Swasawke

Swasawke စွာစော်ကဲ
King of Ava
Reign	5 September 1367 – April 1400
Coronation	April 1368
Predecessor	Thado Minbya
Successor	Tarabya
Chief Minister	Wun Zin Min Yaza
Born	16 July 1330 Monday, 1st waxing of Wagaung 692 ME[1] Thayet
Died	c. April 1400 (aged 69) c. Nayon 762 ME[note 1] Ava (Inwa)
Consort	Khame Mi[2] Shin Saw Gyi Saw Omma Saw Taw Oo Saw Beza
Issue	Four sons and six daughters including: Tarabya Minkhaung I Theiddat Thupaba Dewi
House	Pinya
Father	Min Shin Saw[2]
Mother	Shin Myat Hla[2]
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Swasawke (Burmese: စွာစော်ကဲ, pronounced: [swà sɔ̀kɛ́]; 1330–1400; also Mingyi Tarabya Swasawke) was king of Ava from 1367 to 1400. When he was elected by the ministers to succeed King Thado Minbya who left no heir, Swasawke took over a kingdom that was barely three years old, and still faced external and internal threats. By the end of his long reign, Swasake had successfully cemented Ava's authority in Upper Burma.

In the north, he successfully fought off the Shan raids into Upper Burma, a longstanding problem since the days of Sagaing and Pinya kingdoms. He maintained friendly relations with Lan Na Kingdom in the east, and Launggyet Kingdom of Arakan in the west. In the south, he brought semi-independent kingdoms of Toungoo (Taungoo) and Prome (Pyay) firmly into Ava's orbit. But his attempts to extend control farther south were unsuccessful. His invasions of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom (Pegu/Bago) touched off the Forty Years' War (1385–1424) between Ava and Pegu. Swasawke and King Razadarit of Pegu agreed to a truce in 1391 that would last until Swasawke's death in 1400.

For the most part, his long reign was peaceful. In contrast to the short reigns by various kings since the fall of Pagan, Swasawke's 32-year reign brought much needed stability to Upper Burma. He redeveloped the economy of the kingdom by repairing the irrigation system, and reclaiming much of the arable land which had lapsed into wilderness as the result of the Mongol invasions nearly a century earlier. Under Swasawke's leadership, Upper Burma centered in Ava, finally achieved stability it had lacked for much of the past hundred years.

Early life

The future king was born on 16 July 1330 in Thayet a small town to the west of the Irrawaddy river to the ruling family of the region which descended from Pagan and Pinya dynasties.^[3] His father Min Shin Saw was a son of King Kyawswa of Pagan, and his mother Shin Myat Hla was a niece of King Thihathu of Pinya. The third child of six, the prince had two elder brothers Shwe Nan Shin and Saw Yan Naung, and three younger sisters, Saw Pale, Saw Myat and Saw Omma.^[3]

Ancestry of King Swasawke

8. Narathihapate                       4. Kyawswa of Pagan                             9. Shin Hpa of Pagan                       2. Min Shin Saw of Thayet                                   10. Yazathingyan of Pagan                       5. Saw Soe of Pagan                             11. Saw Khin Htut of Pagan                       1. Swasawke                                         12. Narathihapate                       6. Thihathu of Prome                             13. Shin Mauk of Pagan                       3. Shin Myat Hla of Prome                                   14. Theinkha Bo                       7. Atula Dewi of Prome                             15. Lady Myinsaing

He spent his formative years in Launggyet, the capital of Arakan, the kingdom to the west of Thayet, where his father was governor. In early January 1334, the Arakanese raided Thayet, and sent the entire family of the governor to Launggyet on 7 January 1334.^[4] The family was treated well at the Arakanese court where the children were educated by one of the most learned Arakanese monks of the day. Becoming a scholar in his own right, the young prince conducted himself well, and became popular in court circles and also with common people.^[5]

Governorships

Pinya

In 1343,^{[note 2]} the family was allowed to leave Launggyet. They returned to Pinya. At Pinya, the family was well received. His father was reappointed to his old post at Thayet. His two elder brothers became governors of Myinsaing and Prome (Pyay). Swasawke, still in his early teens, was made governor of a small town called Talot in central Burma. When he grew older, in the late 1340s, he was made governor of Yamethin, a larger town by King Kyawswa I of Pinya, his first cousin once removed.^[3]

Switch to Sagaing

In December 1350, Kyawswa I died and was succeeded by his son Kyawswa II, a second cousin of Swasawke. Though he was born into the Pinya branch of the Myinsaing dynasty, Swasawke decided to switch sides to Sagaing, whose rulers were also related to him. He entered the service of King Tarabya II of Sagaing, who was also a second cousin of his. There, he was appointed governor of Amyint, a small region west of Sagaing.^[3] He was given the title Tarabya.^[6] When Thado Minbya became king of Sagaing in April 1364, he kept Tarabya Swasawke at Amyint.^[3]

Accession

In September 1367, Thado Minbya suddenly died of small pox while on a southern military expedition. He was only 24, and left no children. Thado Minbya's chief queen Saw Omma, who was also Swasawke's younger sister, and court official Nga Nu nearly succeeded in seizing the throne. The couple executed everyone who opposed them, crossed over to Sagaing, and tried to rule from there.^[7] The ministers at the court intervened and offered the throne to Thilawa, the governor of Yamethin because he was respected by both Shan and Burman officials for his seriousness of purpose and strength of character. (He is known in Burmese history as the man who smiled three times throughout his life.) But the governor, an ethnic Burman who like all Burman royal officials was married to a Shan princess (Swasawke's sister), declined the offer because he would have found it difficult to control the Shan lords and their mercenaries. He reportedly said: "I do not open my mouth to speak three words a day. You had better choose Swasawke."^[7]

At his suggestion, the ministers elected his brother-in-law Swasawke who had both Myinsaing (Shan) and Pagan pedigrees. As he was brought up as a Shan, Swasawke, though only one quarter Shan, was accepted by both Shan and Burman officials as king.^[5] He became king on 5 September 1367.^[8] Swasawke drove the usurping couple out of Sagaing. Nga Nu ran away, and Saw Omma was given to the officer who captured her.^[7] Swasawke took Thado Minbya's three younger sisters as queen.

Reign

Swasawke inherited a three-year-old kingdom whose foundations were still shaky. Much of the Irrawaddy valley had not enjoyed long periods of peace since the last days of Pagan dynasty, beginning with the Mongol invasions (1277–1301), and followed by constant raids by the Shans from north since the 1320s. Indeed the accelerated Shan attacks of 1359–1364 severely weakened both Sagaing and Pinya kingdoms, allowing Thado Minbya to reunify the region.^[9]

Shan raids

The Shans (called Maw Shans in Burmese) based in today's Kachin State continued to raid Upper Burma during Thado Minbya's reign and after Swasawke became king. To deal with the Shans in the north, Swasawke entered into friendly relations with others, especially the Hanthawaddy Pegu Kingdom in the south. In 1370, he met King Binnya U of Hanthawaddy at a frontier town, and the two kings demarcated the frontier and exchanged gifts.^[10] In 1374, he received an embassy from Chiang Mai, the king of Lan Na, assuring him of friendship.^[11]

With his base secure, Swasawke turned his attention to the Shans. Still in 1370, the Maw Shan State of Mohnyin, a leading Shan State, was fighting against another Shan state Kale of upper Chindwin region. Saophas of Mohnyin and Kale both sought Swasawke's help, promising to become Ava's tributary. With the advice of his chief minister, Wun Zin Min Yaza, Swasawke decided to let the Shans fight it out among themselves, and secured nominal suzerainty over both states.^[12] The peace did not last long. In 1372, Mohnyin Shans again started raiding Avan territory--Myedu in today's Shwebo District. The Shan problem was not contained until 1393. That year, the Maw Shans of Mohnyin raided Tagaung, northernmost Avan frontier. Though Swasawke sent the lord of Legaing (in today's Minbu District) to reinforce Tagaung, the Shans overran Tagaung and advanced all the way down to Sagaing, just across the river from Ava. The Mohnyin forces, which left a trail of burnt houses and monasteries along their way, had become overstretched, and could not break the walls of Sagaing. At the battle of Sagaing, Ava's army led by Thilawa, the taciturn governor of Yamethin, decisively defeated the invaders, and pursued them up to Shangon, 20 miles northwest of Sagaing. So great were the Mohnyin losses that their corpses were piled up in heaps.^[12] No Shan state would raid the kingdom for the rest of Swasawke's reign.^[5]

Arakan

In 1373, the throne of Arakan was vacant by the death of its king who left no heir. The Arakanese court at Launggyet asked Swasawke, who grew up in Arakan during his youth, to anoint one of his relations as king of Arakan. Swasawke nominated his uncle, Saw Mon II as king, charging him to cherish the people and rule justly. Saw Mon II proved a just ruler, and was accepted by the Arakanese.^[13] But he died in 1380, and the throne was again vacant. This time, Swasawke sent Saw Me, governor of Talot and one his long-serving loyalists, to Arakan.^{[note 3]} But Saw Me proved to be a tyrant and was driven out of Arakan soon after.^[14]

Toungoo

Since the fall of Pagan, the hereditary rulers of Toungoo (Taungoo) in the southeastern part of the kingdom had acted like sovereign kings although they swore nominal loyalty to Myinsaing and later Pinya kingdoms. In 1347, the ruler of Toungoo, Theingaba, declared himself a sovereign king but Pinya was too weak to do anything.^[15] After he founded Ava, Thado Minbya had to attack repeatedly before Toungoo before its ruler submitted. When Swasawke became king, he did not trust the ruler of Toungoo, who had received his education and training with the Mons at Pegu, for his pro-Hanthawaddy sympathies. In 1375, Swasawke instructed his elder brother, the governor of Prome (Pyay) to lure Pyanchi I, the ruler of Toungoo to Prome on a false promise of marriage between his daughter and Pyanchi's son. The Toungoo ruler understood this to be the first step toward a joint rebellion against Swasawke. Pyanchi went to Prome with a strong bodyguard but was ambushed and killed. This act of treachery showed that Swasawke was merely waiting for an opportunity to attack all his enemies, including the Mons of Hanthawaddy. He shared Thado Minbya's dream to make Ava the capital of the whole of Burma just as Pagan was.^[5]

Forty Years' War

Swasawke decided to invade Hanthawaddy after King Binnya U with whom he had entered into friendly relations had died. Binnya U's teenage son Razadarit proclaimed himself king but faced open rebellions in all directions. Laukpya, who had always ruled the Irrawaddy delta like a king under his brother Binnya U, was not prepared to submit to his teenage nephew. In 1385, as Razadarit prepared to march to the delta, Laukpya sought assistance from Swasawke with the promise of submission to Ava. Swasawke's acceptance of Laukpya's invitation resulted in the Forty Years' War between Ava and Pegu.

In 1386, Swasawke launched a two-pronged invasion of Hanthawaddy down the Irrawaddy and Sittaung rivers, and Laukpya sent in his army from the delta. The young king did not lose nerve, and successfully fended off the invasions. In 1387, Swasawke again sent in another invasion force but it too failed to topple Razadarit. In 1388, Razadarit was able to defeat Martaban, and quickly moved in on the delta, defeating Laukpya at Myaungmya. Laukpya was captured, and his son and his two sons-in-law fled to Ava.^[16]

Swasawke was now on the defensive. In 1390, Razadarit, having reconsolidated all three regions of Lower Burma, now looked to extend his rule northwards. In 1390, he attacked and conquered Myanaung, the northernmost town in the delta still under the control of Ava. He then proceeded to lay siege to Prome, farther up the Irrawaddy. But Swasawke now sent in a combined land and a naval force and thwarted Razadarit's advance. In 1391, Razadarit and Swasawke reached a truce that gave Hanthawaddy control of Myanaung.^[17] Hanthawaddy now controlled all of Lower Burma south of Prome. Swasawke gave up his dream of unifying all of Burma during his reign.

Economy

Aside from the failed invasions into Lower Burma (1386–1391) and expeditions against the Maw Shans, Swasawke's long reign for the most part was peaceful and brought much needed stability to Upper Burma. The stability in turn allowed his people to repair the irrigation system, and reclaim much of the arable land which had lapsed into wilderness as the result of the Mongol invasions nearly a century earlier.^[5] This redevelopment recharged Upper Burma's economic and manpower that would allow Ava to pursue more expansionist policies by its later kings.

Death

The king died c. April 1400 at age 69.

Notes

1. (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 435–438): Standard chronicles say he died in Nadaw 762 ME (17 November 1400 to 15 December 1400) in his 70th year (i.e. age 69); he was succeeded by Tarabya, who ruled for seven months; Tarabya in turn was succeeded by Minkhaung I. However, the Nadaw 762 death date is in conflict with Zatadawbon Yazawin (Zata 1960: 46, 72), which says he was born on 1st waxing of Wagaung 692 ME (16 July 1330) and died at age 69 (70th year), meaning he died before 1st waxing of Wagaung 762 ME (22 July 1400). Moreover, per (Than Tun 1959: 128), inscriptional evidence shows that Minkhaung I became king on 25 November 1400 (9th waxing of Nadaw 762 ME). It means that the chronicle reported date of death of Swasawke is actually the date of death of Tarabya, and that Swasawke had died seven months earlier, c. April 1400.
2. The Arakanese chronicle Rakhine Razawin Thit (Sandamala Linkara Vol. 1 1999: 181) says the family left Launggyet for Pinya in 705 ME (28 March 1343 to 27 March 1344) but the Burmese Hmannan chronicle (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 403) says the family returned near the end of King Uzana I c. 704 ME (28 March 1342 to 27 March 1343). According to inscriptional evidence (Than Tun 1959: 124), Uzana I's reign ended on 1 September 1340.
3. According to the British historian GE Harvey (Harvey 1925: 86), the nominee was Swasawke's his own son by the daughter of his chief minister Wunzin Min Yaza. But the chronicles (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 414–415) do not list Saw Me as a son; they mention him as a long-time loyal servant of Swasawke. Moreover, according to the chronicles, Swasawke met Min Yaza only in 1368/1369 (730 ME). Even if Swasawke had married Min Yaza's daughter in 1368, their son would only be about 11 years old in 1380.

References

1. (Zata 1960: 72): Monday, 1st waxing of Wagaung 692 ME = 16 July 1330
2. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 404–405
3. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 402–403
4. Sandamala Linkara Vol. 1 1999: 180-181
5. Htin Aung 1967: 86
6. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 280
7. Harvey 1925: 80–81
8. Than Tun 1959: 128
9. Lieberman 2003: 120
10. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 407–408
11. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 413
12. Harvey 1925: 85–86
13. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 410–413
14. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 414–415
15. Cœdès 1966: 103
16. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 427
17. Fernquest 2006: 7–11

Bibliography

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