Thado Dhamma Yaza I of Prome

In Thai history, he is identified as the commander who slew Queen Suriyothai on her war elephant during the first Burmese invasion of Siam.

He and his family moved into Toungoo Palace precincts where he and other staff, who also consisted of Mingyi Swe and Shin Myo Myat, attended to the crown prince throughout his childhood and youth.

[3][4] In the next two decades, his career would track the fortunes of Toungoo, and the former commoner would enter the Burmese and Thai history books.

From 1534 to 1549, Tabinshwehti and his deputy Bayinnaung, the eldest son of Mingyi Swe, would bring war to all their neighboring kingdoms and build the largest polity in Burma since the fall of Pagan Empire in 1287.

But the main contribution of Thado Dhamma Yaza (and that of his longtime colleague Mingyi Swe) was not military leadership.

[6] Then in May 1542, Toungoo forces conquered Prome, and the king appointed Thado Dhamma Yaza viceroy of the strategically important city.

[7] It was only the third viceroyship appointment (after Mingyi Swe at Toungoo in 1540 and Saw Lagun Ein at Martaban in 1541) by the king, who placed only his most trusted men at key strategic cities.

[1][11] The battle ensued when Siamese armies came out of fortifications to follow up on the retreating invaders, who in turn stopped to engage the pursuers.

In that battle, Thado Dhamma Yaza was entrusted to command an army (1500 men, 300 horses, 50 elephants) that guarded the right flank.

Instead of submitting to Tabinshwehti's chosen successor Bayinnaung, vassal rulers of major regions as well as those of small remote towns all declared themselves independent.

In March 1551,[note 5] Bayinnaung's armies (9000 troops, 300 horses, 25 elephants) attacked the city but Prome's musket and artillery fire repelled repeated enemy charges.

The city's defenses were breached around midnight by a battalion led by Minkhaung II, who is said to have forced the break-through by ramming his war elephant through a broken part of the wooden gates of the wall.