Anawrahta - Early Life

Early Life

Prior to Anawrahta, of all the early Pagan kings, only Nyaung-u Sawrahan's reign can be verified independently by stone inscriptions. Anawrahta is the first historical king in that the events during his reign can be verified by stone inscriptions. However, Anawrahta's youth, like much of early Pagan history, is still shrouded in legend, and should be treated as such.

Anawrahta was born Min Saw (မင်းစော, ) to King Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu and Myauk Pyinthe (lit. Queen of Northern Palace). The Burmese chronicles do not agree on the dates regarding his life and reign. The table below lists the dates given by the four main chronicles. Scholarship accepts Zata's dates, which are considered to be the most accurate for the Pagan period. (Note that the Burmese calendar straddles the Western calendar year. In Anawrahta's time, each Burmese year began and ended in late March of the Julian calendar. For example, the Burmese year 376 spanned from 25 March 1014 to 25 March 1015.)

Based on Zatadawbon's and Maha Yazawin's reporting, the future king was born in March 1015, on one of the following Tuesdays (1 March, 8 March, 15 March or 22 March).

In 1021, when Min Saw was about six years old, his father was deposed by his step-brothers Kyiso and Sokkate. His father had been a usurper of the Pagan throne, who overthrew King Nyaung-u Sawrahan two decades earlier. Kunhsaw then married three of Nyaung-u's chief queens, two of whom were pregnant at the time, and subsequently gave birth to Kyiso and Sokkate. Kunhsaw had raised Sokkate and Kyiso as his own sons. After the putsch, Kyiso became king and Sokkate became heir-apparent. They forced their step-father to a local monastery, where Kunhsaw would live as a monk for the remainder of his life.

Min Saw grew up in the shadow of his two step-brothers, who viewed Min Saw as their youngest brother and allowed him to retain his princely status at the court. Min Saw and his mother attended Kunhsaw, and lived nearby the monastery. In 1038, Kyiso died, and was succeeded by Sokkate. Min Saw was loyal to the new king. He took wives, and had at least two sons (Sawlu and Kyansittha) by the early 1040s.