Binnya Waru

Binnya Waru ဗညားဗရူး
King of Hanthawaddy
Reign	1446–1451
Predecessor	Binnya Ran I
Successor	Binnya Kyan
Born	c. 1418 Pegu (Bago)
Died	30 May 1451 New moon (15th waning) of Nayon 813 ME[note 1] Pegu
House	Wareru
Father	Binnya Bye
Mother	Shin Sawbu
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Binnya Waru (Burmese: ဗညားဗရူး, pronounced: [bəɲá bəjú]; Mon: ဗညားဗရောဝ်; c. 1418–1451) was the 12th king of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom in Burma from 1446 to 1451. He was a nephew and adopted son of King Binnya Ran I after whom he succeeded to the Hanthawaddy throne. The king was known for his strict disciplinary rule. He reportedly liked to travel around the kingdom disguised as a commoner to observe the affairs firsthand, and meted out justice even to those who committed petty crimes. Binnya Waru was killed by his first cousin Binnya Kyan, son of King Binnya Dhammaraza, in 1451.^[1]

Brief

Various Burmese chronicles do not agree on the key dates of the king's life.

Chronicles	Birth–Death	Age	Reign	Length of reign
Slapat Rajawan[note 2]	c. 1415/16–1442	26	1437–1442	5
Slapat adjusted	c. 1425–1451	26	1446–1451	5
Maha Yazawin	1420/21[2]–June 1450[note 3]	29 or 30	1446–June 1450	4
Hmannan Yazawin	1418/19[3]–June 1450	31 or 32	1446–June 1450	4

Early life

Binnya Waru was born to Shin Sawbu, a daughter of King Razadarit and Binnya Bye, Razadarit's nephew. He had two sisters Netaka Taw and Netaka Thin. His father died in 1419. In 1423, his mother Shin Sawbu was sent to Ava as a present to King Thihathu of Ava by his uncle Crown Prince Binnya Ran. A year later, after Binnya Ran became king after poisoning King Binnya Dhammaraza, another one of his uncles, Binnya Ran adopted the parent-less Waru as his own.^[4] In 1430, his mother Shin Sawbu fled Ava and returned to Pegu. But none of her children, Waru included, recognized her since she had been away for seven years.^[1]

Reign

He ascended to the throne in 1446 after his uncle Binnya Ran I's death. He reigned for about five years. (The Mon chronicle Slapat Rajawan gives five years of reign whereas Burmese chronicles give four years.)

Notes

1. Chronicles do not agree on his death year or the manner in which he died. According to Slapat Rajawan, he died in the year in which the court astrologers specifically had advised him not to declare the year as a great leap year (with both leap month and leap day) for he would surely die. The king, the chronicle continues, refused saying that he would not alter the schedule, and he died on the night of the leap day (New moon / 15th waning of Nayon). Main chronicles Maha Yazawin and Hmannan Yazawin say that he was assassinated in Waso 812 ME (10 June 1450 to 8 July 1450), having reigned for four years. But 812 ME was not a leap year, while 813 ME was a great leap year; the king likely died on New Moon of Nayon 813 ME (30 May 1451).
2. Slapat provides wildly divergent and inconsistent dates for the early Hanthawaddy history, including the reign of this king. The birth-death and regnal dates use the regnal years given in the Slapat chronicle with 888 ME (1526/27), the death year of King Binnya Ran II, which is in agreement with standard Burmese chronicles, as the anchor reference point.
3. Both Maha Yazawin and Hmannan Yazawin chronicles say he was assassinated in Waso 812 ME (10 June 1450 to 8 July 1450).

References

1. Harvey 1925: 116
2. Maha Vol. 2 2006: 82
3. Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 92
4. Phayre 1967: 81–84

Bibliography

• Athwa, Sayadaw (1785). Mon Yazawin (Slapat Rajawan) (in Burmese) (1922 ed.). Yangon: Burma Publishing Workers Association Press.
• Harvey, G. E. (1925). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
• Kala, U (1724). Maha Yazawin (in Burmese) 1–3 (2006, 4th printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Phayre, Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. (1883). History of Burma (1967 ed.). London: Susil Gupta.
• Royal Historical Commission of Burma (1832). Hmannan Yazawin (in Burmese) 1–3 (2003 ed.). Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar.