Thadominbya
Encyclopedia
Thadominbya 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
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.
Thadominbya died of small pox while on a southern military expedition in February 1368. He was only 24, and had no children.
to the east. But both kingdoms traced their origins to King Thihathu
of Myinsaing
. Thadominbya 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 1298, and a grandson of Sawyun
who split the Myinsaing Kingdom by founding the Sagaing Kingdom in 1315. His mother was Soe Min Kodawgyi, the only daughter of Sawyun, and his father was of uncertain descent, reputedly of ancient kings of Tagaung. He was named Rahula. He had two sisters. 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 1353.
In 1364, the Shans of Mogaung
in alliance with Sagaing's cross-river rival Pinya Kingdom
attacked Sagaing's territories. Mogaung's raiders overran Tagaung and Thadominbya barely escaped. At Sagaing, Minbyauk sent Thadominbya 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 Thadominbya, who put Minbyauk to death. He became king of Sagaing at 21.
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, Thadominbya 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.
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).
The bandit replied:
The king, instead of being insulted by the reply said:
Nga Tetpya was so overcome by the king's graciousness that he entered the royal service, and became the king's most distinguished commanders.
, and tried to rule from there. But ministers intervened and gave the throne to Thadominbya'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.
Sagaing Kingdom
The Sagaing Kingdom was a kingdom that ruled a part of central Burma from 1315 to 1364. The kingdom was the western half of the old Myinsaing Kingdom, which itself was one of many petty kingdoms that emerged after the fall of the Pagan Empire in 1287...
and Pinya
Pinya Kingdom
The Pinya Kingdom was a kingdom that ruled part of central Burma from 1313 to 1364. It was the successor state to the Myinsaing Kingdom, one of many petty kingdoms that emerged after the fall of the Pagan Empire in 1287...
kingdoms since 1315, he founded a new capital city of Ava
Ava
Innwa is a city in the Mandalay Division of Burma , situated just to the south of Amarapura on the Ayeyarwady River. Its formal title is Ratanapura , which means City of Gems in Pali. The name Innwa means mouth of the lake, which comes from in , meaning lake, and wa , which means mouth...
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.
Thadominbya died of small pox while on a southern military expedition in February 1368. He was only 24, and had no children.
Early life
When Thadominbya was born in 1343, central Burma was split into the Sagaing Kingdom to the west of the Irrawaddy and the Pinya KingdomPinya Kingdom
The Pinya Kingdom was a kingdom that ruled part of central Burma from 1313 to 1364. It was the successor state to the Myinsaing Kingdom, one of many petty kingdoms that emerged after the fall of the Pagan Empire in 1287...
to the east. But both kingdoms traced their origins to King Thihathu
Thihathu
Thihathu was a co-founder of Myinsaing Kingdom, and the founder of the Pinya Kingdom in today's central Burma . A former commander in Pagan Empire's military, Thihathu was the youngest and most ambitious of the Three Shan Brothers that founded Myinsaing Kingdom, which filled the void in central...
of Myinsaing
Myinsaing Kingdom
The Myinsaing Kingdom was a kingdom that ruled central Burma from 1298 to 1313. Founded by three brothers of Shan and Burman descent, it was one of many petty kingdoms that emerged following the collapse of Pagan Empire in 1287....
. Thadominbya 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
Pagan Kingdom
The Pagan Kingdom or Pagan Dynasty was the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute the modern-day Burma...
in 1298, and a grandson of Sawyun
Sawyun
Athinhkaya Sawyun was the founder of the Sagaing Kingdom located in today's Sagaing Region, Burma . The eldest son of King Thihathu of Pinya, Sawyun, at age 15, set up a rival kingdom to his father's in 1315 after Thihathu appointed his adopted son Uzana I, son of the fallen king Kyawswa of Pagan...
who split the Myinsaing Kingdom by founding the Sagaing Kingdom in 1315. His mother was Soe Min Kodawgyi, the only daughter of Sawyun, and his father was of uncertain descent, reputedly of ancient kings of Tagaung. He was named Rahula. He had two sisters. 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
Minbyauk Thihapate
Minbyauk Thihapate was the last king of Sagaing, who reigned from 1353 to 1364. In February 1353, Minbyauk ascended to the Sagaing throne after his brother-in-law King Tarabya II died...
, who later would become king of Sagaing in 1353.
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 Thadominbya, the name by which he would be known onwards.In 1364, the Shans of Mogaung
Mogaung
Mogaung is a town in Kachin State, Myanmar. It is situated on the Mandalay-Myitkyina railway line.-External links:* Falling Rain Genomics, Inc.* Maplandia.com...
in alliance with Sagaing's cross-river rival Pinya Kingdom
Pinya Kingdom
The Pinya Kingdom was a kingdom that ruled part of central Burma from 1313 to 1364. It was the successor state to the Myinsaing Kingdom, one of many petty kingdoms that emerged after the fall of the Pagan Empire in 1287...
attacked Sagaing's territories. Mogaung's raiders overran Tagaung and Thadominbya barely escaped. At Sagaing, Minbyauk sent Thadominbya 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 Thadominbya, who put Minbyauk to death. He became king of Sagaing at 21.
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. Thadominbya seized the opportunity to fill the power gap. In August 1364 (Tawthalin 726 ME), he quickly defeated Narathu's successor Uzana II of PinyaUzana II of Pinya
Uzana II of Pinya or Uzana Pyaung was the last king of Pinya Kingdom. His rule lasted only three months. Uzana II came to the Pinya throne after the Shan raiders from Mogaung had successfully sacked both Sagaing and Pinya, the capitals of two main kingdoms in central Burma...
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, Thadominbya 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
Thadominbya 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 riverMyitnge River
Myitnge River in Myanmar . The name Myitnge in Burmese and Dokhtawaddy in Pali both mean "little river" in comparison with the Ayeyarwady or "big river".-Source, course and outflow:...
and the Irrawaddy, and was right by the important Kyaukse
Kyaukse District
-Townships:The district contains the following townships:*Kyaukse Township*Sint Kaing Township*Myit Thar Township*Tada-U Township...
granary
Granary
A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...
. 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 Thadominbya 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 Shan queen. (She was Saw Omma, who was of Pagan and PinyaPinya KingdomThe Pinya Kingdom was a kingdom that ruled part of central Burma from 1313 to 1364. It was the successor state to the Myinsaing Kingdom, one of many petty kingdoms that emerged after the fall of the Pagan Empire in 1287...
royal houses, and was also queen to four Pinya kings starting from Kyawswa I of PinyaKyawswa I of PinyaKyawswa I of Pinya or Ngarsishin Kyawswa was the third king of Pinya Kingdom from 1343 to 1350. Kyawswa, who descended from both Pagan and Myinsaing dynasties, ascended the throne of Pinya in 1343 after his half-brother Uzana I abdicated the throne...
.)
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
Thadominbya died of small pox while on a southern military expedition in 1368. He was only 24, and had no children.Succession struggle
His "most beautiful" queen Saw Omma nearly succeeded in seizing the throne with a court official Nga Nu. The couple executed everyone who opposed them, crossed over to SagaingSagaing
Sagaing is the capital of Sagaing Region in Myanmar. Located on the Ayeyarwady River, 20 km to the southwest of Mandalay on the opposite bank of the river, Sagaing with numerous Buddhist monasteries is an important religious and monastic center. The pagodas and monasteries crowd the numerous...
, and tried to rule from there. But ministers intervened and gave the throne to Thadominbya's brother-in-law Swasawke
Swasawke
Swasawke was the second king of Ava, who reigned from 1368 to 1400. When he was elected by the ministers to succeed King Thadominbya who left no heir, Swasawke took over a kingdom that was less than four years old, and still faced external and internal threats...
, 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.