The Reign of Bodawpaya and the First Anglo-Burmese War, 1782–1826

Abstract

The king known to history as Bodawpaya used a great variety of titles during his own reign. The one which came to be most commonly applied was Mintayagyi Paya, ‘Lord of the Great Law’. He was the third son of Alaungpaya and possibly the ablest statesman of his line. But Michael Symes, who was twice deputed to his Court as the representative of the Government of India, described him as ‘ a child in his ideas, a tyrant in his principles, and a madman in his actions’. His long reign, which lasted until 1819, had a decisive influence upon his country’s history.