The monk had been repeatedly imprisoned and tortured by the colonial government for "inciting sedition", and forced to wear plain clothes and abandon religious observances.

[3] His "ultimate sacrifice profoundly moved many Burmese who not concerned themselves with politics before", and galvanized the nascent independence movement.

He was born Hla Kyaw (လှကျော်, [l̥a̰ dʑɔ̀]) to Daw Zalat (ဒေါ်ဇလပ်) and her husband U Pya (ဦးပြား) in a small Upper Burma village called Kanneint (ကမ်းနိမ့်) in Sagaing Division on 24 April 1889.

[5] He remarried his childhood sweetheart Thay Hmyin (သေးမျှင်), who gave birth to a daughter named Nwe (နွယ်).

[5] In the next decade, the young monk studied grammar, Pali language, and Theravada Canon under the tutelage of different learned sayadaws in Upper Burma (Magyibok, Pyinmana, Chaung-U, Mandalay, and Pakokku).

Forty days into the hunger strike, prison officials finally relented and allowed him to wear the robe.

He promptly rejoined the political scene, and was duly arrested again for making an anti-colonialist speech at a village near Thongwa (present-day Yangon Region).

In a replay of the first prison stay, U Wisara was forcibly disrobed, and the monk again went on a hunger strike on 6 April 1929.

The prison officials secretly dropped off the monk's body at 3 am the next day at a monastery in Kyimyindaing (west of downtown Yangon).

[7] The previously unknown monk's "ultimate sacrifice profoundly moved many Burmese who not concerned themselves with politics before", and galvanized the nascent independence movement.