Thiri Thudhamma

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Thiri Thudhamma also called Srisudhammaraja (Arakanese:သီရိသုဓမ္မ; c. April 1602 - 31 May 1638) whose personal name was Min Hari (မင်းဟရီ), also known as Salim Shah II was a king of the Mrauk-U Dynasty of Arakan.

Reign

After the death of Min Khamaung, his son and crown prince Min Hari ascended the throne and took on the title of Thiri Thudhamma. He would work on repairing infrastructure built in the time of Min Bin, including the defences of the city of Mrauk U.^[1]

During Thudhamma's rule of Arakan, Muhammad Khurram (later Shah Jahan) took control of neighbouring Mughal Bengal in 1624. Thudamma took advantage of the Bengal crisis by leading a raid into Bhalwa (Noakhali),^[2] where he defeated the local administrator Mirza Baqi and returned to Arakan with plenty of war booty.^[3]

Thudhamma's commanding officer was Ashraf Khan, a devoted Sufi Muslim and the patron of renowned Bengali poet Daulat Qazi.^[4][5]

During his reign, in April 1624, the Dutch began trade relations with the city of Mrauk U.^[6]

In 1628, the Laungkrakca (Rakhine: လောင်းကြက်စား); governor of Launggyet) rebelled and posed a threat of Thiri Thudhamma's reign. The rebelion was put down and many leading men executed, but this only furthered the importance of future Laungkrakca.^[7]

Death and Succession

At the time, the Arakanese chronicle tradition had prophecised that the Mrauk U lineage of kings would end by the turn of the first millenium- roughly 1638 according to the Arakanese era. Rumours of Thiri Thudhamma's impending death circulated not long after his coronation. In the 1630s, the various court ministers in Mrauk U became more aggressive in vying for power.^[7]

On 31 May 1638, Thiri Thudhamma mysteriously died. His son and crown prince Min Sanay ascended the throne. Then On 26 June, Sanay also mysteriously died. The court blamed it on Thiri Thudhamma casting sorcery on his son. After this, the Laugkrakca ascended the throne as Narapati.^[8] Historian Jacques Leider ascribes this chain of events as a coup d'état by the Laungkrakca.^[9]

References

Bibliography

• Harvey, G. E. (1925). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
• Myat Soe, ed. (1964). Myanma Swezon Kyan (in Burmese). Vol. 9 (1 ed.). Yangon: Sarpay Beikman.
• Myint-U, Thant (2006). The River of Lost Footsteps—Histories of Burma. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-16342-6.
• Sandamala Linkara, Ashin (1931). Rakhine Yazawinthit Kyan (in Burmese). Vol. 1–2 (1997 ed.). Yangon: Tetlan Sarpay.
• Aye Chan (2017). ရခိုင်သမိုင်းမိတ်ဆက် [Introduction to Rakhine History]. Yangon: Shwe Thazin Publishing House.
• van Gelen, Stephan (2002). "Arakan at the Turn of the First Millenium of the Arakanese Era". In Gommans, Jos; Leider, Jacques (eds.). The Maritime Frontier of Burma. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. pp. 151–162.

This page was last edited on 4 April 2024, at 11:30