Sawlon led a confederation of Shan states, and raided Avan territory throughout the first quarter of the 16th century.
(The earliest reported date in the Burmese chronicles of a raid led by Sawlon of Mohnyin came in 1502.
By the 1520s, his confederation included Shan states of Kale (Kalay), Momeik, Bhamo as well as the Burman Kingdom of Prome (Pyay).
Sawlon made a fateful choice of not attacking Toungoo Kingdom in the southeast of Ava.
After the conquest of Prome, Sawlon was murdered by his own ministers on his way back home to Mohnyin.