Pinya Kingdom

The Pinya Kingdom (Burmese: ပင်းယခေတ်, pronounced [pɪ́ɴja̰ kʰɪʔ]) was a kingdom that ruled part of central Burma (Myanmar) from 1313 to 1364. It was the successor state to the Myinsaing Kingdom, one of many petty kingdoms that emerged after the fall of the Pagan Empire in 1287. Led by Burmanized Shan kings, Pinya occasionally clashed with the cross-river rival Sagaing Kingdom for the control of central Burma but was largely kept on the defensive throughout its existence by Shan raids from the north. Both Pinya and Sagaing kingdoms collapsed in 1364 when Shan raiders from Mogaung sacked the capitals of both kingdoms in succession.

The Kingdom of Ava, founded by Thadominbya, a Sagaing prince, came to replace both Pinya and Sagaing in 1364, and became the major kingdom of central Burma for the next 150 plus years.

1 History
2 References

History

Origins

The Pinya Kingdom was the continuation of the Myinsaing Kingdom, founded in 1298 by three brothers, Athinhkaya, Yazathingyan and Thihathu. (Were it not for the secession of Sagaing in 1315, it would still have been called Myinsaing Kingdom.) In 1310, Thihathu, the youngest brother, consolidated his power by poisoning his eldest brother after the middle brother had died of natural causes.^[1]^[2] Thihathu initially planned to move his capital from Pinle to a more strategic location by the Irrawaddy, and close to the Kyaukse granary. (By then, Pagan which had about 50,000 inhabitants before the Mongol invasions was largely deserted.) Thihathu initially chose the location of what would later become Ava, by the Irrawaddy and Myitnge rivers and close to Kyaukse. But court astrologers advised against the location as bad omen. Thihathu instead chose Pinya (near Ava), also by the Irrawaddy.^[3]

Thihathu moved into his new palace in Pinya on 11 February 1313 (15th waxing of Tabaung 674 ME)^[4], over two years after he became the sole king, and adopted the style and title of the ancient kings of Pagan. In his coronation ceremony, the dowager Queen Saw, wife of King Narathihapate (the last sovereign king of Pagan), presented Thihathu the golden belt and the golden tray which had been handed down in the royal family since the time of King Anawrahta (1044–1077). Thihathu now officially considered himself the heir to Pagan kings.^[3] So much so that he appointed Uzana I, a son of the fallen king Kyawswa and Mi Saw U, as crown prince in 1315. (Mi Saw U was pregnant with Uzana in 1298 when Thihathu seized her, and gave birth to Uzana in 1299. Thihathu adopted Uzana as his own son.)^[2]^[3]

Secession of Sagaing (1315)

Thihathu's 15-year-old eldest son Sawyun did not take news that he had been passed over kindly. Encouraged by forest dweller monks, Sawyun left with his followers to Sagaing, directly across Pinya on the western bank of the Irrawaddy. Sawyun never formally revolted and nominally remained loyal to his father. Thihathu, who never wanted to share power with anyone, even with his own brothers, uncharacteristically did not (or could not) punish Sawyun for his thinly veiled insurrection.^[2] Perhaps a younger Thihathu would not have tolerated it. At any rate, after Thihathu's death in 1324, the two kingdoms formally went separate ways, with Pinya controlling central Burma east of the Irrawaddy river and Sagaing the western half.^[2]

Middle years

When Thihathu died in 1324, Uzana I came to power as designated by Thihathu. Uzana, a vestige of Pagan dynasty, was an anomaly in the Pinya court dominated by Shan ministers and warriors. Although his reign lasted for nearly 20 years, he was essentially a caretaker of the throne for his eventual successor and maternal half-brother, Kyawswa I. The younger Kyawswa, the son of Thihathu and a grandson of Narathipate, was a perfect choice as he possessed lineage from both the old (Pagan) and new (Pinya) dynasties. Uzana abdicated the throne in 1343, and became a hermit.^[1]

The two rival kingdoms were engaged in sporadic warfare against each other in the following years. But neither side could gain upper hand as they were more concerned about Shan raids from the north.^[2] Shan raids became more intensified in the late 1350s.^[5]

Fall of Pinya

In 1364, King Narathu of Pinya thought he had a perfect plan to defeat his arch-rival Sagaing and the pesky Shan raiders from the north. He made an alliance with Saopha of Mogaung to jointly attack Sagaing. However, when the Mogaung forces attacked Sagaing, Pinya's armies simply watched from the other side. Unfortunately for Narathu, his plan backfired. Mogaung's armies sacked Sagaing anyway, and turned their aggression to Pinya for Narathu's betrayal. The Shan forces then crossed the river, sacked the city of Pinya, and brought Narathu to Mogaung as prisoner.^[2] While the Shans did not occupy central Burma, the raids left central Burma in tatters. Narathu's eldest brother, Uzana II succeeded the Pinya throne but lasted for only three months. The Kingdom of Pinya, and along with the House of Myinsaing, was finished.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. Phayre (1883). History of Burma (1967 ed.). London: Susil Gupta. pp. 58–59.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Maung Htin Aung (1967). A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 71–79.
^ ^a ^b ^c GE Harvey (1925). History of Burma (2000 ed.). Asian Educational Services. pp. 78–80. ISBN 8120613651, 9788120613652.
^ "Ava Kings" (in Burmese). Hmannan Yazawin. 1 (2003 ed.). Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar. 1829. p. 370.
^ Victor B Lieberman (2003). Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830, volume 1, Integration on the Mainland. Cambridge University Press. pp. 119–121. ISBN 978-0-521-80496-7.