Narapati of Ava

For other people named Narapati, see Narapati (disambiguation).

Narapati နရပတိ (အင်းဝ)
King of Ava
Reign	January 1443 – 25 July 1468 (25 years, 6 months)
Predecessor	Minyekyawswa
Successor	Thihathura
Issue
Thihathura of Ava Mingyi Swa of Prome Thado Minsaw of Prome
House	Mohnyin
Father	Mohnyin Thado
Born	1413 775 ME (Wednesday born)
Died	25 July 1468 (aged 55) 5th waxing of Wagaung 830 ME[1] Prome (Pyay)
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Narapati of Ava (Burmese: နရပတိ (အင်းဝ), pronounced [nəɹa̰pətḭ]; 1413–1468) was the tenth king of Ava who reigned from 1443 to 1468. In the early years of his reign, this former viceroy of Prome (Pyay) was forced to deal with raids from the Shan State of Mogaung as well as the Ming Chinese intrusions into Avan territory (1444–1446). In the wake of renewed Chinese determination to pacify the Yunnan frontier region, Narapati was able to maintain Ava's control of northern Shan States of Kale and Mohnyin, and gained allegiance of Thibaw. However, he continued to have trouble with Toungoo which was in revolt between 1451 and 1458. One of his grandsons attempted on his life in 1468. The king fled Ava for Prome and died there shortly after in 1469.

Ascension to throne

Narapati was the governor of Prome, the southernmost Avan territory, under his elder brother King Minyekyawswa of Ava. He ascended to the throne after his brother the king suddenly died in January 1441. At that time, Ava's forces had been laying siege to Mogaung, the capital of the Shan State of Mogaung. When the king died, the ministers at Ava first chose Minyekyawswa's son-in-law Thihapate who was at the front at Mogaung. Thihapate was recalled to Ava by ministers to assume the throne, but he declined the offer, declaring that he was neither a son nor a brother of the deceased king. He suggested they recall the king’s brother Thihathu from Prome. The ministers then invited Thihathu who ascended to the throne with the reign name of Narapati. Thihapate, having refused the throne, went back to the front, and captured Mogaung the very day the new king ascended the throne. Their leader Thonganbwa was captured, and brought back to Ava.^[2]

Reign

As customary with all Ava kings, Narapati after becoming king, first had to assert his rule over the kingdom. With Mogaung defeated, Narapati gained the allegiance of the saopha of Onpaung Hsipaw (Thibaw) in the northeast. He made Thihapate the new saopha of Mohnyin, and his son-in-law the new saopha of Kale. Despite his success in peripheral regions, Narapati continued to have problems with regions much closer to Ava. In late 1443, he sent his armies to Yamethin and Pinle, both of which had been in revolt since the start of his brother's reign in 1441. While his armies were laying siege to Pinle, the new king was forced to deal with a far larger threat from the north: China.^[2]

Ming invasions

The Ming Chinese had conquered Yunnan after their campaigns of 1380–1388, but never completely controlled the frontier which was still occupied by several Shan States. The Chinese were forced to send troops back to the region due to the constant Shan raids into Yunnan by Thonganbwa, the saopha of Mogaung. In 1443, Zhengtong Emperor sent yet another expeditionary force (third campaign since 1436) to punish the pesky Shan raiders. After learning that Ava had already defeated and captured Thonganbwa at Mogaung, the Chinese forces, encamped at the frontier, demanded that Ava surrender Thonganbwa, and send a payment of tribute, or it would face attack.^[3]

Narapati refused the Chinese demand. In 1444, Ava forces marched north to meet the Chinese. The Burmese Chronicles report that the Chinese forces numbered three million, and that the Ava forces numbered 200,000. The numbers clearly were an exaggeration but an exaggeration that does indicate a grave threat. (Noted historian of Burmese history, GE Harvey, believes that the military numbers reported during the Ava-Pegu era were an order of magnitude higher.) Chinese troops descended on Bhamo, and war broke out. The Burmese met the invaders at Kaungton near Bhamo and held their ground. The Chinese soon faced a food supply problem, and retreated to Mong Wan (Mo Wun). Narapati appointed the saophas of Mogaung and Mong Nai (Mone) to watch over Bhamo and returned to Ava.^[2]

The Chinese forces, having regrouped, invaded again in the following year. On 16 November 1445 (3rd waxing of Natdaw 807), the Chinese forces surrounded the fortified city of Ava, and threatened to attack if Thonganbwa was not handed over to them. Narapati negotiated a deal to hand over Thonganbwa if the Chinese helped him subdue Yamethin first. The Chinese agreed, and together with a contingent of troops from Ava, conquered Yamethin. Thonganbwa, rather than being handed over to the Chinese, committed suicide. His dead body was handed over to the Chinese in early 1446.^[2][3] Narapati maintained that he did not accept Chinese suzerainty. But the Chinese considered the handover of the body as Ava's recognition of Chinese suzerainty.^[4]

Mohnyin rebellion (1450)

The death of Thonganbwa did not solve the problem of Shan raids for the Chinese. The Maw Shans, now under the leadership of Thokyeinbwa (Chinese: Si Ji-fa), son of Thonganbwa, moved to the region west of Mogaung, and continued the raids into both Ava and Yunnan territories. In 1448, the Chinese chased them to near Bhamo but were defeated by the Shans.^[3]

In 1450, the Burman saopha of Mohnyin, Thihapate, died. Thihapate's son Min U Ti in alliance with Maw Shan raiders Thokyeinbwa and Thopawbwa (Si Bu-fa) raised a rebellion. Narapati sent an army under the command of the crown prince to Mohnyin. The rebel leader Min U Ti was executed. The two Shan leaders then surrendered and took an oath of allegiance. Narapati made a son of Thopawbwa the new saopha of Mohnyin. He kept Thokyeinbwa and Thopawbwa at Ava. In 1454, Narapati handed over Thokyeinbwa over six people including Thokyeinbwa and his family at a village on the Irrawaddy in exchange for China's explicit recognition of Ava's control of Mohnyin. (Mohnyin had been under Ava's control since 1406. The Nanzhao Chronicle of Yunnan claims that the Ming recognized Mohnyin as Avan territory in 1452, not 1454.) Thokyeinbwa arrived at Beijing in a cage on 30 August 1454 and was executed on 2 September 1454.^[2]

Toungoo rebellion (1451–1458)

In 1451, the governor of Toungoo was assassinated, and the town entered a state of rebellion against Ava. Narapati tried in vain to recover the territory but could not.^[3] Fortunately for Narapati, the rebellious Toungoo king was assassinated by his servant in 1458/59 (820 ME). Ava regained nominal control. Narapati gave his brother-in-law who already had Taungdwingyi as an appanage to rule Toungoo.

Death

On 13 June 1467 (12th waxing of Waso 829), Narapati was stabbed by his grandson whom he had reproved for a love intrigue with his cousin; the wound was not mortal. The king fled to Prome in where his son Mingyi Swa was governor. He died there a year later, 25 July 1468.^[1][5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Ava Kings" (in Burmese). Hmannan Yazawin. 2 (2003 ed.). Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar. 1829. p. 99. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Jon Fernquest (Autumn 2006). "Crucible of War: Burma and the Ming in the Tai Frontier Zone (1382–1454)". SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research 4 (2): 62–66. http://web.soas.ac.uk/burma/SBBR4.2/4.2Fernquest.pdf. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. Phayre (1883). History of Burma (1967 ed.). London: Susil Gupta. pp. 84–85. 
4. ^ Htin Aung (1967). "Ava against Pegu; Shan against Mon". A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 94–95. 
5. ^ GE Harvey (1925). "Shan Migration (Ava)". History of Burma (2000 ed.). Asian Educational Services. pp. 99–100. ISBN 8120613651, 9788120613652. 

Narapati of Ava Ava Kingdom Born: 1413 Died: 25 July 1468
Regnal titles
Preceded by Minyekyawswa	King of Ava January 1443 – 25 July 1468	Succeeded by Thihathura
Royal titles
Preceded by Minyekyawswa	Heir to the Burmese Throne February 1440 – January 1443	Succeeded by Thihathura
Royal titles
Preceded by Min Maha	Governor of Prome 1429–1443	Succeeded by Minyekyawswa of Prome

Persondata
Name	Narapati Of Ava
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1413
Place of birth
Date of death	25 July 1468
Place of death	Prome (Pyay)