Maung O

Maung O, Prince of Salin (also spelt Maung Oh, Burmese: စလင်းမင်းသားကြီး မောင်အို; ? – 12 May 1840), was a prince of the first rank of the Konbaung dynasty.[2] He was the brother of Nanmadaw Me Nu, the chief queen of King Bagyidaw. He was granted the appanage of Salin, with the title of Thado 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]

Maung O
Prince of Salin
Reign1823 – 15 April 1837
Bornunknown
Phalangon
Died12 May 1840
Tuesday, 12th waxing of Kason 1202 ME[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

Life

Early life
Phalangon Pagoda donated 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 in Phalangon. He had a younger sister, Me Nu, who later became the chief queen. He was married to Ma Min Tha, from a nearby village Myinpauk. The couple had two daughters: Thiri Thukalaya, Duchess of Amyint, and Thiri Thuta Yadana, Duchess of Saku.[5] He authored the Yazawunthadipaka, a chronicle of the Konbaung dynasty.[6]

Rise and fall

Maung O's rise to power was due to his sister Nanmadaw Me Nu becoming King Bagyidaw's favorite queen. The king gave his brother-in-law Salin in fief and granted him the title of great prince in 1823. He was the only non-royal to hold the title of great prince. He along with his sister and Gen. Maha Bandula became the leaders of the faction that advocated for war with the British.[7] After the disastrous First 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.[8] 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.[5][9]

Maung O came into conflict with the Crown Prince Tharrawaddy. When Tharrawaddy wanted to renew the war with the British by going to Rangoon himself, Maung O suggested to the king that it was a ploy by Tharrawaddy to revolt.[5] 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 Princess Pagan (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 for Shwebo, the ancestral place of the Konbaung kings, with 500 troops. Then Prince Tharrawaddy raised a rebellion.[10][11]

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][5][12][13]

The trader Edge Gorger, who visited the Inwa palace during the reign of King Bagyidaw described Maung O as[14]

"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

References
  1. Maung 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. ISSN 0217-7811. JSTOR 20067536.
  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. "နန်းမတော်မယ်နုနှင့် ဖလံခုံ". Myanmar Digital News (in Burmese). 16 January 2018.
  6. "List of Myanmar Chronicles" (PDF).
  7. Myint-U 2006: 112
  8. 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. ISSN 0022-4634. JSTOR 20070181. S2CID 154331466.
  9. Soe Aung (May 2011). "MYANMAR POLITY (1819-1885)" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. Burma Gazetteer: Volume A. 1915.
  11. 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. ISSN 0022-4634. JSTOR 20070181. S2CID 154331466.
  12. "Nanmadaw Me Nu". myanmars.net. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  13. Ni Ni Myint (2004). Selected Writings of Ni Ni Myint. Myanmar Historical Commission.
  14. Yanaung (Dwe) (24 May 2018). "Biography of Maung O, the Lord of Salin". Mandalay Daily Newspaper. p. 4.

Bibliography
  • 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. ISBN 978-0-374-16342-6.


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