Thihathu
[1] Thihathu was the youngest and most ambitious of the three brothers that successfully defended central Burma from Mongol invasions in 1287 and in 1300–01.
Although Saw Yun nominally remained loyal to his father, after Thihathu's death in 1325, the two houses of Myinsaing officially became rival kingdoms in central Burma.
[2][3] But the historian Michael Aung-Thwin has rejected the assertion, given that no historical evidence any kind exists to support the claim.
[note 3] Thihathu entered the royal service of King Narathihapate, following the footsteps of his elder brothers Athinkhaya and Yazathingyan.
Over the next two years, they manned the front (north of present-day Mandalay) while the king and his court relocated to Lower Burma.
The Burmese army led by the brothers successfully stopped the Mongols, who after taking heavy casualties retreated to their base in Tagaung.
In Central Burma, the brothers officially took over the leadership of the army, and consolidated their hold of the Kyaukese region, the main granary of the Pagan Kingdom.
The brothers now ruled Central Burma as co-regents from their respective capitals of Myinsaing, Mekkhaya and Pinle.
In January 1300, the brothers forced the issue by attacking and occupying southernmost Mongol garrisons at Singu and Male.
The brothers chose to face the Mongols in Central Burma at their heavily fortified city of Myinsaing.
The Mongol army began the siege of Myinsaing on 25 January 1301, and launched a major attack on the fort on 28 February 1301.
On 12 March 1301, Athinkhaya, with the support of Yazathingyan and Thihathu, made an offer to the Mongol command, to give them a bribe in exchange for their withdrawal.
[14][15] The Yunnan government did not agree with the withdrawal; the two senior Mongol commanders were executed for abandoning the original mission.
Thihathu, the youngest brother, assumed the royal title of Ananda Thiha Thura Zeya Dewa in 1306, and proclaimed himself king on 20 October 1309.
[20] (He probably decided against returning to Pagan because he wanted to be closer to the Kyaukse region, the upcountry's primary rice basket.
[note 8] On the same day, Thihathu held a coronation ceremony, proclaiming himself as the rightful successor of Pagan kings.
His reign name was Thiri Tri Bawana Ditaya Pawara Thiha Thura Dhamma Yaza.
So eager was he to establish his Pagan credentials that he uncharacteristically begged the dowager queen Pwa Saw twice to attend his coronation ceremony.
[22] While Thihathu wavered, on 16 May 1315, Saw Yun took matters in his own hand, and left for Sagaing with a group of followers, a few miles west of Pinya, across the Irrawaddy.
But Saw Yun continued to consolidate his support in the north, and fortified Sagaing with a brick wall, completed on 26 March 1316.
After his death, the two houses of Myinsaing officially became separate kingdoms, vying for supremacy in central Burma for the next four decades.
