Razadarit (Mon: ရာဇာဓိရာတ်, ; Burmese: ရာဇာဓိရာဇ်, Burmese pronunciation: [jàzàdəɹɪ̀ʔ] or [jàza̰dəɹɪ̀ʔ]; also spelled Yazadarit, Pali: Rājādhirāja "king of kings"; 1368–1421), personal name Pasoom-Paing-Cek (Mon: ပသုံပါၚ်စက် ; Burmese: ပသုန်ပန်စက် ), courtesy name Benya Noy (Mon: ဗညာနဲ, ; Burmese: ဗညားနွဲ့, [bəɲá nwɛ̰]), was king of Hanthawaddy Pegu from 1384 to 1421. He successfully unified his Mon-speaking kingdom, and fended off major assaults by the Burmese-speaking Ava Kingdom (Inwa) in the Forty Years' War. The king also instituted an administrative system that left his successors with a far more integrated kingdom. He is one of the most famous kings in Burmese history.
Razadarit came to power at 16 after a rebellion against his father King Binnya U (r. 1348–1384), barely controlling the Pegu province. By his sheer will and military leadership, the young king not only defeated Ava's first wave of invasions (1385–1391) but also unified his kingdom in the process. After presiding over Pegu's emergence as a regional power, he twice renewed the war with Ava in the 1400s, and outlasted Ava's fierce counterattacks with the help of Hsenwi and Ming China. Between 1401 and 1418, he met Ava's King Minkhaung I and Crown Prince Minye Kyawswa head-on in Lower Burma, Upper Burma, and Arakan.
His life is recorded in a classic chronicle called Razadarit Ayedawbon. The king is remembered as a complex figure: an accomplished military leader who kept his kingdom independent; an able administrator who successfully integrated the provinces; and a ruthless paranoid figure, who drove many close to him to death. His battles against Minkhaung and Minye Kyawswa are still retold in Burmese popular culture.
The future king was born to Queen Thiri Maya Dewi and King Binnya U of Martaban in Donwun on 28 January 1368. His horoscopic name at birth was Pasoom-Paing-Cek (Mon: ပသုံပါၚ်စက်; Burmese: ပသုန်ပန်စက်, "One with Tongue Chakra"), because he has a chakra dot on his tongue as a birth mark. Later he was given the formal princely title of Benya Noy or Binnya Nweh (Mon: ဗညာနဲ, , Burmese: ဗညားနွဲ့, [bəɲá nwɛ̰]). His mother died shortly after giving birth to him, and he was adopted by his paternal aunt Princess Maha Dewi of Dagon.
He grew up in Dagon (modern downtown Yangon) in his early years before moving to Pegu (Bago) with his adoptive mother, c. mid 1370s. For whatever reason, Nwe never formed a close relationship with his father. Despite being the eldest son, he was not the heir-apparent; the king favored his only other son, Prince Baw Ngan-Mohn by his favorite queen Thiri Yaza Dewi, as his successor.
The father-son relationship only grew worse over time. By his early teens, Nwe was unruly, uncouth and ruthless in his father's eyes. The king, whose health had been deteriorating since the 1370s, told his sister that Nwe was not to ascend the throne.
Nwe responded in kind as soon as he was able. In 1382–1383, he took actions that would greatly anger his ailing father. First, the 14-year-old prince eloped with his younger half-sister Tala Mi Daw. The young couple was soon caught. The king was furious, and put Nwe in prison. Maha Dewi had to repeatedly plead with her brother to free Nwe, and allow the young couple to be married. But the marriage did little to improve the father-son relationship. Furthermore, Nwe had come to consider Maha Dewi, who by then had become the de facto power, as part of the problem. He had been persuaded by Minister Zeik-Bye that his adoptive mother was planning to put her lover (and Nwe's brother-in-law) Smim Maru on the throne. On 5 May 1383, Nwe left his newly wed (and pregnant) wife at the palace, fled to Dagon with 30 men, and seized the governor's residence there.
At first, no one made much of the incident. It would have led to another quick arrest like before except that Zeik-Bye advised against taking any action, characterizing the insurrection as a harmless exercise by a restless teenager. The princess agreed with Zeik-Bye's assessment, and asked Nwe to return to Pegu. For his part, Nwe sent back a conciliatory letter, saying that he planned to return in three months. But it was a stalling tactic. He quietly went on recruiting local governors around Dagon to come over to his side. By August, he believed he had found sufficient local support that he sent missions to farther provincial capitals of Martaban (Mottama) and Myaungmya. The news of the plot reached Pegu soon after. Even then, Maha Dewi hoped to avoid a showdown, reluctantly authorizing a military expedition that would begin only at the end of the rainy season.
Nwe needed the delay. He had set up defensive preparations around Dagon but still did not have enough manpower. Despite his overtures, he still had not won support of Viceroy Byattaba of Martaban or Viceroy Laukpya of Myaungmya. Meanwhile, in October, the ailing king officially handed power to his sister, giving her the right to raise the white umbrella, a symbol of Burmese sovereigns. Officially referred to as Min Maha Dewi ("Queen Maha Dewi"), the princess-regent appointed Maru and Zeik-Bye to lead the expedition. On 28 October 1383, three armies—from Pegu, Martaban and Myaungmya—left for Dagon.
Nwe's plan was to avoid a fight with the full expedition force. He had help from Zeik-Bye who was able to forestall action when the three armies showed up outside Dagon. Nwe again sent envoys to Myaungmya and Martaban camps that the fight was strictly between him and his mother. The last-minute mission to the Myaungmya camp worked. Laukpya, who led the Myaungmya army, concluded that such a fight would be beneficial to his semi-independent rule, and turned back. The Martaban army came to a similar conclusion and turned back a few days later. Now only the Pegu army remained. On 19 November 1383, Nwe moved in on Maru's vanguard troops. With Zeik-Bye's rearguard staying clear of the fight, Maru lost nerve, and fled.
It was only a small skirmish but Nwe had suddenly emerged as a serious contender for the throne. The court now seriously considered the possibility of a Nwe kingship, and Zeik-Bye and Maru factions openly bickered over the failure of the expedition. After learning about the confusion at the court from Zeik-Bye, Nwe marched to Pegu. By then, Maha Dewi was too weak. When Nwe and his small army appeared outside Pegu's walls on 10 December 1383, she could do nothing other than hunker down inside the city walls.
The stalemate ended with Binnya U's death on 2 January 1384. Maru tried to rally the court but found no support. When he and his wife tried to flee, they were captured. On 4 January 1384, the Zeik-Bye-led court handed the power to Nwe, (who had turned 16 just four days earlier). The next day, on 5 January, Nwe ascended the throne with the title of Razadarit (Pali: Rājādhirāj). The only blot was that his first wife Tala Mi Daw, who had just delivered their first (and only) son, refused to join him in the coronation ceremony. She had been deeply dissatisfied that he had not only left her in Pegu but also taken on more wives in Dagon. Nwe was undeterred; he went ahead with the ceremony with another wife, who became his chief consort with the title of Queen Piya Yaza Dewi.
Consolidation of power at Pegu
Razadarit's first actions were to consolidate power. He quickly dealt with those who could challenge him. He promptly had Maru executed. He initially accepted Ngan-Mohn's pledge of allegiance, but soon ordered his paternal half-brother imprisoned. (Ngan-Mohn would spend the next five years in prison before being finally executed.) Razadarit allowed his only maternal half-brother Nyi Kan-Kaung to remain as governor of Dala–Twante probably because Kan-Kaung was an early supporter of his rebellion, and he could not take Dala at the time in any case. (He seized Dala as soon as he was able in 1388/89, and had Kan-Kaung executed.) He was far less harsh with Maha Dewi; he allowed his adoptive mother to keep her post at Dagon albeit strictly in a ceremonial role.