Theinhko ( my, သိန်းခို; also Theinkho, ; c. 919 – 956) was king of the
Pagan dynasty
The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...
of
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
(Myanmar) from c. 934 to c. 956. According to the
Burmese chronicles
The royal chronicles of Myanmar ( my, မြန်မာ ရာဇဝင် ကျမ်းများ ; also known as Burmese chronicles) are detailed and continuous chronicles of the monarchy of Myanmar (Burma). The chronicles were written o ...
, Theinhko was a son of the previous king,
Sale Ngahkwe. Theinhko was killed by a farmer,
Nyaung-u Sawrahan, from whose farm he took a cucumber. The king had been on a hunting trip and separated from his
retinue, exhausted and thirsty.
[Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 222] The farmer was accepted as king by the queen to prevent unrest in the kingdom and became known as the "Cucumber King", "farmer king" or "Taungthugyi Min".
[Harvey 1925: 18–19]
The story is likely a
fairy tale. There are at least three other versions—an exact parallel in the Burmese fairy tale "Princess
Thudhammasari" and two variants in Cambodian history, one in the eighth and another in the 14th century. Kings of Cambodia claim descent from the gardener.
[Harvey 1925: 315–316]
Various chronicles do not agree on the dates regarding his life and reign.
[Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 347] The oldest chronicle ''
Zatadawbon Yazawin
''Zatadawbon Yazawin'' ( my, ဇာတာတော်ပုံ ရာဇဝင်, ; also spelled ''Zatatawpon''; ) is the earliest extant chronicle of Burma. The chronicle mainly covers the regnal dates of kings as well as horoscopes of select ...
'' is considered to be the most accurate for the Pagan period.
[(Maha Yazawin 2006: 346–349): Among the four major chronicles, only ''Zatadawbon Yazawin's'' dates line up with Anawrahta's inscriptionally verified accession date of 1044 CE. (Aung-Thwin 2005: 121–123): In general, ''Zata'' is considered "the most accurate of all Burmese chronicles, particularly with regard to the best-known Pagan and Ava kings, many of whose dates have been corroborated by epigraphy."] The table below lists the dates given by four main chronicles, as well as ''Hmannan's'' dates when anchored by the Anawrahta's inscriptionally verified accession date of 1044.
References
Bibliography
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Pagan dynasty
910s births
950s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
10th-century Burmese monarchs
{{Burma-royal-stub