The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s3.124

v4.c23.s3.124

For a century the delta had given little trouble because the Talaings took time to recover from the depopulation caused by Bayinnaung's wars. But now that they had recovered, and repeopled the wilderness, trouble began. Provoked by grinding taxation—even the looms of old women were taxed³—they massacred the Burmese at Pegū, Syriam and Martaban and set up as king Smim Htaw Buddhaketi (1740–47), a monk who was a poor relation of the king of Ava. It was necessary for him to have a white elephant in order to prove himself a proper king, but as he spent too long in the jungles searching for one and would not attend to state affairs, he was replaced by his father-in-law Binnya Dala (1747–57). The Talaings held Prome and Toungoo and all the country to the south, and for years used to go raiding up the river to Ava with many thousands of men. They could not take Ava as it was a walled town.