Emil Forchhammer noted that "in durability, architectural skill, and ornamentation the Mrauk-U temples far surpass those on the banks of Irrawaddy."[33] Illustrative examples of Mrauk U period architecture include the Shite-thaung and Htukkanthein Temples.
Gold and silver coins serve as the heritage of the Mrauk-U period. The tradition of coin-making was handed down from the Vesali kings who started minting coins around the fifth century. The coins so far found are of one denomination only. Inscribed on the coins are the title of the ruling king and his year of coronation; coins before 1638 had Rakhine inscriptions on one side and Persian and Nagari inscriptions on the other. The inclusion of the foreign inscriptions was meant for the easy acceptance by the neighbouring countries and the Arab traders. Twenty-three types of silver coins and three types of gold coins have so far been found.
See also
- History of Chittagong
- History of Rakhine
- List of Arakanese monarchs
- Arakanese monarchs' family tree
- History of Burma
Notes
- ^ Rakhine Razawin Thit Vol 2 (in Burmese). Ashin. Sandamala Likãra. p. 8 to 21.
- ^ Rakhine Razawin Thit Vol 2 (in Burmese). Ashin. Sandamala Likãra. p. 23 to 25.
- ^ Myint-U 2006: 77
- ^ Topich, Leitich 2013: 21
- ^ a b c Phayre 1883: 78
- ^ a b Harvey 1925: 140–141
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-35725-1.
- ^ a b Harvey 1925: 76
- ^ Akhtaruzzaman, Md. "POLITICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN MEDIEVAL BENGAL AND ARAKAN." Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 61, 2000, pp. 1081–1092., www.jstor.org/stable/44144423. Accessed 5 Feb. 2020.
- ^ a b c Harvey 1925: 77
- ^ a b c Phayer 1883: 77
- ^ ISBN 0739103563. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
- ^ a b Yegar 2002, p. 24.
- ^ Yegar 2002, p. 23-24.
- ISBN 0-7391-0356-3. Archived from the originalon 8 April 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-317-00639-8.
- ISBN 978-81-206-1023-1.
- ^ Phayre 1883: 79
- ^ Phayre 1883: 79–80
- ^ a b c d van Gelen, Stephan (2002). "Arakan at the Turn of the First Millenium of the Arakanese Era". In Gommans, Jos; Leider, Jacques (eds.). The Maritime Frontier of Burma. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. pp. 151–162.
- ^ Harvey 1925: 78
- ^ Thibaut d'Hubert; Jacques P. Leider (2011). "Traders and Poets at the Mrauk U Court: Commerce and Cultural Links in Seventeenth-Century Arakan" (PDF). In Rila Mukherjee (ed.). Pelagic Passageways: The Northern Bay of Bengal Before Colonialism. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.: 81–82
- ^ Aye Chan 2005, p. 398.
- ISBN 978-1-78374-102-1.
- ^ Rizvi, S.N.H. (1965). "East Pakistan District Gazetteers" (PDF). Government of East Pakistan Services and General Administration Department (1): 84. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ (Aye Chan 2005, p. 398)
- ^ Leider, Jacques (1994). "La route de Am (Arakan)" [The Road to Arakan]. Journal Asiatique. 282 (2): 335–370.
- ^ Niccolò Manucci (1907). Storia Do Mogor: Or, Mogul India, 1653–1708. J. Murray.
- ISBN 978-981-4749-83-1.
- ISBN 978-90-04-19048-1.
- ISBN 0-7391-0356-3.
- ^ Aye Chan 2005, pp. 398–9.
- ^ Emil, Forchhammer (1891). Arakan.
Bibliography
- Aye Chan (Autumn 2005). "The Development of a Muslim Enclave in Arakan (Rakhine) State of Burma (Myanmar)" (PDF). SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research. 3 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
- Charney, Michael W. (1993). 'Arakan, Min Yazagyi, and the Portuguese: The Relationship Between the Growth of Arakanese Imperial Power and Portuguese Mercenaries on the Fringe of Mainland Southeast Asia 1517–1617.' Masters dissertation, Ohio University.
- Hall, D.G.E. (1960). Burma (3rd ed.). Hutchinson University Library. ISBN 978-1-4067-3503-1.
- Harvey, G. E. (1925). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
- Htin Aung, Maung (1967). A History of Burma. New York and London: Columbia University Press.
- Maung Maung Tin (1905). Konbaung Hset Maha Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 2 (2004 ed.). Yangon: Department of Universities History Research, University of Yangon.
- Myat Soe, ed. (1964). Myanma Swezon Kyan (in Burmese). Vol. 9 (1 ed.). Yangon: Sarpay Beikman.
- Myint-U, Thant (2006). The River of Lost Footsteps—Histories of Burma. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-16342-6.
- Phayre, Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. (1883). History of Burma (1967 ed.). London: Susil Gupta.
- Encyclopædia Britannica. 1984 Edition. Vol. VII, p. 76