Razadarit - Early Life

Early Life

Razadarit was born Binnya Nwe (ဗညားနွဲ့ ) to King Binnya U and his queen Mwe Daw (မွေ့ဒေါ ) on 28 January 1368 at Donwun (near Martaban). ("Binnya" was the highest title of royalty in Mon language.) (In the mid-1360s, Binnya U faced multiple rebellions that forced him out of Martaban some time between 1364 and 1369, and was camped out at Donwun, a town north of Martaban for a time. By 1369, he had relocated his capital to Pegu. Binnya Nwe's mother Mwe Thin was a wife of Prince Min Linka (မင်းလင်္ကာ ), who revolted against his younger brother the king. Binnya U defeated the rebellion, and conquered Mwe Thin who later gave birth to Razadarit.)

Binnya Nwe grew up in Binnya U's Pegu court. (Binnya U could not recover Martaban, which was ruled by the rebel chief Byattaba (ဗြထဗ .) Although Binnya Nwe was the eldest son, Binnya U chose his son by his chief queen Mwe Magu Tauk (မွေးမဂူတောက် ). Moreover, others like Princess Mahadevi (မဟာဒေဝီ ) and Laukpya (လောက်ဖြား ), Governor of Myaungmya, were also interested in succeeding Binnya U. Mahadevi was a powerful figure in her brother Binnya U's court, and was like a mother to Binnya Nwe. Her relationship with her nephew turned sour when her lover, Smim Maru (သမိန်မရူး ), husband of Princess Talamithiri (တလမေသီရိ ) wanted to be king.