Mindon Min

Who is Mindon Min?

Mindon Min, born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate king of Burma, ruling from 1853 until his death in 1878 as part of the Konbaung dynasty. Widely regarded as the most capable and forward-looking of the later Konbaung kings, he came to power after his half-brother Pagan Min was deposed following defeat in the Second Anglo-Burmese War, and he spent his reign trying to preserve his kingdom's independence through careful diplomacy and modernization rather than confrontation with the expanding British colonial presence. In 1857 he founded Mandalay as his new royal capital, building a walled palace city at the foot of Mandalay Hill that remains one of Myanmar's most recognized landmarks. A devout patron of Buddhism, he convened the Fifth Buddhist Council in Mandalay in 1871, bringing together thousands of monks to recite and verify the Pali Buddhist scriptures, and he commissioned the inscription of the entire Tipitaka onto 729 marble slabs at the Kuthodaw Pagoda, still known today as the world's largest book. His reforms included a modernized tax system, standardized weights and measures, new roads and a telegraph network, and the introduction of Burma's first official coinage.

Sources: Britannica, 'Mindon' (biography entry) · Encyclopedia.com, 'Mindon Min' · Fifth Buddhist Council records, Kuthodaw Pagoda, Mandalay (1871)