Zein Pun ( my, ဇိတ်ပွန် ; 1295–1330) 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 o ...

for one week in 1330. Of commoner background, Zein Pun rose from a childhood servant of Prince

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 ...

to a powerful commander during Saw Zein's reign. The ambitious commander then staged a coup against his lord, killing the king. But the usurper himself was killed a week later in a counter-coup organized by Queen

Sanda Min Hla Sanda Min Hla ( my, စန္ဒာမင်းလှ, ; 1300s–1363/64) was the chief queen consort of three kings of Martaban, and the real palace power behind the throne. Her murder of her second husband King Saw E, grandson of king of Suk ...

Brief

Zein Pun was born on 26 May 1295 to commoner parents.(Pan Hla 2005: 41): Thursday, 12th waxing of Nayon 657 ME = ''Friday'', 27 May 1295. Since he was a Thursday born, he was likely born on 26 May 1295. As a young boy, he left his native village of Atawgana (အတောဂန), and came to work as a servant in the household of 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. 1323 ...

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 ...

.Pan Hla 2005: 39 He was part of the staff that took care of Prince

since childhood. Zein Pun's career rose with Saw Zein who became king in 1323. The new king, who faced several rebellions from the outset, came to rely on a small circle of trusted men. In the following years, the king went on to put down revolts in the

Mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * An ...

-speaking regions of Lower Burma although he could not retake the

Tenasserim coast Tanintharyi Region ( my, တနင်္သာရီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; Mon: or ; ms, Tanah Sari; formerly Tenasserim Division and subsequently Tanintharyi Division, th, ตะนาวศรี, RTGS: ''Tanao Si'', ...

. Zein Pun apparently had proven himself. The king entrusted him to command a special military battalion made up of 500 ethnic Shan warriors. By 1330, Zein Pun had become a powerful figure. He had built himself a large estate, surrounded by a garden and a moat, and defended by his Shan battalion.Pan Hla 2005: 41 The commoner had begun eyeing the throne for himself especially after Saw Zein's recent battlefield setbacks at

Prome Pyay (, ; mnw, ပြန် , ; also known as Prome and Pyè) is principal town of Pyay Township in the Bago Region in Myanmar. Pyay is located on the bank of the Irrawaddy River, north-west of Yangon. It is an important trade center for the Ayey ...

(Pyay) in the north and at

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 ...

in the south. In April/May 1330, he invited the king to his estate, which apparently was outside the capital, to his housewarming ceremony. When the unsuspecting king entered the house, his men ambushed and killed him. He then completed by proclaiming himself king with the title of Deibban Min.Phayre 1967: 66 The royal family of Martaban was in shock but soon reacted. The fallen king's chief queen

managed to escape the coup, and organized a counter coup of the usurper seven days later. That day, Sanda Min Hla and her retinue led by Gen. Sit Thingyan went to the palace, ostensibly to submit to the new king. Inside the palace, Sit Thingyan's men managed to overcome Zein Pun's troops. Zein Pun was put to death immediately. He was 34. Sanda Min Hla then put her nephew

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 ...

on the throne, and made herself the chief queen of the nephew.Pan Hla 2005: 42

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zein Pun Hanthawaddy dynasty 1330 deaths 1295 births 14th-century Burmese monarchs