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Maung O

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Maung O
Prince of Salin
Reign1823 – 15 April 1837
Bornunknown
Phalangon
Died12 May 1840
Tuesday, 12th wa xing ofKason1202ME[1]
Amarapura
SpouseMin Tha
IssueThiri Thukalaya of Amyint
Thiri Thuta Yadana of Saku
Names
Thado Maha Thudhamma Yaza
(သတိုး မဟာ သုဓမ္မ ရာဇာ)
HouseKonbaung
FatherThiha Kyawswa of Shwedaung
MotherDaw Nge
ReligionTheravada Buddhism

MaungO, Prince of Salin(also speltMaung Oh,Burmese:စလင်းမင်းသားကြီး မောင်အို;?– 12 May 1840), was a prince of the first rank of theKonbaung dynasty.[2]He was the brother ofNanmadaw Me Nu,the chief queen of KingBagyidaw.Favored by the king and queen, he was granted theappanageofSalin,Saku andThamyintonewith the title ofThado Maha Thudhamma Yaza.[3]He and Me Nu became the de facto rulers and are some examples of powerful figures who were the most powerful officials of their time.[4]

Life[edit]

Early life[edit]

Phalangon Pagodadonated by Maung O and Me Nu

Maung O was born to U Hlote, commander of a thousand-man cavalry regiment (later Thiha Kyawswa of Shwedaung) and Daw Nge inPhalangon.He had a younger sister, Me Nu, who later became the chief queen. According to historianHmawbi Saya Thein,it is believed that U Hlote had three children: Me Pu, Maung O, and Me Nu. However, the royal chronicle only mentions Me Nu and Maung O. There is a dispute between Me Nu and Maung O regarding their birth order, with conflicting accounts. According to bell and stone inscriptions of Konbaung, it is suggested that Me Nu was the eldest, and Maung O was the youngest.[5]

He was married to Ma Min Tha, from a nearby village Myinpauk. His wife was also granted the title of Princess of Salin with the regnal nameThiri Yadana Matha Waddi.The couple had two daughters: Thiri Thukalaya, Duchess ofAmyint,and Thiri Thuta Yadana, Duchess of Saku.[6]He authored theYazawunthadipaka,a chronicle of the Konbaung dynasty.[7]

Rise and fall[edit]

Maung O's rise to power was due to his sisterNanmadaw Me Nubecoming KingBagyidaw's favorite queen. The king gave his brother-in-lawSalin,Saku and Thamyintone in fief and granted him the title ofgreat princein 1823. He was the only non-royal to hold the title ofgreat prince.In the monarchic era, successive Burmese kings did not appoint ordinary individuals to the position of the Duke of Salin. It is believed that only trusted individuals who held significance in the eyes of the king were granted appointments to govern the Salin province. As aprince regent,he wielded significant power and had the authority to pass judgments within the royal parliament (Hluttaw). At the time, as the prophecy foretold 'ရွှေဘိုချဉ်ပေါင်၊ ခုနစ်တောင်၊ ဖူးခေါင်ဝေ၍ဖြိုး' was widely spread among the public. This prophecy meant "the Konbaung dynasty would come to an end during the reign of the seventh ruler".

Maung O along with his sister and Gen.Maha Bandulabecame the leaders of the faction that advocated for war with theBritish.[8]In the First Anglo-Burmese War, Maung O served on the front line, and in recognition of his bravery and service, court poet U Bhone honored him by composing a four-part poem in honor of the Prince of Salin. After the disastrousFirst Anglo-Burmese War(1824–1826) left the country crippled, Bagyidaw became increasingly reclusive, afflicted by bouts of depression, and could not handle the administration of the state.[9]The court power devolved to his chief queen Me Nu and her brother. Me Nu and Maung O became the de facto rulers of the country. They were much feared due to their tyrannical policies.[6][10]

Maung O came into conflict with the Crown PrinceTharrawaddy.When Tharrawaddy wanted to renew the war with the British by going toRangoonhimself, Maung O suggested to the king that it was a ploy by Tharrawaddy to revolt.[6]The conflict between O and the crown prince led to Tharrawaddy's eventual revolt. On 21 February 1837, troops on the order of Maung O raided the residence of PrincessPagan(Bagan), sister of Tharawaddy. As the raid continued at the mansion of Prince Tharawaddy, fire was exchanged between the troops of the prince's mansion and the raiding troops. On 24 February 1837, Maung O set fire to the mansion of the crown prince, forcing the crown prince to leave forShwebo,the ancestral place of the Konbaung kings, with 500 troops. Then Prince Tharrawaddy raised a rebellion.[11][12]

By April, Tharrawaddy had forced Bagyidaw to abdicate. The new king put his brother under house arrest and sentenced Me Nu and Maung O to death on 12 May 1840.[1][6][13][14]

The trader Edge Gorger, who visited the Inwa palace during the reign of King Bagyidaw described Maung O as[15]

"Prince Maung O, the brother of Queen Me Nu is horrific and a philanderer. He is arrogant, fierce, and cruel. He also tends to be revengeful, and one can get promoted easily just by bribing him. This seems to be his way of doing business. Citizens both hate and fear him. Everyone except the thick and unintelligent King knows that Maung O is secretly aiming for the throne."

— Edge Gorger

Donations[edit]

As a religious deed, he established several significant contributions, including Phalangon Pagoda, U O Pagoda, U O Monastery, Maha Zeya Pahta Brick Bridge, and Khayetan Bridge.

References[edit]

  1. ^abMaung Maung Tin Vol. 2 2004: 402
  2. ^Yi Yi, Ma (1965)."Burmese Sources for the History of the Konbaung Period 1752-1885".Journal of Southeast Asian History.6(1): 48–66.doi:10.1017/S0217781100002477.ISSN0217-7811.JSTOR20067536.
  3. ^Maung Maung Tin Vol. 2 2004: 277
  4. ^Texts and Contexts in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Texts and Contexts in Southeast Asia Conference, 12–14 December 2001.Universities Historical Research Centre. 2003.
  5. ^(Pathein), May Myat Naing."စလင်းမင်းသားကြီး၏ ကောင်းမှုတော်များကို လေ့လာရှာဖွေခြင်း [Searching on the legacy of Prince Salin]".Myawady(in Burmese).
  6. ^abcd"နန်းမတော်မယ်နုနှင့် ဖလံခုံ".Myanmar Digital News(in Burmese). 16 January 2018.
  7. ^"List of Myanmar Chronicles"(PDF).
  8. ^Myint-U 2006: 112
  9. ^Pollak, Oliver B. (1976)."Crisis of Kingship: Dynasticism and Revolt in Burma, 1837-1852".Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.7(2): 187–196.doi:10.1017/S0022463400015009.ISSN0022-4634.JSTOR20070181.S2CID154331466.
  10. ^Soe Aung (May 2011)."MYANMAR POLITY (1819-1885)"(PDF).
  11. ^Burma Gazetteer: Volume A.1915.
  12. ^Pollak, Oliver B. (1976)."Crisis of Kingship: Dynasticism and Revolt in Burma, 1837-1852".Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.7(2): 187–196.doi:10.1017/S0022463400015009.ISSN0022-4634.JSTOR20070181.S2CID154331466.
  13. ^"Nanmadaw Me Nu".myanmars.net.Retrieved24 October2022.
  14. ^Ni Ni Myint (2004).Selected Writings of Ni Ni Myint.Myanmar Historical Commission.
  15. ^Yanaung (Dwe) (24 May 2018). "Biography of Maung O, the Lord of Salin".Mandalay Daily Newspaper.p. 4.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Maung Maung Tin, U (1905).Konbaung Set 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.ISBN978-0-374-16342-6.
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