Saw Yan Naung of Prome

Saw Yan Naung (, ; 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, 1323/24. 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. 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 family was allowed to leave Launggyet. Soon after their return, Kyawswa I came to power in 1344, and appointed Yan Naung governor of Prome (Pyay), a strategically important region on the Irrawaddy. 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.

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. He finally decided to join Ava in 1367–68 after his brother Swa Saw Ke had ascended to the Ava throne.

Yan Naung's support helped Swa secure the allegiance of Sagu and Toungoo. 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. The ambush was not a complete success. Pyanchi's son Pyanchi II and his son-in-law Sokkate escaped, and Toungoo would remain a nominal vassal until 1383/84. Nonetheless, Swa was pleased with the ambush, which avoided an outright rebellion, and upgraded his brother's status to viceroy. He was succeeded by his nephew Myet-Hna Shay as governor.

Ancestry