Saw Yan Naung Of Prome

, image =
, caption =
, reign = 1344 – 1377/78
, coronation =
, succession = Ruler of Prome
, predecessor = Kyaswa
, successor = Myet-Hna Shay
, suc-type = Successor
, reg-type =
, regent =
, spouse = ?
, issue = at least one daughter
, issue-link =
, issue-pipe =
, full name =
, house = Pinya
, father = Min Shin Saw of Thayet
, mother = Shin Myat Hla of Prome
, birth_date = 1323/24
685 ME
, birth_place = Thayet
Pinya Kingdom
, death_date = 1377/78 (aged 53–54)
739 ME
, death_place = Prome (Pyay)
Ava Kingdom
, date of burial =
, place of burial =
, religion = Theravada Buddhism
, signature =

Saw Yan Naung ( my, စောရန်နောင်, ; 1323/24−1377/78) was governor of Prome (Pyay) from 1344 to 1375 and viceroy of Prome from 1375 to 1377/78. Descended from Pagan and Pinya royalty, Saw Yan Naung was first appointed to the governorship by King Kyawswa I of Pinya. From 1367 onwards, the governor helped his brother King Swa Saw Ke of Ava consolidate the former southern vassals states of Pinya into Ava's fold.

Early life

Saw Yan Naung was born to Shin Myat Hla and Gov. Min Shin Saw of Thayet,Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 402–403 1323/24.The two main standard chronicles ''Maha Yazawin'' and ''Hmannan Yazawin'' are internally inconsistent with their narratives of Saw Yan Naung. (Maha Yazawin Vol. 2 2006: 163) and (Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 214) say that Yan Naung became governor of Prome in 685 ME (29 March 1323 to 28 March 1324). But the chronicles (Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 280) and (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 403) themselves say that he became governor of Prome after Kyawswa I of Pinya had become king in 704 ME (29 March 1342 to 28 March 1343). (Per contemporary inscriptional evidence (Than Tun 1959: 124), Kyawswa I became undisputed king on 29 March 1344. Thus Yan Naung most probably became governor only on or after 29 March 1344.) Moreover, he was likely born in the 1320s as his younger brother Swa Saw Ke was born on 16 July 1330 per (Zata 1960: 72). The 685 ME (1323/24) date in the chronicles may have been his birth year instead. He was a grandson of King Kyawswa of Pagan and a grandnephew of King Thihathu of Pinya. Second of six siblings, Yan Naung had an elder brother Shwe Nan Shin, a younger brother Swa Saw Ke and three younger sisters, Saw Pale, Saw Myat and Saw Omma.

Yan Naung grew up in Thayet but spent his formative years in Launggyet, the capital of Arakan, the kingdom to the west of Thayet. In early January 1334, the Arakanese raided Thayet, and sent the entire family of the governor to Launggyet on 7 January 1334.RRT Vol. 2 1999: 180–181 The family was treated well at the Arakanese court where the children were educated by one of the most learned Arakanese monks of the day. In 1343/44,The Arakanese chronicle ''Rakhine Razawin Thit'' (RRT Vol. 1 1999: 181) says the family left Launggyet for Pinya in 705 ME (29 March 1343 to 28 March 1344) but the Burmese ''Hmannan'' chronicle (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 403) says the family returned near the end of King Uzana I 704 ME (29 March 1342 to 28 March 1343). the family was allowed to leave Launggyet. Soon after their return, Kyawswa I came to power in 1344,Than Tun 1959: 124 and appointed Yan Naung governor of Prome (Pyay), a strategically important region on the Irrawaddy.

Ruler of Prome

Yan Naung ruled Prome for the next three decades. Prome and its neighbor to the east Toungoo (Taungoo), the two southernmost vassal states of Pinya, practically became independent in the late 1350s when the central authority waned precipitously. Yan Naung never formally declared independence; he did not follow suit when Toungoo formally broke away in 1358/59.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 385 But he ruled like a sovereign. He apparently never supplied his share of manpower to Pinya in the latter's war effort against the Maw Shan raids either.See (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 384–387) for Pinya's last years 1350–64. Chronicles mention of no help from the vassals in the war effort against the Maw Shans.

For the next decade, he practically stayed out of the endemic warfare in Upper Burma. He did not submit to Thado Minbya of Sagaing, who took over Pinya in 1364 and founded the Ava Kingdom in 1365 but did not provoke him either. Yan Naung stood by as Thado Minbya attacked Toungoo, Taungdwin and Sagu, the vassal states to the east and north of Prome in 1365–67.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 398–401 He finally decided to join Ava in 1367–68 after his brother Swa Saw Ke had ascended to the Ava throne.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 405

Yan Naung's support helped Swa secure the allegiance of Sagu and Toungoo. However, Toungoo's allegiance was nominal. In the 1370s, Viceroy Pyanchi I of Toungoo forged an alliance with the southern Hanthawaddy Kingdom.Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 23 At Ava (Inwa), Swa was not yet willing to go to war with Hanthawaddy over Toungoo. Instead, the king sought to eliminate Pyanchi in some other way, and enlisted Yan Naung in the plot. In 1375, Yan Naung proposed a marriage of state between his daughter and Pyanchi's son, with the marriage ceremony to be held in Prome. Pyanchi understood the proposal of marriage to be the first step toward joint rebellion against Ava, and came to Prome with a small battalion. But Yan Naung's troops ambushed the Toungoo battalion near Prome, and killed Pyanchi.Htin Aung 1967: 87 The ambush was not a complete success. Pyanchi's son Pyanchi II and his son-in-law Sokkate escaped,Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 414 and Toungoo would remain a nominal vassal until 1383/84.Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 23–24 Nonetheless, Swa was pleased with the ambush, which avoided an outright rebellion, and upgraded his brother's status to viceroy.

The viceroy died soon after in 1377/78.Chronicle reporting is inconsistent. (Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 214) says Saw Yan Naung died in 739 ME (29 March 1377 to 29 March 1378). However, (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 416) says Saw Yan Naung died in 747 ME (29 March 1385 to 29 March 1386), before the start of Forty Years' War. Scholarship (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 326, footnote 1) accepts the 739 ME date. He was succeeded by his nephew Myet-Hna Shay as governor.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 416

Ancestry

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Pinya dynasty
Ava dynasty