Swa Saw Ke
| Swasawke စွာစော်ကဲ | |
|---|---|
| King of Ava | |
| Reign | c. February 1368 – January 1401 (33 years) |
| Predecessor | Thadominbya |
| Successor | Tarabya |
| Chief Minister | Wunzin Minyaza |
| Consort | Saw Omma II Saw Teza[1] |
| Issue | Tarabya Minkhaung I Theiddat |
| House | Pinya |
| Father | Min Shin Saw |
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism |
Swasawke (Template:Lang-my, pronounced [swà sɔ̀kέ]; 1331 – February 1401; also Mingyi Tarabya Swasawke) was the second king of Ava, who reigned from 1368 to 1401. 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. By the end of his 33-year reign, Swasake had successfully cemented Ava's rule 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 into 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 1401.
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 33-year reign brought 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
Swasawke claimed descent from both Pagan kings and the Three Shan Brothers, who succeeded the Pagan kings. His father Min Shin Saw was a son of King Kyawswa of Pagan, and his mother was a daughter of Thihathu of Prome and the only sister of the Shan Brothers.[2] Although only one quarter Shan, he was given a Shan name, and brought up as a Shan from childhood, reflecting the Shan dominance of the era. His father was governor of Thayetmyo, a small town to the west of the Irrawaddy river. He was taken to Arakan with his whole family when the family was captured after an Arakanese raid on Thayetmyo. He spent his youth as a princeling at the court of the Arakanese king. He conducted himself well, and became popular in court circles and also with common people. He was educated at the Arakanese court. His tutor was one of the most learned Arakanese monks of the day, and Swasawke became a scholar in his own right.[3]
Later, when his family was freed, he left Arakan to enter the service of the king of Pinya Kingdom, which controlled the territory east of the Irrawaddy. He won distinction both as a soldier and an administrator.[3] When Thadominbya reunified Pinya and Sagaing kingdoms into a single kingdom in 1364, Swasawke was made governor of Amyin district, which included Yamethin.[2][4]
Ascension to throne
In 1368, Thadominbya suddenly died of small pox while on a southern military expedition.[5] He was only 25, and had no children.[6] Thadominbya's chief queen Saw Omma 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 serious 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.[3]
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 Thadominbya's three younger sisters as queen.[1]
Reign
Swasawke inherited a four-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 Thadominbya to reunify the region.[8]
Shan raids
The Shans (called Maw Shans in Burmese) based in today's Kachin State continued to raid Upper Burma during Thadominbya'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 1371, he met King Binnya U of Hanthawaddy at a frontier town, and the two kings demarcated the frontier and exchanged gifts. In the east, he received an embassy from Chiang Mai, the king of Lan Na, assuring him of friendship.[3]
With his base secure, Swasawke turned his attention to the Shans. Still in 1371, 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, Wunzin Minyaza, Swasawke decided to let the Shans fight it out among themselves, and secured nominal suzerainty over both states.[7] The peace did not last long. In 1373, 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.[7] No Shan state would raid the kingdom for the rest of Swasawke's reign.[3]
Arakan
In 1374, 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, Sawmungyi as king, charging him to cherish the people and rule justly. Sawmungyi proved a just ruler, and was accepted by the Arakanese. But he died in 1381, and the throne was again vacant. This time, Swasawke sent his own son by the daughter of his chief minister Wunzin Minyaza, to Arakan. But his son proved a tyrant, and came fleeing back to Ava soon after.[7]
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, Thinhkaba, declared himself a sovereign king but Pinya was too weak to do anything.[9] After he founded Ava, Thadominbya 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 1377, Swasawke instructed his elder brother, the governor of Prome (Pyay) to lure Pyanchi, 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 Thadominbya's dream to make Ava the capital of the whole of Burma just as Pagan was.[3]
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 killed in battle, and his son and his two sons-in-law fled to Ava.
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.[10] 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.[3] This redevelopment recharged Upper Burma's economic and manpower that would allow Ava to pursue more expansionist policies by its later kings.
Death
Swasawke died in January 1401 (Natdaw 762) at age 69.[7]
References
- ^ a b Tun Aung Chain (2004). Selected Writings of Tun Aung Chain. Myanmar Historical Commission. pp. 67–72.
- ^ a b Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. Phayre (1883). History of Burma (1967 ed.). London: Susil Gupta. p. 64.
- ^ a b c d e f g Maung Htin Aung (1967). "Ava against Pegu; Shan against Mon". A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 86–89.
- ^ Jon Fernquest (Autumn 2005). "Min-gyi-nyo, the Shan Invasions of Ava (1524–27), and the Beginnings of Expansionary Warfare in Toungoo Burma: 1486–1539" (PDF). SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research. 3 (2): 291.
- ^ Donald R. Hopkins (2002). The greatest killer: smallpox in history. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226351688, 9780226351681.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ DGE Hall (1950). Burma (2006 ed.). Read Books. p. 30. ISBN 1406735035, 9781406735031.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ a b c d e f g GE Harvey (1925). "Shan Migration (Ava)". History of Burma. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. pp. 80–81. Cite error: The named reference "geh" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Victor B Lieberman (2003). Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830, volume 1, Integration on the Mainland. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-521-80496-7.
- ^ George Cœdès (1966). The Making of South East Asia. University of California Press. p. 103.
- ^ Jon Fernquest (Spring 2006). "Rajadhirat's Mask of Command: Military Leadership in Burma (c. 1348–1421)" (PDF). SBBR. 4 (1): 7–11.
| Pagan dynasty 849–1297 | |
|---|---|
| Myinsaing and Pinya Kingdoms 1297–1364 | |
| Sagaing Kingdom 1315–1364 | |
| Kingdom of Ava 1364–1555 | |
| Hanthawaddy Kingdom 1287–1539, 1550–1552 | |
| Mrauk U Kingdom 1429–1785 |
|
| Prome Kingdom 1482–1542 | |
| Toungoo dynasty 1510–1752 | |
| Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom 1740–1757 | |
| Konbaung dynasty 1752–1885 | |
| |
