King of Konbaung, Prince of Badon, Badon King, Royal Grandfather

Bodawpaya ဘိုးတော်ဘုရား
King of Konbaung, Prince of Badon, Badon King, Royal Grandfather
Statute of Bodawpaya atMandalay Palace
King of Burma
Reign	11 February 1782 – 5 June 1819[citation needed]
Predecessor	Phaungka
Successor	Bagyidaw
Born	Maung Waing မောင်ဝိုင်း (1745-03-11)11 March 1745 Moksobo
Died	5 June 1819(1819-06-05) (aged 74) Amarapura
Burial	Amarapura
Consort	Me Lun Me 207 queens in total
Issue	62 sons, 58 daughters including:Thado Minsaw
Regnal name Siripavaratilokapaṇdita Mahādhammarājadhirāja (သီရိပဝရ တိလောကပဏ္ဍိတ မဟာဓမ္မရာဇာဓိရာဇာ)
House	Konbaung
Father	Alaungpaya
Mother	Yun San
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

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Bodawpaya (Burmese:ဘိုးတော်ဘုရား,pronounced[bódɔ̀pʰəjá];Thai:ปดุง; 11 March 1745 – 5 June 1819) was the sixth king of theKonbaung dynasty ofBurma. BornMaung Shwe Waing and laterBadon Min, he was the fourth son ofAlaungpaya, founder of the dynasty and the Third Burmese Empire. He was proclaimed king after deposing his nephewPhaungkaza Maung Maung, son of his eldest brotherNaungdawgyi, atAva. Bodawpaya moved the royal capital back toAmarapura in 1782. He was titled Hsinbyumyashin (lit. 'Lord of the White Elephants'), not to be confused with his older brotherHsinbyushin. However, he became known to posterity as Bodawpaya (Grandsire) in relation to his successor, his grandsonBagyidaw (Royal Elder Uncle), who in turn was given this name in relation to his nephewMindon Min. He fathered 70 sons and 67 daughters by about 54 consorts.^[1]

Also known asBodaw U Waing, he invadedArakan in 1784 sending his royal armies led by his son, the Heir ApparentThado Minsaw, across the Western Yoma range of mountains. The capital of ArakanMrauk U was captured on the last of 1784. TheMahamuni Buddha image, among other treasures such as theKhmer bronze statues, were brought back to mainland Burma; these can still be seen inMandalay. Also taken were 20,000 captives as slaves to pagodas and temples, and the nobility at Amarapura. Once Arakan was annexed as a province of Burma, her borders became contiguous withBritish India. The Arakanese revolted in 1794, and the British Governor of IndiaSir John Shore (later Lord Teignmouth) sent CaptainMichael Symes on an embassy, fully equipped to gather as much information as possible about the country, to the Court of Ava as the kingdom was still known to the Western world.^[2][3]

Bodawpayainvaded Siam in 1785, and was defeated.^[2][3] The Governor ofTavoy revolted in 1791 with the aid of theSiamese, but apunitive expedition sent by Bodawpaya by sea laid siege ending in peace negotiations in 1793 and the ceding of theTenasserim coast to the Burmese.^[3] Heinvaded Siam again in 1809, but was fended off byMaha Senanurak. The Burmese loss of Lan Na during the failed invasion proved to be the end of their 200-year rule.

In 1816, theAhom governor ofGuwahati in Assam, Badan ChandraBorphukan visited the court of Bodawpaya to seek help in order to defeat his political rival PurnanandaBurhagohain, the Prime Minister ofAhom Kingdom in Assam. A strong force of 16,000 under the command of Gen. Maha Minhla Minkhaung was sent with Badan ChandraBorphukan. The Burmese force entered Assam in January 1817 and defeated the Assamese force in the battle of Ghiladhari. Meanwhile, Purnananda Burhagohain died, and his son RuchinathBurhagohain fled to Guwahati. The reigningAhom kingChandrakanta Singha came in terms with Badan ChandraBorphukan and his Burmese allies. The King appointed Borphukan as Mantri Phukan (Prime Minister) and anAhom princess Hemo Aideo was given in marriage to Burmese King Bodawpaya along with many gifts. The Burmese force retired fromAssam soon after. A year later, Borphukan was assassinated and theAhom kingChandrakanta Singha was deposed by rival political faction led by Purnananda's son Ruchinath Burhagohain.Chandrakanta Singha and the friends of Borphukan appealed to Bodawpaya for help. In February 1819, the Burmese forces invaded Assam for a second time and reinstalled Chandrakanta Singha on the throne of Assam.^[4][5]

Bodawpaya proclaimed himself the next messianicBuddha orMaitreya (Arimittya), but his claim was firmly rejected by theSangha.^[7][8] During his reign, scholarship flourished due to the discipline and stability achieved by establishing a chapter ofSangharajas or senior monks charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the purity of the Sangha. He had successfully arbitrated in favour of orthodoxy to cover both shoulders on the alms round in the controversy concerning the correct way of wearing the robes, and the Order of Monks was unified under theThudhamma order. Burma became the custodian of Buddhism in the region, and theupasampada ordination was re-introduced toSri Lanka where it established the Amarapura Nikaya.^[8]

In 1790 Bodawpaya began the construction of a giganticstupa called Mantalagyi (Great Royal Stupa) atMingun, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) up the RiverIrrawaddy from Mandalay on the west bank. It was however never finished after a prophecy went round saying Payagyi lè apyi that, moksoe thonnya kap – "Once the great pagoda has been wrought, the Moksoe dynasty will come to nought" (ဘုရားကြီးလည်းအပြီးသတ် မုဆိုးသုညကပ်။). It was meant to have stood 150 metres (490 ft), tall enough to be seen fromShwebo in the west, the birthplace of the dynasty, towering above the Minwun Hills. An earthquake in 1838 left huge fissures in the structure, and also caused the heads of the two giganticchinthes to fall into the river. There was also a gigantic 90 ton bell dedicated to the stupa called theMingun Bell, cast between 1808 and 1810.^[9][10] It was the largest ringing bell in the world, when the larger bell inMoscow Kremlin, called theTsar bell, broke,^[11] until the largerBell of Good Luck was cast and first rung for the new year in 2000. During his reign Bodawpaya also proved to be a great patron of the performing arts; he appointed a minister calledThabin Wun (သဘင်ဝန်), and established strict regulations by royal decree (အမိန့်တော်a meint daw).^[12] He also ordered a major economic survey of the kingdom in 1784.^[7]

Bodawpaya was succeeded after his death in 1819 by his grandson, Prince ofSagaing, who later became known asBagyidaw. The Heir Apparent, father of Bagyidaw, had died in 1808.^{[citation needed]}

• Charney, Michael W. (2006).Powerful Learning: Buddhist Literati and the Throne in Burma's Last Dynasty, 1752–1885. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
• Koenig, William J. "The Burmese Polity, 1752–1819: Politics, Administration, and Social Organization in the early Kon-baung Period", Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia, Number 34, 1990.
• Lieberman, Victor B. " Political Consolidation in Burma Under the Early Konbaung Dynasty, 1752-c. 1820."Journal of Asia History 30.2 (1996): 152–168.
• Hall, D.G.E. (1960).Burma (3rd ed.). Hutchinson University Library.ISBN 978-1406735031.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• 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: Cambridge University Press.
• Letwe Nawrahta and Twinthin Taikwun (c. 1770). Hla Thamein (ed.).Alaungpaya Ayedawbon (in Burmese) (1961 ed.). Ministry of Culture, Union of Burma.
• Maung Maung Tin, U (1905).Konbaung Hset Maha Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (2004 ed.). Yangon: Department of Universities History Research, University of Yangon.
• 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.

• Wanderings in Burma by George W Bird, 1897 F J Bright & Son, London, pp 316A, 318, 318A, 320A inc. old photos of Mingun by Signor Beaton of Mandalay

• Konbaung dynasty
• 1745 births
• 1819 deaths
• 19th-century Burmese monarchs
• 18th-century Burmese monarchs

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