Saw O ( my, စောအို, ; also known as Saw Aw (စောအော, ); 1284–1323) was king of
Martaban
Mottama ( my, မုတ္တမမြို့, ; Muttama mnw, မုဟ်တၟံ, ; formerly Martaban) is a town in the Thaton District of Mon State, Myanmar. Located on the west bank of the Thanlwin river (Salween), on the opposite side ...
from 1311 to 1323. He transformed Martaban into a truly independent kingdom by successfully breaking with its hitherto nominal overlord
Sukhothai.
He was put on the throne by his parents Gov.
Min Bala of Myaungmya
Min Bala ( my, မင်းဗလ, ; also known as Smim Min Hla and Smim Myaungmya; d. 1310s) was governor of Myaungmya (in present-day Myanmar) from the 1290s to the 1310s. He was the father of kings Saw O (r. 1311–1323) and Saw Zein (r. 13 ...
and Princess
Hnin U Yaing
Hnin U Yaing ( mnw, ဏင်ဥရိုန်; my, နှင်းဥရိုင်, ; 1260s – 1310s) was a princess of Martaban and the mother of two kings, Saw O and Saw Zein.
She helped her eldest brother Wareru seize the governor ...
, who had staged a coup against King
Hkun Law
Hkun Law ( mnw, ခုန်လဴ, my, ခွန်လော, ; also spelled Khun Law; also Binnya Khon-Law; 1254–1311) was king of Martaban from 1307 to 1311. He succeeded the throne after the death of his brother Wareru, who left no male h ...
. O emerged only after his father's death in the mid-to-late 1310s. He successfully broke with Sukhothai in 1317/18, and went on to capture
Lamphun
Lamphun ( th, ลำพูน, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in northern Thailand, capital of Lamphun Province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Lamphun district. As of 2006 it has a population of 14,030. Lamphun lies north ...
and the
Tenasserim coast
Tanintharyi Region ( my, တနင်္သာရီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; Mon: or ; ms, Tanah Sari; formerly Tenasserim Division and subsequently Tanintharyi Division, th, ตะนาวศรี, RTGS: ''Tanao Si'', ...
by 1321.
Early life
Born in 1284,
[He was born sometime between 6th waning of Tagu 646 ME (7 April 1284) and the end of Thadingyut 646 ME (9 October 1284). The '']Razadarit Ayedawbon
''Razadarit Ayedawbon'' ( my, ရာဇာဓိရာဇ် အရေးတော်ပုံ) is a Burmese chronicle covering the history of Ramanya from 1287 to 1421. The chronicle consists of accounts of court intrigues, rebellions, diplomati ...
'' chronicle (Pan Hla 2005: 39) says he ascended the throne on Saturday, 6th waning of Tagu
Tagu ( my, တန်ခူး; mnw, ဂိတု စဲ) is the first month of the traditional Burmese calendar.
Holidays and observances
*Thingyan
*Pagoda festivals
**Shwemawdaw Pagoda Festival, Bago
Tagu symbols
*Flower: ''Mesua ferrea''
*As ...
673 ME (10 April 1311) in his 27th year (at age 26), meaning he was born ''after'' 6th waning of Tagu 646 ME (7 April 1284). But it also says he died in Thadingyut 685 ME (31 August 1323 to 28 September 1323) in his 41st year (age 40), meaning he was born in 1283/84. But 41st year is a typographical error; he could not have been in his 41st year in Thadingyut
Thadingyut ( my, သီတင်းကျွတ်) is the seventh month of the traditional Burmese calendar.
Myanmar term "thadin" (သီတင်း) means the Buddhist Lent (Vassa), which spans the three preceding lunar months and is the tradi ...
685 ME. The Burmese numerals ၀ (0) and ၁ (1) are similar, and can be mis-copied. He likely died in his 40th year, at age 39. This means he was born by the end of Thadingyut 646 ME (9 October 1284). Saw
A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...
O was the eldest son of
Hnin U Yaing
Hnin U Yaing ( mnw, ဏင်ဥရိုန်; my, နှင်းဥရိုင်, ; 1260s – 1310s) was a princess of Martaban and the mother of two kings, Saw O and Saw Zein.
She helped her eldest brother Wareru seize the governor ...
and
Min Bala. His mother was the sister of
Ma Gadu—a commoner who had seized the
governorship of Martaban (Mottama) in 1285. O became in a royal in 1287 when his uncle Gadu, styled as King
Wareru
Wareru ( mnw, ဝါရေဝ်ရောဝ်, my, ဝါရီရူး, ; also known as Wagaru; 20 March 1253 – 14 January 1307) was the founder of the Martaban Kingdom, located in present-day Myanmar (Burma). By using both diplomatic a ...
, successfully declared independence from the
Pagan Empire. The young boy's name gained the royal honorific "Saw"—reported as
Saw
A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...
O (စောအို) as well as Saw Aw (စောအော).
[Saw O per the ''Mon Yazawin'' (1922: 44) and Saw Aw per the ''Razadarit Ayedawbon'' (Pan Hla 2005: 37).]
The young prince likely moved with his family to
Myaungmya
Myaungmya ( my, မြောင်းမြမြို့ ) is a town in Myaungmya Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar.
The town is home to the Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary, a Seventh-day Adventist seminary and Myaungmya Education College. ...
, a key port in the
Irrawaddy delta
The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Irrawaddy Division, the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, to the south at the mouth of the ...
, where his father became governor, perhaps in the mid-1290s.
[Per (Pan Hla 2005: 37), O's father was known as Smim Myaungmya, "Lord of Myaungmya". The earliest Bala could have been Lord of Myaungmya was in the mid-1290s. Per (Harvey 1925: 110), Wareru went on to consolidate all three Mon-speaking regions of Lower Burma by 1296.] Then in 1311, the 26-year-old prince was put on the Martaban throne by his parents.
[Pan Hla 2005: 37]
Reign
Accession
O's parents had been plotting to overthrow King
Hkun Law
Hkun Law ( mnw, ခုန်လဴ, my, ခွန်လော, ; also spelled Khun Law; also Binnya Khon-Law; 1254–1311) was king of Martaban from 1307 to 1311. He succeeded the throne after the death of his brother Wareru, who left no male h ...
who succeeded Wareru in 1307.
[Pan Hla 2005: 36–37] In March 1311, Bala and U Yaing staged a palace coup while Law was out on an elephant hunting trip. Bala's troops killed the king upon his return.
[ Bala initially wanted to proclaim himself king. But U Yaing objected, saying that Bala was too old already, and that their eldest son, as nephew of Wareru, would stand a better chance at gaining the support of the vassals.][Pan Hla 2005: 37–38] (O had two full younger brothers.[Pan Hla 2005: 38]) During the deliberations, the throne was vacant for at least two weeks, perhaps even longer.[Since Hkun Law was 56 (in his 57th year) at his death, he must have died by 6th waxing of Late Tagu 672 ME (26 March 1311). Per (Pan Hla 2005: 39), Saw O became king on Saturday, 6th waxing of Tagu 673 ME (10 April 1311).] Bala finally yielded to his wife's demand, and O ascended the throne on 10 April 1311.[Pan Hla 2005: 39]
Early reign
One of the first acts of his reign was to seek recognition from Martaban's overlord Sukhothai. The king of Sukhothai gave him recognition with the title of Saw Thin Maung, and sent his daughter May Hnin Htapi
May Hnin Htapi ( my, မေနှင်းထပီ, ) was the chief queen consort of King Saw O of Martaban, and a senior queen consort of King Saw Zein of Martaban. She was the mother of King Saw E.
Brief
The queen was a daughter of King Loe ...
in a marriage of state A marriage of state is a diplomatic marriage or union between two members of different nation-states or internally, between two power blocs, usually in authoritarian societies and is a practice which dates back into ancient times, as far back as ear ...
.[ (The king of Sukhothai was either ]Loe Thai
Loe Thai ( th, เลอไทย, ) was the fourth king of the Sukhothai Kingdom (a historical kingdom of Thailand) from 1298 to 1323. He was preceded by his father Ram Khamhaeng the Great until the throne was usurped by his cousin Ngua Nam Thum ...
or his father King Ram Khamhaeng
Ram Khamhaeng ( th, รามคำแหง, ) or Pho Khun Ram Khamhaeng Maharat ( th, พ่อขุนรามคำแหงมหาราช, ), also spelled Ramkhamhaeng, was the third king of the Phra Ruang Dynasty, ruling the Sukhoth ...
.)
Still, O was king in name only. His father remained the actual power behind the throne. The ''Razadarit Ayedawbon
''Razadarit Ayedawbon'' ( my, ရာဇာဓိရာဇ် အရေးတော်ပုံ) is a Burmese chronicle covering the history of Ramanya from 1287 to 1421. The chronicle consists of accounts of court intrigues, rebellions, diplomati ...
'' chronicle reports that the Lord of Myaungmya managed all affairs related to the kingdom, from his own "palace" at a nearby hill outside Martaban.[ Bala and U Yaing both died from old age in the mid-to-late 1310s.][Bala and U Yaing likely died sometime between 1314 and 1319. (Pan Hla 2005: 38): Bala and U Yaing both died after their two grandchildren ]Saw E
Saw E Kan-Kaung ( my, စောအဲကံကောင်း, ; 1313/14–1330) was king of Martaban for 49 days in 1330. E was the last Martaban king to pledge allegiance to Sukhothai.
The eldest son of King Saw O (r. 1311–1323) was placed ...
and May Hnin Aw-Kanya were born, and fore 682 ME (1320/21). Since Saw E was born in 1313, Aw-Kanya was likely born in 1314 or later.
Break with Sukhothai
By 1317/18, O had emerged from his father's shadows. With his northern frontier with Pinya
Pinya ( my, ပင်းယ), or Vijayapura, was the capital of the Kingdom of Pinya, located near Ava, Mandalay Region, Myanmar. It was the residence of the Pinya dynasty who ruled this part of central Myanmar from 1313 to 1365.Hmannan Vol. 1 20 ...
quiet, he considered challenging Sukhothai. He broke with his overlord six years into his reign.[Mon Yazawin 1922: 44] (Chronicles do not state why O, married to a Siamese princess, suddenly decided to challenge his nominal overlord. According to Cœdès, King Ram Khamhaeng
Ram Khamhaeng ( th, รามคำแหง, ) or Pho Khun Ram Khamhaeng Maharat ( th, พ่อขุนรามคำแหงมหาราช, ), also spelled Ramkhamhaeng, was the third king of the Phra Ruang Dynasty, ruling the Sukhoth ...
died "shortly before 1318", not 1299 as reported by the Chinese records.[Cœdès 1968: 218–219] If Cœdès's conjecture is correct, O may have decided not to pledge allegiance to Khamhaeng's successor Loe Thai
Loe Thai ( th, เลอไทย, ) was the fourth king of the Sukhothai Kingdom (a historical kingdom of Thailand) from 1298 to 1323. He was preceded by his father Ram Khamhaeng the Great until the throne was usurped by his cousin Ngua Nam Thum ...
.)
At any rate, he attacked Sukhothai's western vassals, and went on to seize Lamphun region south of Chiang Mai by 1320/21.[Per (Pan Hla 2005: 38), he seized Labon in 1320/21 (682 ME). (Harvey 1925: 111) translates Labon as Lamphun south of Chiang Mai.] Emboldened by success, he next targeted Sukhothai's southern possessions on the Tenasserim coast
Tanintharyi Region ( my, တနင်္သာရီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; Mon: or ; ms, Tanah Sari; formerly Tenasserim Division and subsequently Tanintharyi Division, th, ตะนาวศรี, RTGS: ''Tanao Si'', ...
, taking Tavoy
Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...
(Dawei) and Tenasserim (Taninthayi) in the following dry season.[Phayre 1967: 66] He was so pleased with the victory that he built a palace in the Tenasserim town, and spent time in his newly acquired region.[
The kingdom of Martaban was now truly independent. The rest of the reign was peaceful. He faced no internal or external threats. The king died shortly after in September 1323; he was 39.][The ''Razadarit Ayedawbon'' chronicle (Pan Hla 2005: 39, 41) says he ascended the throne on Saturday, 6th waning of Tagu 673 ME (10 April 1311) in his 27th year, and died in Thadingyut 685 ME (31 August 1323 to 28 September 1323) in his 41st year (age 40). But 41st year clearly is a typographical error. The Burmese numerals ၀ (0) and ၁ (1) are similar, and can be mis-copied. He died in his 40th year (at age 39).] He was succeeded by his younger brother Saw Zein
Saw Zein ( my, စောဇိတ်, ; also known as Saw Zeik and Binnya Ran De; 1303–1330) was king of Martaban from 1323 to 1330. He inherited a newly independent kingdom from his elder brother Saw O but spent much of his reign putting down ...
.[Pan Hla 2005: 41]
Family
Saw O had a son and a daughter with May Hnin Htapi: Saw E
Saw E Kan-Kaung ( my, စောအဲကံကောင်း, ; 1313/14–1330) was king of Martaban for 49 days in 1330. E was the last Martaban king to pledge allegiance to Sukhothai.
The eldest son of King Saw O (r. 1311–1323) was placed ...
and May Hnin Aw-Kanya.[
]
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:O, Saw
Hanthawaddy dynasty
1284 births
1323 deaths
14th-century Burmese monarchs