Ananda Pyissi (Burmese: အနန္တ ပစ္စည်း, pronounced [ʔənàɴda̰ pjɪʔsí]; also spelled Anantapyissi; c. 1240 – 1 July 1287) was a chief minister in the service of King Narathihapate of the Pagan Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar).
[7][note 5] As chief minister, Ananda Pyissi spent much of the 1270s trying to keep his kingdom out of the advancing grasp of the Mongol Empire.
Aware of the gravity of the situation, Ananda Pyissi advised the king to use diplomacy, and avoid war.
Not only did the king refuse to submit, but he sent an army to reconquer the Wa and Palaung regions at the border that had gone over to the Mongols.
But the king again refused, and according to the chronicles, he ordered the diplomats executed over the objections of Ananda Pyissi.
[1] The battle was witnessed and reported by Marco Polo,[10] and a 1278 inscription at Pagan corroborates the army's defeat at Ngasaunggyan.
[1] Despite the military success, the Yunnan government could not establish its rule of the borderlands in the following years, and Pagan did not give up its claim on them.
In September 1283, the Mongol government decided to impose tighter control by establishing a province, made up of the borderlands and northern Burma (present-day southwestern Yunnan and Kachin State).
[1] Chronicles incorrectly say that he was killed in action during the second Mongol invasion in early 1284[note 9] by an arrow shot.