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Chief of Moksobo and deputy chief of Mu valley

Aung Zeya grew up during a period in which the authority of Taungoo Dynasty was in rapid decline. The "palace kings" at Ava had been unable to defend against the Manipuri raids that had been ransacking increasingly deeper parts of Upper Burma since 1724. Ava had failed to recover southern Lanna (Chiang Mai), which had revolted in 1727, and did nothing to prevent the annexation of northern Shan States by the Manchu Qing dynasty in the 1730s.

The Mu Valley was directly on the path of Manipuri raids year after year. Although Burma was far larger than Manipur, Ava had been unable to defeat the raids or organize a punitive expedition to Manipur itself. The people watched helplessly as the raiders torched villages, ransacked pagodas, and took away captives.

It was during these troubled times in the absence of royal authority that men like Aung Zeya came forward. He assumed his father's responsibilities as chief of his village in his early twenties. A tall man for the times, (5-foot-11-inch in height (1.80 m) as described by an English envoy), the solidly built, sunburnt Aung Zeya displayed his natural ability to lead men and was viewed as a leader by his gentry peers throughout the valley. They began to take matters into their own hands to defend against the raids.

The sickly regime at Ava was wary of any potential rivals. In 1736, Taungoo Yaza, commander-in-chief of the army of Ava, summoned Aung Zeya to Ava to check if the village headman was a potential threat to the regime. Satisfied that the 22-year-old had no designs on the throne, Taungoo Yaza on behalf of the king bestowed the title Bala Nanda Kyaw (ဗလနန္ဒကျော်) to Aung Zeya. Aung Zeya became deputy to his uncle the lord of Mu Valley, and the administrative officer kyegaing (ကြေးကိုင်,), responsible for tax collection and for the preservation of order.