Thado Minbya (, ; 7 December 1345 – 3 September 1367) was the founder of the Kingdom of Ava. In his three plus years of reign (1364–67), the king laid the foundation for the reunification of Central Burma, which had been split into Pinya and Sagaing kingdoms since 1315. He also founded the capital city of Ava (Inwa) in 1365, which would remain the country's capital for most of the following five centuries. The young king restored order in central Burma, and tried to stamp out corrupt Buddhist clergy. He died of smallpox while on a southern military expedition in September 1367.
The 21-year-old king left no heirs. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law Swa Saw Ke.
Early life Thado Minbya was born Rahula to Princess Soe Min Kodawgyi of Sagaing and Viceroy Thado Hsinhtein of Tagaung in 1345.Zata 1960: 46Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 392 From his mother's side, he was a grandson of King Saw Yun, the founder of the Sagaing Kingdom, and nephew of then reigning king Kyaswa as well as a great grandson of King Thihathu of Pinya and King Kyawswa of Pagan. From his father's side, he was descended from a line of hereditary rulers of Tagaung from the House of Thado.The Zatadawbon Yazawin chronicle (Zata 1960: 35) lists his father as the 14th ruler of Tagaung, from the House of Thado. (Hardiman 1900: 147): Per Maha Yazawin, the title of Thado was created in memory of Crown Prince Thado Mingyi of Tagaung. Thado means courage and ability to accomplish per Zawti-tatta Bedin Kyan; and glory, industry, wisdom and efficiency per Abidan Kyan. According to British colonial period scholarship, his father was an ethnic Shan and his mother was mostly Shan; however some have argued that no extant chronicle or archaeological evidence supports the conjecture.Colonial period scholarship claimed that Thado Minbya's parents were Shan. The 19th century historian Arthur Purves Phayre (Phayre 1967: 59) wrote that Thado Minbya's father was of unknown descent while his mother was mostly Shan. G.E. Harvey (Harvey 1925: 78–80) went further, saying that Thado Minbya's father too was ethnically Shan. Per Michael Aung-Thwin (Aung-Thwin 1996: 884–885), Arthur Phayre was the first one to make the assertion, based purely on the chronicles' use of sawbwa, equating the office with ethnicity; and Harvey (Harvey 1925: 76) inserted the word "Shan", in what he claimed was the direct quote from Hmannan, which says no such thing. In all, no historical evidence of any kind (in Burmese, Shan or anything else) that indicates the ethnicity of their father or the three brothers exists. Moreover, Michael Aung-Thwin and Matrii Aung-Thwin (Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012: 109) argue that "Not a single inscription recovered so far erected by royalty or commoner, not a single stanza of verse (of many) composed and not a single sentence in any royal edict proclaimed, administrative and provincial record submitted, legal code compiled, cadastral survey taken, political or religious treatise produced or religious donation made during the Ava period was written the Shan (or Tai) language. All genres of writing at all levels of society throughout the entire kingdom during its life (and beyond) were written in Old Burmese." The prince had two younger sisters: Shin Saw Gyi and Saw Omma. His father died soon after the birth of Saw Omma. His mother remarried to Thihapate, a grandnephew of Queen Pwa Saw of Pagan. In 1352, Thihapate became king of Sagaing.Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 176
Prince Rahula grew up in Sagaing during the small kingdoms period of Myanmar (Burma). The country had disintegrated into several small kingdoms since the fall of the Pagan Empire in 1287. Central Burma itself had been split into two rival kingdoms, Sagaing and Pinya, and ruled by two rival branches of the House of Myinsaing since 1315.Than Tun 1959: 126 Sagaing ruled north and west of the Irrawaddy while Pinya ruled south and east of the main artery.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 375 The two states were never too strong to begin with but starting in 1359, they began to face a serious existential threat in the form of massive raids from the northern Shan State of Maw.Than Tun 1959: 124Lieberman 2003: 120 In response, King Thihapate appointed his 15-year-old stepson governor of Tagaung, the northernmost territory, 200 km north of Sagaing, with the title of Thado Minbya. The king reasoned that it was a suitable appointment as Thado Minbya's father had been the hereditary ruler of the garrison town.
Governor of Tagaung At Tagaung, the teenage prince could do little to stem the raids. According to a contemporary inscription, the raiders penetrated as far south as Pinya in 1362–63. They came again in the following dry season, this time determined to take both Tagaung and Sagaing. It was part of the agreement between the Maw sawbwa Tho-Chi-Bwa and King Narathu of Pinya to jointly dismember Sagaing. Thado Minbya led the defense of Tagaung but due to a great disparity in manpower as well as cavalry and elephants, the fort fell. Thado Minbya barely escaped, arriving at Sagaing on a single war elephant.
Thado Minbya found no reprieve at Sagaing. He was promptly sent to prison by Thihapate for having lost Tagaung. The young prince had argued that the king needed his help in defending Sagaing itself but to no avail. He was imprisoned at Kya-Khat-Wa-Ya (),This Kya-Khat-Wa-Ya was a different place from the more well known Kya-Khat-Wa-Ya which per (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 176, footnote 5) was located in Toungoo District. In 1364, Toungoo was an independent state, in revolt of its former overlord Pinya since 1358. It was far away from Sagaing, and Kya-Khat-Wa-Ya of Toungoo District could not have been a Sagaing vassal. a town on the Irrawaddy south of Sagaing.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 392–393 As expected, the Maw forces came down, and laid siege to Sagaing on three sides. (Pinya forces were supposed to blockade Sagaing's port but failed to do so.) After a few months, in April 1364, the invaders broke through and overran the capital.(Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 393): Kason 726 ME = 1 April 1364 – 30 April 1364 Thihapate and his personal guards escaped, and sailed down to Kya-Khat-Wa-Ya. By then, Thado Minbya had escaped and was waiting for his stepfather. The prince had the king executed, and declared himself king, in May 1364.Chronicles, (Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 273) and (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 393), interlace the fall of Pinya and Sagaing narratives. Chronicles pick up Thado Minbya's execution of Thihapate after the sack of Pinya by the Maw Shans in Nayon 726 ME (1 May 1364 to 30 May 1364, leap day added), and the accession of Uzana II in Waso 726 ME (31 May 1364 to 29 June 1364). But the Sagaing-side and Pinya-side narratives appear to be happening in parallel, and not in a serial fashion. It means Thado Minbya likely executed Thihapate in Nayon (May 1364).
Reign
Founding of Ava Thado Minbya was a mere one of the several "kings" who had declared themselves independent in the wake of the devastating invasion. The Maw forces had looted and pillaged central Burma but returned as the rainy season arrived, carrying off King Narathu of Pinya and leaving central Burma in a power vacuum. Pinya's new ruler Uzana II had little control beyond the capital; Pinya's southern vassals—Pagan, Sagu, Taungdwin, Prome and Toungoo—were in open revolt. Over at Sagaing, Thado Minbya managed to win over the Sagaing court, and reassembled Sagaing's military forces in the next two months. His cross-river rival Uzana II could not do the same. In August/September, he crossed the Irrawaddy with a sizable force, and seized Pinya. He ordered the execution of Uzana II, and declared himself king of Pinya while raising Saw Omma of Pinya, the chief queen of the last three Pinya kings, as his chief consort.(Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 393–394): He seized Pinya in Tawthalin 726 ME (29 August 1364 to 26 September 1364).
Despite his proclamation, the 18-year-old still had no control over Pinya's southern vassals. It is not clear how much control he had over Sagaing's vassals in the north either. Indeed, his first priority was to defend his realm as the threat of annual dry-season raids from the north still loomed. In the next six months, he feverishly built a new citadel at a more strategic location at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and the Myitnge. It was directly across the Irrawaddy from Sagaing, roughly between Sagaing and Pinya and right by the all-important Kyaukse granary. It was the very site that his great grandfather Thihathu initially had wanted to build a new capital before choosing to build at Pinya in 1313. He drained the swamps around the site, and built a new fortified capital.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 394–395 He also gained a much needed respite as Maw Shan raids did not come down that dry season. The initial phase of the capital was completed in about six months. The fortified city was on an island surrounded by rivers and moats.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 396 So strategic was the location that Ava would be the capital of successive Burmese kingdoms for the most of next five centuries.Harvey 1925: 80 On 25 February 1365,All major chronicles—(Zata 1960: 44), (Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 275), (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 181) and (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 396)—say that he founded Ava/Inwa on Tuesday, 6th waxing of Tabaung 726 ME. But by using the standard Burmese-to-Western calendar translator used by Myanmar's Universities Historical Research Center, the date fell on Sunday, 26 January 1365. Furthermore, a contemporary stone inscription dedicated by Thado Minbya himself at the Shwezigon Pagoda on Tuesday, 5th waning of Waso 727 ME, is translated by the standard translator as Sunday, 8 June 1365. However by using J.C. Eade's translator (Eade 1989: 111), the foundation date correctly translates to Tuesday, 25 February 1365, and the Shwezigon inscription date to Tuesday, 8 July 1365. The difference between the two translators in this case is that Eade has 726 ME as an intercalary year whereas the Burmese Universities calculator has 727 ME as a great intercalary year. The Shwezigon inscription shows that 727 ME was not an intercalary year. (Burmese kings did not always follow the standard Metonic cycle, and this appears to be one of the cases.) Also note that the editors of Yazawin Thit chronicle (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 182, footnote 2) inserted "2nd" in front of Waso in the footnote #2, in order to get the correct date Tuesday, 8 July 1635. But the actual inscription, whose English translation can be seen in (Taw, Forchhammer, Tun Nyein 1899: 8), does not include 2nd; it reads "Tuesday, the 5th waning of Nweda (Waso) of Tharawun (Saravanna) year 727 Sakaraj". This means 727 ME was not a great leap year, and Eade's translator is most probably correct in this case. the king proclaimed the foundation of the city of Ava (Inwa), as the capital of the successor state of Pinya and Sagaing Kingdoms.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 396, 398 The city's brick walls were completed on 6 July 1365.(Zata 1960: 61): Sunday, 19th nekkhat of the 4th month of 727 ME = 3rd waning of Waso 727 ME = Sunday, 6 July 1365.
Reunification of Central Burma Thado Minbya would spend the rest of his reign trying to consolidate all of Central Burma under his rule. In early 1365, his realm was still largely in the north, and controlled little south of Ava beyond the Kyaukse region. Pagan (160 km southwest of Ava), Sagu (220 km southwest), Taungdwin (240 km south), Nganwegon (280 km south), Toungoo (350 km southeast) and Prome (400 km south) all remained de facto or de jure independent.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 398–400 (Toungoo had been in revolt since 1358.) However, he did have some advantages: he controlled Kyaukse and Mu regions, two of the three main granaries of Upper Burma; and he had the support of key experienced leaders like Governor Thilawa of Yamethin and Governor Swa Saw Ke of Amyint.