Mohnyin Thado

Born into minor nobility, Thado began his career as a royal army commander in 1401 during the Forty Years' War against Hanthawaddy Pegu.

After making his name under the command of Crown Prince Minye Kyawswa, including the 1406 conquest of Arakan, Thado was appointed sawbwa of Mohnyin in 1410 by King Minkhaung I.

He remained loyal to Minkhaung's successor King Thihathu, serving as a co-commander-in-chief alongside Prince Min Nyo of Kale in the successful final campaign of the Forty Years' War in 1422–1423.

[10] The future king was born Min Nansi (မင်း နံစီ) c. 23 October 1379[note 1] in Nyaungyan, a small town 130 km (81 mi) south of Ava (Inwa), to a distant branch of the royal family.

The new king, who faced several challenges to his rule at the start of his reign, appointed Udein governor of Myohla (present-day Shwebo), near Inbe, with an upgraded title of Thado.

His regiment guarding a convoy of 2000 pack ponies, each carrying two tins (~82 liters, ~2.25 bushels) of rice, successfully broke through the Hanthawaddy lines to supply the starving city, helping Prome hold out.

In 1406, he was the second-in-command (sitke) of the Ava invasion army (10,000 men, 500 cavalry, 40 elephants) led by Minkhaung's eldest son Prince Minye Kyawswa that captured the western kingdom of Arakan (present-day Rakhine State).

The appointment came after Minkhaung's lengthy deliberation with his Chief Minister Min Yaza as to how best to deal with the kingdom's rapidly deteriorating relations with China.

For his part, Thado recognized the significance of, and the risk associated with the appointment; he sought out governing advice from Min Yaza before departing for the northern state.

Consisted of 19 maings (districts),[note 5] Mohnyin was historically the most powerful of the Shan states that ringed the entire northern-to-eastern arc of the Ava Kingdom.

Aside from posting Thado at Mohnyin, the Ava court continued to prioritize the ongoing war effort against Hanthawaddy in the south, sending down conscripts from Chinese border states like Onbaung and Nyaungshwe as late as 1410–1412.

When the Chinese vassal Hsenwi invaded northeastern districts of Ava in 1412, Thado and other northern sawbwas had to hunker down until Minye Kyawswa arrived from the Arakan theater with an army.

[39] Although the prince had a strong claim to the throne as the only son of King Tarabya of Ava (r. 1400), he received only lukewarm support from the vassals close to the capital.

In the north, where Thado held sway, only Le Than Bwa of Onbaung and Baya Gamani of Singu backed Nyo, while in the south, Gov.

Here, Thado persuaded the commander of the Sagaing garrison, Le Than Bwa, to leave the fight by giving the sawbwa a substantial amount of gold and silver.

[47] In August,[note 16] his forces (9000 troops, 300 cavalry and 20 elephants) easily overran Pakhan, and captured both princes as well as Shin Saw Pu, a consort of Tarabya and a former queen of King Thihathu.

[48][49] Thado raised Pu to be his queen, and then made a fateful decision to pardon the princes, the only living son and grandson of his deceased lord, King Minkhaung.

While the governors politely pledged allegiance to the new king, Thado's eldest son, the crown prince, was skeptical, and urged his father not to allow them to return to their fiefs.

Although Thado's main army managed to drive back Kyawhtin, the battle so close to the capital proved to be the opening for unenthusiastic vassals.

[note 17] Meanwhile, the governors of Toungoo and Taungdwin had not only revolted but also enlisted the support of King Binnya Ran I of Hanthawaddy Pegu to seize Prome (Pyay).

(Earlier in the year, King Binnya Ran personally accompanied the monks, who had landed at Bassein (Pathein), to Prome, where the relics were transferred to forty boats sent from Ava with great fanfare.

Thado was so angry at the demand that he reflexively ordered the head of the Hanthawaddy delegation, Maha Thamun, executed before his Chief Minister Yazathingyan talked him out of it.

The king of this province rides on a white elephant, round the neck of which is fastened a chain of gold ornamented with precious stones, which reaches to its feet..." Thado, however, did not make use of Ran's concession to reclaim Toungoo.

[11][8] According to a preliminary calculation by the historian Michael Aung-Thwin, the 27 projects may have cost the royal treasury 1.62 million kyats (ticals) (25,453 kg) of silver, "not including the usual endowments of people and land for their subsequent upkeep.

In all, in the last 8 years of his reign, he authorized only one minor expedition: a 1433–1434 campaign led by his eldest son the crown prince to Pinle, Yamethin and Taungdwin.

After the discussion, a big and spacious pavilion was erected on the open ground at the silver market at the right of the palace, south of Ava and north of Tonpulu.

By 1437, he had come to believe in the advice of court astrologers[note 20] that his rump kingdom's troubles needed to be addressed by recalibrating the Burmese calendar when it reached the year 800 ME (in 1438 CE).

When told by Chief Minister Yazathingyan that kings who altered the calendar died within the year, he replied: "I could not be afraid of death, if it meant making all creatures happy.

"[69] His main contribution was in leaving his successors with a relatively peaceful core region that included the most productive granaries, Mu valley, Minbu and a large portion of Kyaukse.

Indeed, his sons kings Minye Kyawswa I (r. 1439–1442) and Narapati I (r. 1442–1468) both pursued a more militaristic policy, and recovered all of the former vassals of Ava, including those lost to Hanthawaddy, by the late 1440s.