Swa Saw Ke
When he was elected by the ministers to succeed King Thado Minbya, Swa took over a small kingdom barely three years old, and one that still faced several external and internal threats.
In the north, he successfully fought off the Maw raids into Upper Burma, a longstanding problem since the waning days of Sagaing and Pinya kingdoms.
He maintained friendly relations with Lan Na in the east, and the Launggyet Kingdom in the west, placing his nominees on the Arakense throne between 1373 and 1385.
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 touched off the first of the decades long wars between Ava and Pegu.
He redeveloped the economy of the kingdom by repairing the irrigation system and reclaiming much of the arable land which had lapsed into wilderness for nearly a century due to Mongol invasions and repeated Maw raids.
Under Swa's leadership, Upper Burma centered in Ava, finally achieved stability it had lacked for much of the past hundred years.
The third child of six, Ke had two elder brothers Shwe Nan Shin and Saw Yan Naung, and three younger sisters, Saw Pale, Saw Myat and Saw Omma.
Ke, still in his early teens, was made governor of a small town called Talok in central Burma, with the title of Tarabya (တရဖျား, "Righteous Lord").
When he grew older, c. 1351, he was made governor of Yamethin, a larger town by King Kyawswa I of Pinya, his first cousin once removed.
The southernmost regions Prome, Toungoo (Taungoo) and Sagu (Minbu granary) all remained out of Ava's grasp.
After Thado Minbya's death, Queen Saw Omma and Commander Nga Nu tried to seize the Ava throne but the court drove them out.
The king came to rely on the advice of his court, led by Chief Minister Min Yaza, a commoner who joined his service in 1368.
The king of the Mon-speaking kingdom wanted a quiet northern border as he had been facing a serious rebellion in Martaban (Mottama) and the Irrawaddy delta since 1363/64.
[note 7] Swa's nominee, his uncle Saw Mon II proved an able ruler and ruled Arakan until his death in 1380/81 (or 1383/84).
Chronicles say after he had threatened to send a sizable force to the frontier, Chiang Mai sent an embassy to Ava, and agreed to a peace treaty.
The Peguan army led by Commander Ma Sein remained in control of Toungoo before the city was retaken three months later.
He followed the developments in Yunnan where the Chinese Ming dynasty had been reestablishing Beijing's authority since 1380, and pressuring Shan migrations towards the Irrawaddy valley.
According to Ming records, Swa asked China for a joint operation against the border Shan states but Burmese chronicles make no mention of such a request.
It was especially true in war-torn northern Burma (former Sagaing Kingdom) which had seen repeated Mongol and later Shan invasions since the late 13th century.
[34] By all accounts, he had successfully established some degree of central control over his vassals, including Toungoo, by the eve of the war with Pegu.
I, Laukpya, Lord of Myaungmya, bowed at thy feet, O king of the Golden Palace at Ava, and pray that thou march against Razadarit before he is firm upon his throne.
[citation needed] In December 1385,[note 12] Swa launched a two-pronged invasion of Lower Burma down the Irrawaddy and Sittaung rivers, and Laukpya sent in his navy from the delta.
King Tho Ngan Bwa of Maw sent his daughter Shin Mi-Nauk to Ava in a marriage of state to Swa's second eldest son Minkhaung.
The Pegu forces went on to occupy the entire delta, as far north as Gu-Htut (modern Myan-Aung) inside Ava territory.
[note 14] Ava sent two regiments to Tharrawaddy (Thayawadi) ostensibly to search for a white elephant but Pegu sent a sizable force to the front.
The Ava counterattack led by Thilawa wiped out all 15 regiments of the Maw army, at Shangon, 30 km northwest of Sagaing.
[54][55] The following is a list of fortified towns which his son Minkhaung claimed were loyal to him at the start of Minkhaug's reign during the Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1401–1403).
The stability in turn allowed the populace 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][34] This redevelopment recharged Upper Burma's economic and manpower that would allow Ava to pursue more expansionist policies by its later kings.
