Hanthawaddy Kingdom
Kingdom of Hanthawaddy Pegu ဟံသာဝတီ ပဲခူး တိုင်းပြည် | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1287–1539 | |||||||||
| Status | Kingdom | ||||||||
| Capital | Martaban (1287–1324, 1348–1363) Donwon (1363–1369) Pegu (1324–1348, 1369–1539) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Mon | ||||||||
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
• 1287 – 1307 | Wareru | ||||||||
• 1384 – 1422 | Razadarit | ||||||||
• 1453 – 1472 | Shin Sawbu | ||||||||
• 1472 – 1492 | Dhammazedi | ||||||||
• 1526 – 1539 | Takayutpi | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Founding of Kingdom | December 1287 | ||||||||
• Vassal of Sukhothai | 1294 – 1331 | ||||||||
| 1385 – 1424 | |||||||||
• Golden Age | 1426 – 1534 | ||||||||
• War with Toungoo | 1535 – 1539 | ||||||||
• Fall of Kingdom | January 1539 | ||||||||
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The Hanthawaddy Kingdom (Burmese: ဟံသာဝတီ ပဲခူး တိုင်းပြည်; Mon: ဟံသာဝတဳ, [hɔŋsawətɔe]; also Hanthawaddy Pegu or simply Pegu) was the dominant kingdom that ruled lower Burma (Myanmar) from 1287 to 1539. The Mon-speaking kingdom was founded as Ramannadesa (or Ramanya in Burmese (ရာမညဒေသ) and Mon ရးမည) by King Wareru following the collapse of the Pagan Empire in 1287 as a nominal vassal state of Sukhothai Kingdom, and of the Mongol Yuan dynasty.[1] The kingdom became formally independent of Sukhothai in 1331 but remained a loose federation of three major regional power centers: the Irrawaddy delta, Pegu, and Martaban. Its kings had little or no authority over the vassals. Martaban was in open rebellion from 1363 to 1388.
The energetic reign of King Razadarit (r. 1384–1422) cemented the kingdom's existence. Razadarit firmly unified the three Mon-speaking regions together, and successfully fended off the northern Burmese-speaking Kingdom of Ava in the Forty Years' War (1385–1424), making the western kingdom of Arakan a tributary from 1413 to 1423 in the process. The war ended in a stalemate but it was a victory for Hanthawaddy as Ava finally gave up its dream of restoring the Pagan Empire. In the years following the war, Pegu occasionally aided Ava's southern vassal states of Prome and Toungoo in their rebellions but carefully avoided getting plunged into a full scale war.
After the war, Hanthawaddy entered its golden age whereas its rival Ava gradually went into decline. From the 1420s to the 1530s, Hanthawaddy was the most powerful and prosperous kingdom of all post-Pagan kingdoms. Under a string of especially gifted monarchs — Binnya Ran I, Shin Sawbu, Dhammazedi and Binnya Ran II — the kingdom enjoyed a long golden age, profiting from foreign commerce. Its merchants traded with traders from across the Indian Ocean, filling the king's treasury with gold and silver, silk and spices, and all the other stuff of early modern trade. The kingdom also became a famous center of Theravada Buddhism. It established strong ties with Ceylon, and encouraged reforms that later spread throughout the country.[2]
The powerful kingdom's end came abruptly. From 1535 onwards, it came under constant raids by the kingdom of Toungoo. King Takayutpi could not marshal the kingdom's much greater resources and manpower against much smaller Toungoo, led by King Tabinshwehti and his deputy Gen. Bayinnaung. Toungoo captured the Irrawaddy delta in 1538, Pegu in 1539, and Martaban in 1541.[3] The kingdom was briefly revived in 1550 after Tabinshwehti was assassinated. But Bayinnaung quickly defeated the rebellion in 1551.
Though Toungoo kings would rule all of Lower Burma well into the mid-18th century, the golden age of Hanthawaddy was fondly remembered by the Mon people of Lower Burma. In 1740, they rose up against a weak Toungoo Dynasty on its last legs, and founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom.
References
- ^ Maung Htin Aung (1967). "Pagan and the Mongol Intrusion". A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 78–80.
- ^ Thant Myint-U (2006). The River of Lost Footsteps--Histories of Burma. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-0-374-16342-6, 0-374-16342-1.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ GE Harvey (1925). "Toungoo Dynasty". History of Burma. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. pp. 153–157.