Overview
Minkhaung II of Toungoo (, ; 1520s–1584) was viceroy of Toungoo (Taungoo) from 1549 to 1551 and from 1552 to 1584 during the reigns of kings Tabinshwehti, Bayinnaung and Nanda of Toungoo Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). He briefly revolted against his eldest half-brother Bayinnaung from 1550 to 1551 but was pardoned by Bayinnaung. Alongside his brothers Bayinnaung, Minye Sithu, Thado Dhamma Yaza II, Thado Minsaw and his nephew Nanda, he fought in nearly every campaign between 1552 and 1584 that rebuilt, expanded and defended the Toungoo Empire.
Minkhaung II is sometimes referred to as the basis for Taungoo Mingaung, one of the Thirty Seven Nats in the official pantheon of Burmese spirits although the actual basis may have been Minkhaung I of Toungoo.
Early life
He was born Zeya Nanda in the Toungoo Palace precincts to Mingyi Swe and the younger sister of Shin Myo Myat, royal household servants of Crown Prince Tabinshwehti. He had an elder half-sister, Dhamma Dewi, three elder half-brothers, Bayinnaung and Minye Sithu, Thado Dhamma Yaza II and a younger full-brother Thado Minsaw. He was likely born in the late 1520s since his younger brother Thado Minsaw was born in May 1531. He grew up in the palace precincts, and received a military-style education there.
Tabinshwehti era
Zeya Nanda came of age at a time when his native Toungoo was in the process of building the largest polity in Burma since the late 13th century. Although he probably joined his older brothers in Tabinshwehti's later military campaigns in the 1540s, he had not achieved a regimental commander status to be mentioned in the chronicles. His name does not appear in the commander lists down to the last campaigns of Tabinshwehti: Arakan (1545–47) and Siam (1547–1549).
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