As king, he spent much of his short reign suppressing multiple rebellions across the newly founded kingdom from Ava (Inwa) and Toungoo (Taungoo) to Martaban (Mottama) and Chiang Mai.
Naungdawgyi was born Maung Lauk (မောင်လောက်) to Yun San and Aung Zeya (later King Alaungpaya) on 10 August 1736 (Tuesday, 11th waxing of Wagaung 1096 ME) in a small village of Moksobo, about 60 miles northwest of Ava (Inwa).
[3] Their sense of helplessness only deepened in 1740, the Mon of Lower Burma broke away, and founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom centered in Pegu (Bago).
By the time Hanthawaddy armies captured Ava in March 1752, his father had persuaded the people of Mu valley to join him in his resistance effort, declared himself king with the royal style of Alaungpaya (lit: The Future Buddha), and founded the Konbaung Dynasty.
As the eldest son, Naungdawgyi was appointed the heir apparent although their self-styled "kingdom" consisted of just 46 villages in the Mu valley.
As the heir-apparent, Naugndawgyi was in line to succeed Alaungpaya who had pronounced that all of his six sons by his first wife would become king in the order of seniority.
[4] Naungdawgyi was crowned on 26 July 1760 at Sagaing, and ascended the Peacock throne at Shwebo on 9 February 1761 with the reign name of Thiri Pawara Maha Dhammayaza (Burmese: သိရီပဝရဓမ္မရာဇာ; Pali: Siripavaradhammarāja).
Naungdawgyi faced multiple rebellions during his short reign: one by Gen. Minkhaung Nawrahta (1761), two separate ones by the vassal states of Toungoo (1761–1762) and Lan Na (1761–1763).
The leader of the Toungoo rebellion was none other than Naungdawgyi's uncle, Thado Theinkhathu, who along with a few senior army commanders had decided to challenge his nephew.
[9]) While Naungdawgyi was laying siege to the Toungoo, the vassal king loyal of Lan Na at Chiang Mai was overthrown.
The leader of the rebellion, Chao Khihut, immediately began defensive preparations,[10] as well as implementing a preemptive offensive strategy.
Khihut allowed Talaban, the top Restored Hanthawaddy general who had been on the run, to use Chiang Mai as his base to raise an army to launch an attack.
In April 1763, the Manipuri king who was driven out by Alaungpaya in 1758 tried to invade his former kingdom with an army that also included a small detachment of English East India Company troops.
[14] Instead, the English entered into an agreement with the fugitive Manipuri king to provide military assistance in exchange for land and trade privileges.
In return, the Manipuri rebels promised to cede in perpetuity a rent-free land at a suitable place in Manipur for the installation of a factory and a fort, and also provide every facility for the promotion of trade with China.
[5] Finally free of rebellions, the king had spent his last few months on works of merit building two pagodas on the Mahananda Lake near Shwebo.