Min Saw Oo II ( my, ဒုတိယ မင်းစောဦး, ) was viceroy of Toungoo from 1436 to 1440. He was placed in office by King

Binnya Ran I Binnya Ran I ( mnw, ပထမ ဗညာရာံ; my, ပထမ ဗညားရံ, ; 1393–1446) was king of Hanthawaddy Pegu from 1424 to 1446. As crown prince, he ended the Forty Years' War with the rival Ava Kingdom in 1423. He came to th ...

Hanthawaddy Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon langua ...

. He died in action on his war elephant while fighting against Ava forces trying to retake Toungoo in 1440.

Early life

Saw Oo was descended from a line of nobility. His grandfather was governor of Mindon, and his father

Saw Lu Saw Lu ( my, စောလူး ; also spelled Sawlu; also known as Min Lulin ( ), ; 19 April 1049 – 21 April 1084) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1077 to 1084. He inherited from his father Anawrahta the Pagan Empire, the f ...

would later become governor of

Toungoo Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ; also spelled Toungoo) is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east and west. The main industr ...

(Taungoo), a major vassal state.Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 27 He had two sisters.Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 29

Career

Saw Oo's career began in 1420 when King Minkhaung I of Ava appointed his father governor of Toungoo, and Saw Oo governor of Yanaung, a small town in Central Burma. He left Yanaung in 1426 when his father, now styled as Thinkhaya, refused to submit to the new king of Ava,

Mohnyin Thado Mohnyin Thado ( my, မိုးညှင်း သတိုး, ; 1379–1439) was king of Ava from 1426 to 1439. He is also known in Burmese history as Mohnyin Min Taya (မိုးညှင်း မင်းတရား, , "Righteous L ...

, and declared himself king. The rebellion was aided by the

Hanthawaddy Kingdom ( Mon) ( Burmese) , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Hongsarwatoi (Hanthawaddy) Pegu , common_name = Hongsarwatoi (Hanthawaddy) Kingdom / Ramannya (Ramam) , era = Warring states , status = Kingdom , event_pre ...

.Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 28Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 71 Thinkhaya was emboldened by the chaos at Ava that saw three Ava kings assassinated between August 1425 and May 1426. His petty state included the five irrigated zones of present-day

Yamethin Yamethin Township is a township of Yamethin District in the Mandalay Region of Burma (Myanmar). The administrative seat and principal city is Yamethin, which is also the major rail stop in the township, and it has a population of 258,091. Commun ...

and

Naypyidaw Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city outs ...

. Chronicles do not state Saw Oo's exact role during Thinkhaya's reign. Though he was the only son of Thinkhaya, when Thinkhaya died in 1435/36, it was his brother-in-law Uzana that managed to succeed the Toungoo throne. Saw Oo believed the throne was his, and successfully appealed to his other brother-in-law, King

of Hanthawaddy to intervene. Less than a year of Uzana's accession, Ran came up with his army, and installed Saw Oo.Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 166 Saw Oo's reign as vassal king lasted over three years. In 1440, Toungoo came under attack by Ava forces made up of regiments from Taungdwin and Yanaung. The attack was ordered by King

Minye Kyawswa I of Ava Minye Kyawswa I of Ava ( my, မင်းရဲကျော်စွာ, ; also known as Hsinbyushin Minye Kyawswa Gyi (ဆင်ဖြူရှင် မင်းရဲကျော်စွာကြီး, ; –) was king of Ava (Inwa) from ...

, who was determined to regain the breakaway region. Saw Oo tried to break the siege by personally leading the Toungoo forces on his war elephant. In the ensuing pitched battle, he was killed by the Ava Commander Yazathingyan of Taungdwin.Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 30 One of the Ava commanders,

Tarabya Tarabya ( ota, Tarabiye, el, Θεραπειά, translit=Therapiá) is a neighbourhood in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is located on the European shoreline of the Bosphorus strait, between the neighbourhoods of Yeniköy, Istanbul, ...

, was appointed viceroy of Toungoo.Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 31

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{s-end Ava dynasty Hanthawaddy dynasty 1440 deaths Year of birth unknown