It created the second-largest empire in Burmese history[10] and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of the modern state of Burma.

In 1770, despite his victory over the Chinese armies, King Hsinbyushin sued for peace with China and concluded a treaty to maintain bilateral trade with the Middle Kingdom which was very important for the dynasty at that time.

Konbaung kings extended administrative reforms begun in the Restored Toungoo dynasty period (1599–1752), and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion.

Mindon attempted to bring Burma into greater contact with the outside world, and hosted the Fifth Great Buddhist Synod in 1872 at Mandalay, gaining the respect of the British and the admiration of his own people.

Although the dynasty had conquered vast tracts of territory, its direct power was limited to its capital and the fertile plains of the Irrawaddy river valley.

Of more earthly importance was the historical threat of periodic raids and aiding of internal rebellions as well as invasion and imposition of overlordship from the neighbouring kingdoms of the Mon, Tai Shans and Manipuris.

[23] The kingdom's peripheral coastal provinces; Arakan, Pegu, Martaban and Tavoy were administered by a Viceroy called a Myowun (မြို့ဝန်), who was appointed by the king and possessed civil, judicial, fiscal and military powers.

[25] Provincial councils (myoyon) consisted of myo saye (မြို့စာရေး) (town scribes), nakhandaw (နာခံတော်)(receivers of royal orders), sitke (စစ်ကဲ) (chiefs of war), htaunghmu (ထောင်မှူး) (jailer), ayatgaung (အရံခေါင်း) (head of the quarter), and dagahmu (တံခါးမှူး) (warden of the gates).

[26] The Viceroy of Pegu was assisted by several additional officials, including an akhunwun (အခွန်ဝန်) (revenue officer), akaukwun (အကောက်ဝန်) (customs collector), and a yewun (ရေဝန်) (conservator of port).

These rituals were also used to legitimise the rule of Burmese kings, as the Konbaung monarchs claimed descent from Maha Sammata through the Sakyan clan (of which Gotama Buddha was a member) and the House of Vijaya.

[49] Brahmins, generally known as ponna (ပုဏ္ဏား) in Burmese, served as specialists for ritual ceremonies, astrology, and devotional rites to Hindu deities at the Konbaung court.

[55] Abhiseka rituals all involved the pouring of water from a conch on the candidate's (usually the king's) head, instructing him what to do or not to do for the love of his people and warning him that if he failed to oblige, he might suffer certain miseries.

[59] Specially designated individuals, usually the daughters of dignitaries including merchants and Brahmins, were tasked with procuring anointing water midstream from a river.

[68] He then entered the Sihasana pavilion to assume his seat at the coronation throne, crafted to resemble a blooming lotus flower, made of figwood and applied gold leaf.

[68] Brahmins handed him the five articles of coronation regalia (မင်းမြောက်တန်ဆာ, Min Myauk Taza): At his throne, eight princesses anointed the king by pouring specially procured water atop his head, each using a conch bedazzled with gems white solemnly adjuring him in formulae to rule justly.

[71] Seven days after the ceremony, the king and members of the royal family made an inaugural procession, circling the city moat on a gilt state barge, amid festive music and spectators.

[75] Kun U Khun Mingala (ကွမ်းဦးခွံ့မင်္ဂလာ) – the Feeding of the First Betel ceremony was held about 75 days after the birth of a prince or princess to bolster the newborn child's health, prosperity and beauty.

[80] A Minister of the Interior then presided over ceremonial offerings (ကုဗ္ဘီး) made to the Triple Gem, the 11 deva headed by Thagyamin, 9 Hindu deities, indigenous nat, and the 100 Phi.

[85] For the ceremony, the king, clad in state robes (a paso with the peacock emblem (daungyut)), a long silk surcoat or tunic encrusted with jewels, a spire-like crown (tharaphu), and 24 strings of the salwe across his chest, and a gold plate or frontlet over his forehead) and his audience made a procession to the leya (royal fields).

[93] On a platform in a room to the west of hall, the king and members of the royal family paid obeisance to images of monarchs and consorts of the Konbaung dynasty.

[95] King Mindon Min was the first to break tradition; his remains were not cremated, but instead were buried intact, according to his wishes, at the place where his tomb now stands.

Brahmins were tasked with planning these sacrificial ceremonies and determining the auspicious day according to astrological calculations and the signs of individuals best suited for sacrifice.

[96] Royal court officials at the time claimed that the tradition was dispensed altogether, with flowers and fruit offered in lieu of human victims.

[98] Taw Sein Ko's Annual Report for 1902–03 for the Archaeological Survey of India mentions only four victims buried at the corners of the city walls.

Brahmins at the Konbaung court regularly performed a variety of grand devotional rituals to indigenous spirits (nat) and Hindu deities.

[110] For instance, sumptuary laws forbade ordinary Burmese subjects to build houses of stone or brick and dictated the number of tiers on the ornamental spired roof (called pyatthat) allowed above one's residence— the royal palace's Great Audience Hall and the 4 main gates of the royal capital, as well as monasteries, were allowed 9 tiers while those of the most powerful tributary princes (sawbwa) were permitted 7, at most.

[107] Silk cloth, brocaded with gold and silver flowers and animal figures were only permitted to be worn by members of the royal family and ministers’ wives.

[127][page needed] Temple paintings from this period utilized techniques such as by casting shadows and distance haze on traditional Burmese styles.

[128] The Konbaung period also developed parabaik folding-book manuscripts styles that recorded court and royal acitivies by painting on white parakbaik.

Wooden monasteries of this period intricately decorated with wood carvings of the Jataka Tales are one of the more prominent distinctive examples of traditional Burmese architecture that survive to the present day.