Binnya E Law

Binnya E Law (Burmese: ဗညားအဲလော, pronounced [bəɲá ʔɛ́ lɔ́]; 1307–1348) was the seventh king of Hanthawaddy Pegu, who reigned from 1331 to 1348. Placed on the throne by his half-sister Queen Sanda Min Hla, this son of King Hkun Law defeated Sukhothai Kingdom's invasion in 1331, and freed Hanthawaddy from its tributary status to Sukhothai. He moved the capital to Pegu, and reigned the kingdom for 17 years.^[2]

Background

Binnya E Law was a son of King Hkun Law, and a nephew of King Wareru, the kingdom's founder. Like his predecessors, he was of Shan and Mon descent.^[3] (He was at least a quarter Shan as his father Hkun Law, was half-Shan.) He became the governor of Pegu in 1331, following the death of King Saw Zein.

Reign

Binnya E Law was placed on the throne by Queen Sanda Min Hla, who had engineered the death of two previous kings, Zein Pun and Saw E within a few months following Saw Zein's death. Sanda Min Hla, who was also queen consort of Saw Zein and Saw E, was Binnya E Law's half-sister. (Their father was Hkun Law.)

His immediate task as king was to stave off an attack from Sukhothai. The king of Sukhothai sent in an army to avenge for Sanda Min Hla's assassination of Saw E, his grandson. Binnya E Law defeated the invasion force near Martaban. From then on, Hanthawaddy formally threw off its nominal vassal status to Sukhothai, and was free from further foreign attacks.^[2]

Binnya E Law moved the capital back to Pegu (as Saw Zein had done), and reigned from there until his death in 1348. He made his half-sister Sanda Min Hla his chief queen. (He probably did not have a choice. According to the Burmese and Mon Chronicles, when summoned by Sanda Min Hla to take over the throne, Binnya E Law went to Martaban without any of his concubines. Sanda Min Hla had killed the previous king Saw E supposedly because he spent too much time with his concubines.)

He died in 1348, and was succeeded by his nephew Binnya U.

References