Thihathu
Encyclopedia
Thihathu was a co-founder of Myinsaing Kingdom
, and the founder of the Pinya Kingdom
in today's central Burma (Myanmar). 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 Burma following the collapse of Pagan's authority in 1287. In 1309, Thihathu, not satisfied with his co-regent status, declared himself king. In 1310, he took over as the sole king of central Burma by killing his eldest brother Athinhkaya
. (His middle brother Yazathingyan had died of natural causes in 1305.) He moved the capital to Pinya
in 1313.
His decision to appoint Uzana I, son of the fallen king Kyawswa
, as crown prince
caused his eldest son, Sawyun
to set up a rival kingdom at Sagaing
in 1315. Although Sawyun nominally remained loyal to his father and ruled as viceroy of Sagaing, after Thihathu's death in 1324, the two houses of Myinsaing officially became rival kingdoms in central Burma.
mother in 1265. He had two elder brothers Athinhkaya
, Yazathingyan
and a sister. Their father, Theinkhabo, was a younger brother of Shan saopha
from the Shan Hills
who had taken shelter in Kyaukse as a political refugee in 1260. Their mother was a daughter of a Burman banker from Myinsaing.
When the brothers became young men, they all entered King Narathihapate
's service in the waning days of Pagan. After a few years, they received minor titles of nobility and were appointed joint commanders of the garrison at Myinsaing, their hometown. Their only sister was even married to a son of the king, Prince Thihathu
, later governor of Prome
(Pyay).
. On 19 February 1293 (12th waxing of Tabaung 654 ME), they were formally recognized by the king as lords of Kyaukse. In 1298, the brothers formalized their rule of central Burma by forcing the nominal king of Pagan Kyawswa
, who had become a Mongol
vassal
, to abdicate the throne, and ruled as co-regent
s from their respective palaces in Myinsaing, Mekkara and Pinle
. Thihathu married Kyawswa's half-sister and queen Mi Saw U
, a daughter of Narathihapate.
In 1301, the brothers successfully fought off another (and last) invasion by the Mongols who sought to restore Kyawswa. After the Mongols also vacated their Upper Burma base of Tagaung in 1303, all of central Burma came under their rule. Nonetheless Myinsaing, along with Hathawadddy
, Laungkyet and Toungoo
(Taungoo) kingdoms and various minor Shan States
, was still one of many petty kingdoms that sprouted across the former territories of Pagan Empire.
was largely deserted.) Thihathu initially chose the location of what would later become Ava
, by the Irrawaddy and Myitnge
rivers and close to Kyaukse. But court astrologers advised against the location as bad omen. Thihathu instead chose Pinya
(just north of today's Mandalay), also by the Irrawaddy.
He moved his capital to Pinya on 11 February 1313 (15th waxing of Tabaung 674 ME). The kingdom became known as the Pinya Kingdom. Thihathu now adopted the style and title of the ancient kings of Pagan. In his coronation ceremony, the dowager Queen Saw, wife of Narathihapate, presented Thihathu the golden belt and the golden tray which had been handed down in the royal family since the time of King Anawrahta
(r. 1044–1077). Thihathu now officially considered himself the heir to Pagan kings. So much so that he appointed Uzana I, a son of the fallen king Kyawswa and Mi Saw U, as crown prince
in 1315. (Mi Saw U was pregnant with Uzana in 1298 when Thihathu seized her, and gave birth to Uzana in 1299. Thihathu adopted Uzana as his own son.)
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....
, and the founder of the 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...
in today's central Burma (Myanmar). 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 Burma following the collapse of Pagan's authority in 1287. In 1309, Thihathu, not satisfied with his co-regent status, declared himself king. In 1310, he took over as the sole king of central Burma by killing his eldest brother Athinhkaya
Athinhkaya
Athinhkaya was a co-founder of Myinsaing Kingdom in today's central Burma . A former commander in Pagan Empire's military, Athinhkaya was the eldest of the Three Shan Brothers that founded Myinsaing Kingdom, which filled the void in central Burma following the collapse of Pagan's authority in 1287...
. (His middle brother Yazathingyan had died of natural causes in 1305.) He moved the capital to Pinya
Pinya
Pinya was the capital of the Kingdom of Pinya, located near Ava, Mandalay Region, Myanmar. It was the residence of a dynasty of six kings who ruled this part of central Myanmar from 1313 to 1364.-History:...
in 1313.
His decision to appoint Uzana I, son of the fallen king Kyawswa
Kyawswa of Pagan
Kyawswa was a king of Pagan dynasty of Burma from 1287 to 1298. Son of the last sovereign king of Pagan Narathihapate, Kyawswa was one of many "kings" that proliferated after the collapse of the Pagan Empire. Though still styled as King of Pagan, Kyawswa's effective rule amounted to just the area...
, as crown prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
caused his eldest son, 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...
to set up a rival kingdom at Sagaing
Sagaing
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...
in 1315. Although Sawyun nominally remained loyal to his father and ruled as viceroy of Sagaing, after Thihathu's death in 1324, the two houses of Myinsaing officially became rival kingdoms in central Burma.
Early life
Thihathu was a born to a Shan father and a BurmanBamar
The Bamar are the dominant ethnic group of Burma , constituting approximately two-thirds of the population. The Bamar live primarily in the Irrawaddy basin, and speak the Burmese language, which is also the official language of Burma. Bamar customs and identity are closely intertwined with general...
mother in 1265. He had two elder brothers Athinhkaya
Athinhkaya
Athinhkaya was a co-founder of Myinsaing Kingdom in today's central Burma . A former commander in Pagan Empire's military, Athinhkaya was the eldest of the Three Shan Brothers that founded Myinsaing Kingdom, which filled the void in central Burma following the collapse of Pagan's authority in 1287...
, Yazathingyan
Yazathingyan
Yazathingyan was a co-founder of Myinsaing Kingdom in today's central Burma . A former commander in Pagan Empire's military, Yazathingyan was the middle brother of the Three Shan Brothers that founded Myinsaing Kingdom, which filled the void in central Burma following the collapse of Pagan's...
and a sister. Their father, Theinkhabo, was a younger brother of Shan saopha
Saopha
Saopha, Chaofa, or Sawbwa was a royal title used by the rulers of the Shan States of Myanmar . The word means "king" in the Shan and Tai languages...
from the Shan Hills
Shan Hills
The Shan Hills , also known as Shan Highland, are part of the range of hills that extends through Yunnan to Burma and Thailand, linking to the Himalayas, of which they may be considered foothills.-Etymology:...
who had taken shelter in Kyaukse as a political refugee in 1260. Their mother was a daughter of a Burman banker from Myinsaing.
When the brothers became young men, they all entered King Narathihapate
Narathihapate
Narathihapate was the last king of Pagan dynasty of Burma from 1254 to 1287. The king is unkindly remembered for two things: his gluttonous appetite which supposedly required all his dinners to have 300 varieties of dishes; and his panic flight from Mongol invasions. He is forever remembered as ...
's service in the waning days of Pagan. After a few years, they received minor titles of nobility and were appointed joint commanders of the garrison at Myinsaing, their hometown. Their only sister was even married to a son of the king, Prince Thihathu
Thihathu of Prome
Thihathu of Prome was a Pagan prince who killed his father Narathihapate, the last sovereign king of the Pagan Empire.In 1287, Narathihapate fled Pagan to Lower Burma in panic just before Mongols sacked the capital. Thihathu, who was governor of Prome , arrested his father and forced the king to...
, later governor of Prome
Pyay
Pyay is a town in the Bago Division in Burma. It has an estimated population of 123,800 . Pyay is positioned on the Ayeyarwady River and is northwest of Yangon....
(Pyay).
Myinsaing
After the Pagan Empire fell in 1287, the brothers gradually gained control of central Burma based out of their hometown of Myinsaing located in Kyaukse districtKyaukse District
-Townships:The district contains the following townships:*Kyaukse Township*Sint Kaing Township*Myit Thar Township*Tada-U Township...
. On 19 February 1293 (12th waxing of Tabaung 654 ME), they were formally recognized by the king as lords of Kyaukse. In 1298, the brothers formalized their rule of central Burma by forcing the nominal king of Pagan Kyawswa
Kyawswa of Pagan
Kyawswa was a king of Pagan dynasty of Burma from 1287 to 1298. Son of the last sovereign king of Pagan Narathihapate, Kyawswa was one of many "kings" that proliferated after the collapse of the Pagan Empire. Though still styled as King of Pagan, Kyawswa's effective rule amounted to just the area...
, who had become a Mongol
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
, to abdicate the throne, and ruled as co-regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
s from their respective palaces in Myinsaing, Mekkara and Pinle
Pinle
Pinle is an archaeological excavation site, located in Myittha Township, Mandalay Division, Myanmar. Pinle was a capital of the Myinsaing Kingdom from 1298 to 1312....
. Thihathu married Kyawswa's half-sister and queen Mi Saw U
Mi Saw U
Mi Saw U was a Pagan princess, who was queen of two kings, Kyawswa of Pagan and Thihathu of Pinya, and mother of two kings, Uzana I of Pinya and Kyawswa I of Pinya.Saw U was a daughter of Narathihapate, the last sovereign king of Pagan...
, a daughter of Narathihapate.
In 1301, the brothers successfully fought off another (and last) invasion by the Mongols who sought to restore Kyawswa. After the Mongols also vacated their Upper Burma base of Tagaung in 1303, all of central Burma came under their rule. Nonetheless Myinsaing, along with Hathawadddy
Hanthawaddy Kingdom
The Hanthawaddy Kingdom was the dominant kingdom that ruled lower Burma from 1287 to 1539. The Mon-speaking kingdom was founded as Ramannadesa by King Wareru following the collapse of the Pagan Empire in 1287 as a nominal vassal state of Sukhothai Kingdom, and of the Mongol Yuan dynasty...
, Laungkyet and Toungoo
Toungoo Dynasty
The Toungoo Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Burma from the mid-16th century to 1752. Its early kings Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung succeeded in reunifying the Pagan Empire for the first time since 1287, and in incorporating the Shan States for the first time...
(Taungoo) kingdoms and various minor Shan States
Shan States
The Shan States were the princely states that ruled large areas of today's Burma , Yunnan Province in China, Laos and Thailand from the late 13th century until mid-20th century...
, was still one of many petty kingdoms that sprouted across the former territories of Pagan Empire.
Pinya
Thihathu did not want to share power, even with his own brothers. Yazathingyan died of natural causes in 1305. In 1309, Thihathu blatantly crowned himself king. He poisoned the eldest brother Athinhkaya, and took over as the sole king of central Burma. Thihathu had previously planned to move his capital from Pinle to a more strategic location by the Irrawaddy, and close to the Kyaukse granary. (By then, Pagan which had about 50,000 inhabitants before the Mongol invasionsMongol invasion of Burma
After the conquest of China, Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty and the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, invaded the Pagan Kingdom of Burma in 1277 and 1283. However, the Yuan armies later again invaded Burma several times in order to assert supremacy over the territory.- Initial...
was largely deserted.) Thihathu initially chose the location of what would later become 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...
, by the Irrawaddy and Myitnge
Myitnge 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:...
rivers and close to Kyaukse. But court astrologers advised against the location as bad omen. Thihathu instead chose Pinya
Pinya
Pinya was the capital of the Kingdom of Pinya, located near Ava, Mandalay Region, Myanmar. It was the residence of a dynasty of six kings who ruled this part of central Myanmar from 1313 to 1364.-History:...
(just north of today's Mandalay), also by the Irrawaddy.
He moved his capital to Pinya on 11 February 1313 (15th waxing of Tabaung 674 ME). The kingdom became known as the Pinya Kingdom. Thihathu now adopted the style and title of the ancient kings of Pagan. In his coronation ceremony, the dowager Queen Saw, wife of Narathihapate, presented Thihathu the golden belt and the golden tray which had been handed down in the royal family since the time of King Anawrahta
Anawrahta
Anawrahta Minsaw was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone of Upper Burma into the first Burmese Empire that formed the basis of modern-day Burma...
(r. 1044–1077). Thihathu now officially considered himself the heir to Pagan kings. So much so that he appointed Uzana I, a son of the fallen king Kyawswa and Mi Saw U, as crown prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
in 1315. (Mi Saw U was pregnant with Uzana in 1298 when Thihathu seized her, and gave birth to Uzana in 1299. Thihathu adopted Uzana as his own son.)