Bodawpaya

Bodawpaya (, ; ; 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, founder of the dynasty and the Third Burmese Empire. He was proclaimed king after deposing his nephew Phaungkaza Maung Maung, son of his eldest brother Naungdawgyi, at Ava. Bodawpaya moved the royal capital back to Amarapura in 1782. He was titled Hsinbyumyashin , not to be confused with his older brother Hsinbyushin. However, he became known to posterity as Bodawpaya (Grandsire) in relation to his successor, his grandson Bagyidaw (Royal Elder Uncle), who in turn was given this name in relation to his nephew Mindon Min. He fathered 70 sons and 67 daughters by about 54 consorts.

Military expeditions Depiction of King Bodawpaya at the Amarapura palace in 1795 (British Embassy of Michael Symes). Also known as Bodaw U Waing, he invaded Arakan in 1784, sending his royal armies led by his son, the Heir Apparent Thado Minsaw, across the Western Yoma range of mountains. The capital of Arakan Mrauk U was captured on the last day of 1784. The Mahamuni Buddha image, among other treasures such as the Khmer bronze statues, was brought back to mainland Burma; these can still be seen in Mandalay. 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, its borders became contiguous with British India. The Arakanese revolted in 1794, and the British Governor of India Sir John Shore (later Lord Teignmouth) sent Captain Michael 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.

Bodawpaya invaded Siam in 1785, and was defeated.

Religion and culture

Bodawpaya proclaimed himself the next messianic Buddha or Maitreya (Arimittya), but his claim was firmly rejected by the Sangha. During his reign, scholarship flourished due to the discipline and stability achieved by establishing a chapter of Sangharajas 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 the Thudhamma order. Burma became the custodian of Buddhism in the region, and the upasampada ordination was reintroduced to Sri Lanka, where it established the Amarapura Nikaya. It was the largest ringing bell in the world, when the larger bell in Moscow Kremlin, called the Tsar bell, broke, until the larger Bell 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 called Thabin Wun , and established strict regulations by royal decree ( a meint daw). He also ordered a major economic survey of the kingdom in 1784.

Bodawpaya was succeeded after his death in 1819 by his grandson, Prince of Sagaing, who later became known as Bagyidaw. The Heir Apparent, father of Bagyidaw, had died in 1808.