Intermissions of his rule was the result of Mamia's rivalry with his younger brother, Giorgi V Gurieli, and complex political situation in the region, including the Ottoman encroachments and efforts by the kings of Imereti to bring western Georgian polities under their supreme authority.
Mamia was the eldest son of Giorgi IV Gurieli, Prince of Guria, by his wife, Elene née Shervashidze-Eristavi.
He was born before 1717, the year when Giorgi divorced Elene in order to marry Khvaramze, daughter of Bezhan Dadiani of Mingrelia.
[2][3] Mamia fled to the mountains of Racha and eventually crossed into eastern Georgia to solicit support from the resurgent king Heraclius II of Kakheti.
[2] During the Russo-Turkish War of 1767–1774, Solomon invaded Guria, defeated an Ottoman force marching from Batumi to Imereti, and restored Mamia in his principality.