Kale Kyetaungnyo

Kale Kyetaungnyo ကလေး ကျေးတောင်ညို
King of Ava
Reign	November 1425 – 20 May 1426
Predecessor	Minhlange
Successor	Mohnyin Thado
Born	10 October 1385 Tuesday, 5th waxing of Tazaungmon 747 ME[note 1] Ava (Inwa)
Died	late May 1426 (aged 40) Shwesettaw
Consort	Min Kye Shin Bo-Me
House	Pinya
Father	Tarabya
Mother	Min Hla Myat
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Kale Kyetaungnyo (Burmese: ကလေး ကျေးတောင်ညို [kəlé tɕé tàʊɴ ɲjò]; also Kalekyetaungnyo; 1385–1426) was king of Ava from 1425 to 1426 for six months. He came to power by overthrowing King Minhlange with the help of his lover Queen Shin Bo-Me. But he himself was overthrown just six months later by Mohnyin Thado.

Early life

Kyetaungnyo was born Maung Nyo to Prince Thihathu (later King Tarabya, the eldest son of King Swasawke on 10 October 1385. Maung Nyo was married to a daughter of Min Kye, the Saopha of Kale, a minor Shan State, which paid tribute to Ava. He was briefly the heir presumptive for about six months in 1400 when his father became king. But his father died in November 1400, and was succeeded by Minkhaung I. In 1406, he was appointed governor of Kale by Minkhaung I.^[1]

Reign

Kyetaungnyo came to the Ava throne with the help of Queen Shin Bo-Me who had engineered the deaths of her husband King Thihathu and his eight-year-old son King Minhlange in November 1425 to put her lover on the throne. After Minhlange was poisoned by Shin Bo-Me, Kyetaungnyo, a son of King Tarabya of Ava, and saopha (chief) of Kale in the Upper Chindwin region by the Chin Hills, came down to Ava with an army and seized the throne.^{[note 2]}

Kyetaungnyo's reign was short. He made Bo-Me his chief queen. In May 1426, the chief of Monhnyin, Mohnyin Thado, came down with his army to Ava and seized the throne on 20 May 1426.^[2] Kyetaungnyo and Shin Bo-Me fled in a single boat to Salin, and then started overland for the An Pass to Arakan.^[3]

Death

Kyetaungnyo died shortly after while on the run near Shwesettaw (modern Magwe Region).^[4]

Queen Bo-Me, a dashing beauty who had already been queen of four kings Tarabya, Minkhaung I, Thihathu and Kyetaungnyo, was brought back and made a junior queen of Mohnyin Thado.^[3]

Ancestry

Ancestry of King Kale

8. Min Shin Saw of Thayet                       4. Swasawke                             9. Shin Myat Hla of Prome                       2. Tarabya of Ava                                   10. Thado Hsinhtein of Tagaung                       5. Shin Saw Gyi of Sagaing                             11. Soe Min of Sagaing                       1. Nyo                                         12. unnamed                       6. Thilawa of Yamethin                             13. unnamed                       3. Min Hla Myat of Ava                                   14. Min Shin Saw of Thayet                       7. Saw Pale of Yamethin                             15. Shin Myat Hla of Prome

Notes

1. (Zata 1960: 75): He was born on 5th waxing of 757 ME. But 757 is a typo. Hmannan per (Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 60) corrects it to 747 ME.
2. Some historians such as (Harvey 1925: 95–96) give a year later.

References

1. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 330
2. Maha Yazawin 2006: 62
3. Htin Aung 1967: 93–94
4. Harvey 1925: 96

Bibliography

• Htin Aung, Maung (1967). A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press.
• Kala, U (1720). Maha Yazawin (in Burmese) 1–3 (2006, 4th printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Royal Historians of Burma (c. 1680). U Hla Tin (Hla Thamein), ed. Zatadawbon Yazawin (1960 ed.). Historical Research Directorate of the Union of Burma.
• Royal Historical Commission of Burma (1832). Hmannan Yazawin (in Burmese) 1–3 (2003 ed.). Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar.