Arakan Kingdom – 1431-1783

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4. Arakan Kingdom – 1431-1783

#ReignKingrelation
11430-1433Narameik Hla -@ Mong Saw MwanSon of King Razathu
21433-1459Naranu @ Mong Khari @ Ali KhanBrother
31459-1482Ba Saw Pru @ Kalima ShahSon
41482-1492Mong Dawlyar @ Maha Mawkhu ShahSon
51492-1494Ba Saw NyoSon of Mong Khari
61494Mong Ran AungSon of Mong Dawlyar
71494-1501Salingathu @ TheingathuUncle from mother’s side
81501-1513Mong Raza @ Ali ShahSon
91513-1515GazapatiSon
101515Mong Saw Oo @ ThirithuBrother of Salingathu
111515-1521Thazata @ Ali ShahSon of Mong Dawlyar
121521-1531Mong Khaung RazaBrother
131531-1553Mong Ba Gree @ Mong BongSon of Mong Raza
141553-1555Mong Taikkha @ Mong DiyarSon
151555-1564Mong Saw HlaSon
161564-1571Mong Sekkya @ SekkyawadaiBrother
171571-1593Mong PhaloungSon of Mong Ba Gree
181593-1612Mong Raza Gree @ Thadoe Damma RazaSon
191612-1622Mong Khamong @ Wara Damma RazaSon
201622-1638Thirithudamma Raza @ Mong HariSon
211638Mong Sanai @ Thadoe Mong HlaSon
221638-1645Narapatigri @ Nga KuthalaSon
231645-1652Thaddoe Mong TaraSon
241652-1674Sandathudamma RazaSon
251674-1685Oaggabala Raza @ ThirithuriyaSon
261685-1692Waradamma RazaYounger brother
271692-1694Manithudamma RazaElder brother
281694-1696Sandathudamma RazaYounger brother
291696Ngaton Naw RahtaSon
301696-1697MaronpiyaOutsider
311697-1698KalamandatOutsider
321698-1700NaradipadiSon of Sandathudamma Raza
331700-1706Sandawimala RazaGrandson of Thadoe Mongtara
341706-1710Sandathuriya RazaGrandson of Sanda thudamma Raza
351710-1731Sandawizaya RazaOutsider
361731-1734SandathuriyaSon in law
371734-1735NaradipatiSon
381735-1736NarapawaraYounger brother
391737SandawizalaYounger brother
401737-1742MadareitYounger brother of Narapawara
411742-1761Nara AbbayaUncle
421761ThirithuSon
431761-1764Sandaparama Youngerbrother
441764-1773Ahbaya Maha RazaBrother in law
451773-1777SandathumanaBrother in law
461777SandawimalaOutsider
471777-1782Sandathadaiktha DamareikOutsider
481782-1784Mahathamada Aggaw Ponnyazaw RazaOutsider

Arakan formed a separate kingdom over which various dynasties are supposed to have ruled in an unbroken line of succession from 2666 BC down to 1784 AD, when Thamada, who ruled at the city of Myauku (or Myohaung), was conquered and taken prisoner by Bodaw Paya, king of Ava.

After 1430 the Arakanese regained their independence, and throughout the sixteenth century repelled the raids of the Burmans from the mountains and the Portuguese from the sea. Different names are applied to the same individuals among the later Arakanese kings. After the time of Meng Tsau-mwun when they became for a time tributary to Bengal, and later still when they ruled over the present Chittagong district, they assumed foreign names, and their Bengal subjects distinguished them by Indian names and titles, which are now frequently applied to them, though the same Indian names are not always applied to the same individual kings, even by the best informed among the Arakanese. Hence arises confusion.

During the latter half of the sixteenth century Arakan came in contact with the Mughal power, through the conquest of Chittagong, and the Arakanese called in the Portuguese to help them. Their dubious allies, however, proved to be nothing less than pirates, and had to be expelled from the lands given to them in 1605. On being thus ejected they settled in the island of Sandwlp at the mouth of the Ganges and, having obtained assistance from Goa, attacked Arakan, but were defeated and driven from the country, while the victorious Arakanese began to harry the lowlands of Bengal. The power of Arakan was now at its zenith, but was soon to fall. Aurangzeb, the son of the emperor Shah Jahan, who had driven his brother Shah Shuja with all his family from Bengal into the hands of the king of Arakan, determined to avenge the extirpation of his kinsfolk by that king; and his viceroy, with the aid of the Portuguese, utterly crushed the power of Arakan. Charney notes that “The unusual experience of Arakan in the seventeenth century was in large part due to both the blockades by autonomous Portuguese freebooters in the ?rst two decades of the seventeenth century and the peculiar nature of a new trading relationship from the1630s until the 1660s between the Arakanese and the Dutch, based on the Arakanese supply of slaves and rice to Dutch port-cities and plantations. The ebb and ?ow of Arakanese fortunes throughout the century were thus tied to the fortunes of the Dutch. Expanding Asian empires in Bengal and Burma also in?uenced the decline of the Arakanese maritime polity after the Dutch withdrew from Arakan in the 1660s. Afterwards, as the material resources of the Arakanese central court declined, the Arakanese littoral became politically fragmented, characterized and sustained by the rise of rival political centers and the rebellions of non-Arakanese ethnic groups who had been captured abroad and resettled in the Arakanese littoral.”

Arakan was further weakened by internal dissensions, and succumbed to the throne of Ava in 1784. It is probable that this conquest would have been only temporary had no other power been involved. Bu the ancient kingdom of Arakan, practically conterminous with the Division, ceased to exist in 1784. As it was, the refusal of the East India Company’s officials to surrender the Arakanese refugees who had been driven out of their country brought the conquerors into conflict with a mightier than Arakan. A series of minor aggressions culminated in the seizure by the Burmans of the island of Shahpuri, between Akyab and Bengal, and war was declared in 1824. After fighting near Myohaung, Arakan was cleared of Burmese troops and became a British possession by the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826. At its annexation in 1826, Rakhaing-pyi-gye, or the Arakan kingdom, was formed into a Province under the Bengal Government. It then extended as far south as Cape Negrais, and was divided into the four Districts of Akyab, An, Ramri (Ramree), and Sandoway. When Pegu was annexed, in 1852, the lower portion of Arakan between the Khwa and Cape Negrais was joined to Bassein District.

The Arakan Hill Tracts consist of parallel ridges of sandstone, covered with dense forest, and drained by numerous streams. The general run of these ranges is north and south; and wherever the rivers have been forced into an easterly or westerly course, the gaps in the barriers, which formerly dammed up the waters, may still be traced. The scenery at places is very wild and beautiful, but monotonous. The Kuladan (Koladyne), or Yam-pang, is the chief river. Its general course (which the wild tribes believed to run for some miles underground) is from north to south. During the dry weather it is navigable 120 miles above Akyab; the tide is felt as far as Kiindaw (Koondaw), 15 miles higher up. Beyond this point the river is a series of rapids and shallows, and its bed is rocky. Arakan comprised what formed the British division of Arakan, and as far as Cape Negrais. Pegu, or the Talaing Kingdom, seems in ancient times to have extended from a little below the city of Prome to the south coast as far as the Martaban Point. Burma comprehended the country north of Pegu, and eastward from Arakan, Cathay or Munipur, and Assam to the borders of China and Northern Siam. Its northern boundaries in early times would be difficult to define.

(This article first appeared on globalsecurity.org website at this link. – https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/myanmar/history-arakan-2.htm -)

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Source

  • GlobalSecurity.org
location of Arakan
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