The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s3.80

v4.c23.s3.80

At once the ministers summoned a general assembly of the court. Early action was necessary, and they took it: they elected the parricide to the throne. Their reasoning was that the king's brothers, his natural successors, were away campaigning in the Shan States—at one time they had gone as far as Kenghung north-east of Kengtung—and the kingdom would be in turmoil before they could be recalled. Public morality apart, the reasoning was invalid, for young Minredeippa had not the wit to hold a throne, whereas his two uncles were mature men, each in command of an army, and the news reached them easily in nine days. So far from avoiding disorder, the court's decision caused it. The country respected the uncles, for they were men of authority; it knew nothing of Minredeippa, and half a dozen governors took the opportunity to revolt. Deprived of support from lower Burma, the two uncles had to waste sixteen months reducing the north country. Meanwhile they seized the families of the upper Burma companies in the palace guard, making the fact known in Pegū, and thus shaking the allegiance of Minredeippa's guards. He had not the courage to leave his palace and attack them. Town after town in upper Burma fell to them, and when they surrounded Āva, Minredeippa, foreseeing their success, decided to flee to Arakan; but his own followers, in disgust at his cowardice and tyranny, seized him and sent a deputation to Āva asking Thalun, one of the uncles, to take the throne. He did so, and immediately on arriving in Pegū executed Minredeippa, sternly rejecting his plea to be allowed to become a monk.