Mrauk U

Mrauk U (/məˈraʊuː, ˈmraʊuː/ ^ⓘ mə-ROW-oo, MROW-oo) is a town in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is the capital of Mrauk-U Township, a subregion of the Mrauk-U District.

Mrauk U is culturally significant for the local Rakhine (Arakanese) people and is the location of many important archeological sites. From 1430 until 1785, it was the capital of the Mrauk U Kingdom, the largest and most powerful Rakhine kingdom in history.

Mrauk U lies roughly 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) east of the Kaladan River on the banks of its minor tributaries. The town is located on a small outcrop of the Rakhine Yoma on the eastern side of the Kaladan's alluvial plain. Thus, the surrounding countryside is hilly yet also contains a great deal of marshes, mangroves and lakes.

Mrauk U, like all of Rakhine State, has an extreme tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am). The town receives over 3,600 millimetres or 140 inches of rain a year from the southwest monsoon, making it one of the wettest parts of monsoon Asia. Despite this, Mrauk U is actually less wet than most of Rakhine State The wet season usually begins in late May and ends by mid-October.

Although located in a tropical region, Mrauk U enjoys lower temperatures during the arid northeastern monsoon. From mid-October to mid-March during the cool season, temperatures can drop to 13 °C or 55.4 °F. This season coincides with the tourist season for Myanmar.

The rainfall on 19 July 2011 was nearly 24 cm (9.4 in), the highest for 33 years. There was flooding because of continuous heavy rains in that month.

Some Rakhine scholars state that the name Mrauk U means 'The First Accomplishment' in archaic Arakanese. This is based on the story of the Arakanese being able to crush an invasion by the Pyu in the mid 10th Century by a Mro prince, Pai Phru. The town is said to be located roughly near the region where the Pyu invaders were decimated. The prince went on to claim the throne of Waithali from his uncle who had murdered the prince's father due to a love scandal. The battle was seen as the first accomplishment of the prince, and thus, the name 'First Accomplishment' came to be associated with the place.

A dismissed myth was that in the region where Mrauk U was to be constructed, lived a lonely female monkey. She met a peacock and the two later cohabited. The female monkey conceived with the peacock, and it laid an egg. A human son was born from the egg and he grew up to become a mighty prince. The prince later built a city near the jungle, and in respect of his birth story, the city was called Myauk-U meaning "Monkey's Egg".