Thadominbya

Thado Minbya သတိုးမင်းဖျား
King of Ava
Reign	April 1364 – September 1367
Coronation	September 1364 at Pinya 26 February 1365 at Ava
Predecessor	Minbyauk Thihapate
Successor	Swasawke
Born	7 December 1345 Wednesday, 13th waxing of Pyatho 707 ME Sagaing
Died	before 5 September 1367 (aged 21) Saku
Consort	Saw Omma
Full name Rahula
House	Sagaing
Father	Thado Hsinhtein
Mother	Soe Min Kodawgyi
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Thado Minbya (Burmese: သတိုးမင်းဖျား, pronounced: [ðədó mɪ́ɴpʰjá]; also Thadominbya; 1345 – 1367) was the founder of the Kingdom of Ava who reunified central Burma in 1364 under a single kingdom. In his short reign of three plus years, the ethnically Shan king achieved accomplishments that would have a long-lasting impact in Burmese history. In addition to politically reunifying central Burma, which had been split into Sagaing and Pinya kingdoms since 1315, he founded a new capital city of Ava (Inwa) at a strategic locale by the Irrawaddy river that remained the country's capital for another five centuries; reintroduced law and order; and tried to stamp out corrupt Buddhist clergy.

The king died of small pox while on a southern military expedition in September 1367. He was only 21, and had no children.

Ancestry

Thado Minbya was born on 7 December 1345 to the Sagaing royalty. At the time, central Burma was split into the Sagaing Kingdom to the west of the Irrawaddy and the Pinya Kingdom to the east. But both kingdoms traced their origins to King Thihathu of Myinsaing. Thado Minbya belonged to the Sagaing branch of the Myinsaing dynasty, and was related to the royal family of Pinya. He was a great grandson of Thihathu, who reunified central Burma after the collapse of Pagan Kingdom in 1297, and a grandson of Saw Yun who split the Myinsaing Kingdom by founding the Sagaing Kingdom in 1315. His mother was Soe Min Kodawgyi, the only daughter of Saw Yun, and his father was of uncertain descent, reputedly of ancient kings of Tagaung. He was named Rahula. He had two sisters: Shin Saw Gyi and Saw Omma. According to colonial era scholarship, he was of mixed Shan and Burman heritage but mostly on the Shan side. His father died, and his mother remarried to a Shan chief, Minbyauk Thihapate, who later would become king of Sagaing in 1352.

Ancestry of King Thado Minbya

8. Thado Kyaukshay                       4. Thado Hsinlauk                             9. unnamed                       2. Thado Hsinhtein of Tagaung                                   10. unnamed                       5. unnamed                             11. unnamed                       1. Thado Minbya Rahula                                         12. Thihathu                       6. Saw Yun                             13. Yadanabon of Pinya                       3. Soe Min Kodawgyi                                   14. Kyawswa of Pagan                       7. Saw Hnaung of Sagaing                             15. Saw Soe of Pagan

Governor of Tagaung

By his teens in 1350s, both Sagaing and Pinya kingdoms were under constant attacks by the Shan raiders from the north. The raids accelerated in frequency and intensity beginning in 1359. In the early 1360s, Minbyauk appointed his stepson as governor of Tagaung at the very north of Sagaing Kingdom and at the border of Shan realm. Prince Rahula was given the title Thado Minbya, the name by which he would be known onwards.

In early 1364, Mogaung in alliance with Sagaing's cross-river rival Pinya Kingdom attacked Sagaing's territories. Mogaung's raiders overran Tagaung and Thado Minbya barely escaped. At Sagaing, Minbyauk sent Thado Minbya to prison for the latter's failure to defend Tagaung. But Minbyauk himself fled Sagaing when the city was overrun by Mogaung forces in April of that year (Kason 726 ME). After Mogaung raiders left Sagaing, the people of Sagaing rallied around Thado Minbya, who put Minbyauk to death. He became king of Sagaing at 21.

Reign

Reunification of central Burma

Having sacked Sagaing in the west, the Mogaung forces turned on their nominal allies Pinya because Pinya did not help Mogaung in its attack on Sagaing as agreed upon. The Mogaung forces crossed the Irrawaddy and sacked Pinya in May 1364, and took King Narathu of Pinya prisoner, leaving the entire central Irrawaddy valley in chaos. Thado Minbya seized the opportunity to fill the power gap. In September 1364 (Tawthalin 726 ME), he quickly defeated Narathu's successor Uzana II of Pinya and reunified much of central Burma. He spent the rest of his reign consolidating his rule in all of central Burma. When Toungoo, which was a nominal tributary of Pinya, did not submit to him after Pinya's fall, Thado Minbya repeatedly attacked the city until its rulers had to submit. He was still on another expedition in the south when he caught small pox and died. Nor was all clear in the north. The Shan raids still continued during his reign.

Founding of City of Ava

Thado Minbya abandoned both Sagaing and Pinya, and founded a new capital by the name of Ava on the very site where his great grandfather Thihathu wanted to build his new capital but was discouraged to by dowager queen Shin Saw of Pagan in 1312. (Thihathu ended up choosing Pinya for his new capital.) The capital site was strategically located at the mouth of Myitnge river and the Irrawaddy, and was right by the important Kyaukse granary. Swamps were drained, the city wall marked out, pagodas were built. The palace was at the center, and was the citadel of defenses. So strategic was the location that Ava would be the capital of successive Burmese kingdoms for the most of next five centuries. The exact date of foundation of Ava was 26 February 1365 (6th waxing of Tabaung 726 ME).

Taking on the corrupt clergy

By the time Thado Minbya came to power, a large percentage of the Buddhist clergy had become corrupt, and the new king was determined to stamp it out. When a monk misappropriated some gold that a poor widow had left in his monastery for safekeeping during one of the Shan raids, the king denounced the monk in the audience chamber of the palace, cut off the monk's head with his own hands, made a hole in the floor with his sword, and kicked the corpse down the opening. The barbaric act had the desired effect on the clergy. Nevertheless, he extended full patronage to orthodox monks and encouraged learning among both monks and laymen.

Nga Tetpya episode

The young king was magnanimous even to those who opposed him. For example, when Nga Tetpya, a popular bandit who robbed the rich and shared his loot with the poor, was captured, the king in full audience asked him:

Scoundrel, your punishment can only be death but because you shared your loot with the poor, I will give you this favor. What do you choose, the sword or trampling by elephants?

The bandit replied:

I choose your prettiest queen.

The king, instead of being insulted by the reply said:

You're a brave man. I spare your life. You may go free.

Nga Tetpya was so overcome by the king's graciousness that he entered the royal service, and became the king's most distinguished commanders.

Death

The king died of small pox while on a southern military expedition in early September 1367. He had no children.

Succession struggle

His "most beautiful" queen Saw Omma nearly succeeded in seizing the throne with Nga Nu, commander of the Inner Household Guards. The couple executed everyone who opposed them, crossed over to Sagaing, and tried to rule from there. But ministers intervened and gave the throne to Thado Minbya's brother-in-law Swasawke, a prince of both Myinsaing and Pagan heritage.

Swasawke drove the couple out of Sagaing. Nga Nu ran away, and Saw Omma was given to the officer who captured her.

References

Thadominbya Ava Kingdom Born: 7 December 1345 Died: 5 September 1367
Regnal titles
Preceded by Minbyauk Thihapate	King of Ava April 1364 – September 1367	Succeeded by Swasawke