Thiri Zeya Thura of Taungdwin

A nephew of both King Mohnyin Thado and Queen Shin Myat Hla of Ava, he was governor of Taungdwin from 1441 to the 1470s or later, and held key governorships, notably at Toungoo (Taungoo) and Kale (Kalay).

He was born to a minor noble family of Thiri Zeya Thura the Elder and Shin Myat Hla in the central region of Ava Kingdom.

[2] Probably born in the late 1410s,[note 1] he became a prominent member of the ruling dynasty in May 1426 when his maternal elder uncle Thado successfully seized the Ava throne.

[2][6] Thiri Zeya Thura the Younger spent the next four decades as a loyal vassal under several kings: his uncle Mohnyin Thado, his brothers-in-law and first cousins Minye Kyawswa I and Narapati I, and his nephew Thihathura of Ava.

Thiri Zeya Thura's job was to assist Thihapate, who too was transferred to Mohnyin, which directly bordered Mong Mao and Ming China, in holding Ava's forward bases in the north.

In the dry season of 1441–1442, he served as the deputy of Thihapate in the successful siege of Mogaung that captured Tho Ngan Bwa, the supreme sawbwa (lord) of Mong Mao.

[16] At Taungdwin, Thiri Zeya Thura would rule the small vassal state, 240 km south of Ava, for the next 20+ years.

[note 6] According to a contemporary mawgun inscription, he and his chief wife Saw Pyei Chantha remained in charge of Taungdwin in 1472/73 when they pledged their loyalty to King Thihathura of Ava.

Political map of Myanmar c. 1450. The map in the first half of the century was similar except in Arakan which was disorganized until 1429. The nearer Shan states in light yellow, including Mohnyin, Mogaung, Thibaw (Hsipaw/Onbaung) and Nyaungshwe (Yawnghwe), were sometime tributaries of Ava during the first half of the 15th century.