The Arakan region, a coastal strip on…

The Arakan region, a coastal strip on the Bay of Bengal that had been settled by the Burmese in the tenth century, became the scene of a struggle between rival centers of power at the beginning of the fifteenth century.

Narameikhla, the son of King Rajathu (reigned 1397–1401), had been forced in the first year of his reign to flee to Bengal, where he had become a vassal to King Ahmad Shah of Gaur.

With the aid of Ahmad Shah's successor, he had regained control of Arakan in 1430 and in 1433 builds at Mrohaung a new capital.

As a nominal vassal of the Muslim kings of Gaur, Narameikhla, also called Min Saw Mon, employs Muslim titles in his coins and inscriptions, though he and his subjects are Buddhists.

According to the Arakanese chronicles, the king was warned by court astrologers that he would die within a year of the new capital.

He answered that he would rather die and leave a safer kingdom to posterity than to live long, and leave a weak kingdom.

The king promptly moved to the new capital when it was completed in 1432/33.

Part of the new city, a few miles north of the Mrauk-U Palace, is the Le-myet-hna Temple, which is built in the classical style of the Pagan Kingdom.

He dies soon after on May 9, 1433, and is succeeded by his younger half-brother Khayi.