45 Facts About Mohnyin Thado

Mohnyin Thado is known in Burmese history as Mohnyin Min Taya after his longtime tenure as the sawbwa of Mohnyin, a Shan-speaking frontier state.

Mohnyin Thado founded the royal house of Mohnyin that would rule the kingdom until 1527.

When Nyo seized the Ava throne with the help of Queen Shin Bo-Me in 1425, Mohnyin Thado was the only vassal to openly challenge the usurping couple; he drove them out of Ava in 1426.

However, Mohnyin Thado himself was viewed as a usurper by many vassals, and could not find any support outside the Irrawaddy valley.

Mohnyin Thado faced a pesky rebellion by Prince Minye Kyawhtin of the previous dynasty from the outset, and by 1427, multiple rebellions had sprung up in the peripheral regions, including his home base, Mohnyin.

Mohnyin Thado was unprepared when his internal and external rivals took advantage of his inward-looking policy.

Mohnyin Thado grew increasingly eccentric in his last years, and despite the advice of his court, reset the Burmese calendar to year 2 in 1438.

Mohnyin Thado was one of the few loyal vassals the king could count on when King Razadarit of Hanthawaddy Pegu invaded Ava in 1401.

Mohnyin Thado made his name as a royal army commander in 1402 by leading a successful mission to supply the besieged city of Prome.

Mohnyin Thado's regiment guarding a convoy of 2000 pack ponies, each carrying two tins of rice, successfully broke through the Hanthawaddy lines to supply the starving city, helping Prome hold out.

Mohnyin Thado's career continued to rise in the following years.

In 1408, after Hanthawaddy had renewed the Forty Years' War, Mohnyin Thado was a member of the senior Ava delegation that tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a truce.

Thado's Mohnyin regiment was part of Minye Kyawswa's 7000-strong army that stopped the Hsenwi army at Wetwin.

Mohnyin Thado commanded the main army while Prince Min Nyo of Kale commanded the naval invasion force.

Mohnyin Thado faced little oversight from the king, who according to the chronicles spent most of his time with Shin Saw Pu and his concubines, and did little governing.

Still, Mohnyin Thado was the only vassal that would attempt to oust Nyo.

Mohnyin Thado's forces faced the Ava defenses led by Gov.

Mohnyin Thado appointed his 15-year-old eldest son einshei min with the title of Minye Kyawswa.

Mohnyin Thado's coronation is notable for the animist practices of his soldiers, who celebrated by sacrificing horses and cattle to the Mahagiri spirit.

Mohnyin Thado's troops chased King Nyo and Queen Bo-Me, and Nyo died on the run about two weeks later.

Queen Bo-Me, despite her contempt for Mohnyin Thado, became one of his queens.

Mohnyin Thado raised Pu to be his queen, and then made a fateful decision to pardon the princes, the only living son and grandson of his deceased lord, King Minkhaung.

Mohnyin Thado sent Tarabya to live in an estate in Pagan, and Minye Kyawhtin to Thissein.

Mohnyin Thado promptly left Thissein for Onbaung where he received Le Than Bwa's backing.

Mohnyin Thado considered the defense of Prome his top priority, and deployed most of his forces in the south.

Pu's return cleared the way for her brother Ran to press on to Prome but Mohnyin Thado was oblivious to the threat.

Mohnyin Thado was focused on building a large Buddhist stupa for the relics brought back from Ceylon by two senior monks from Ava.

Mohnyin Thado's rivals viewed his inaction as weakness, and would soon test him.

Mohnyin Thado's attention was largely focused on building his pagoda, the Yadana Zedi in Sagaing.

Mohnyin Thado, who had devoted much of his resources on building his pagoda for the past year, was caught off guard.

Mohnyin Thado's court advised him that he did not have enough troops to break the siege in the south, and to defend the capital region from Pinle at the same time.

Mohnyin Thado reluctantly agreed to negotiate directly with Ran, monarch-to-monarch, on the condition that Thinkhaya not be part of the negotiation.

The Hanthawaddy king had asked Mohnyin Thado to acknowledge his 1427 annexation of Tharrawaddy and Paungde.

Mohnyin Thado was so angry at the demand that he reflexively ordered the head of the Hanthawaddy delegation, Maha Thamun, executed before his Chief Minister Yazathingyan talked him out of it.

Mohnyin Thado had raised 13,000 troops in the three months but in the end, he decided not to fight, and largely agreed to Ran's initial terms.

Mohnyin Thado did not make use of Ran's concession to reclaim Toungoo.

Mohnyin Thado resumed constructing more temples, directing much of his rump kingdom's resources to several construction projects.

Mohnyin Thado did nothing when Thinkhaya of Toungoo died in 1435, and a power struggle broke out between Thinkhaya's son-in-law Uzana and son Saw Oo.

Mohnyin Thado did not die within the year of recalibration as some had prophesied.

Mohnyin Thado's authority extended only along the narrow north-south axis of the Irrawaddy river.

Mohnyin Thado appointed many of his closest kin to rule the key regions of his rump kingdom.

Mohnyin Thado was a seventh generation descendant of kings Naratheinkha and Sithu II of Pagan, and a great grandson of Kyawswa I of Pinya.

Mohnyin Thado was a descendant of Chief Minister Yazathingyan of Pagan through his great-great grandmother Khin Hpone, who was a daughter of Gen.

The eldest child, Mohnyin Thado had a younger brother and a younger sister.

Mohnyin Thado had five children, four of which by his chief queen, and one by a concubine.