Saw Hnit

Saw Hnit (Burmese: စောနှစ်, pronounced [sɔ́ n̥ɪʔ]; also spelled စောနစ်, [sɔ́ nɪʔ], Saw Nit or Min Lulin; 1283–1325) was a viceroy of Pagan (Bagan) from 1297 to 1325 under the suzerain of Myinsaing Kingdom in central Burma (Myanmar). He was a son of the Mongol vassal king Kyawswa, and a grandson of Narathihapate, the last sovereign king of Pagan dynasty. Saw Hnit succeeded as "king" after his father was forced to abdicate the throne by the three brothers of Myinsaing in December 1297.^[6]

Saw Hnit စောနှစ်
Viceroy of Pagan
Reign	1299–1325[1]
Coronation	8 May 1299[2]
Predecessor	Kyawswa
Successor	Uzana II
Born	1283 (Saturday born) Pagan (Bagan)
Died	1325 (aged 42) Pagan
Consort	Saw Thitmahti[3]
Issue	Uzana II Atula Sanda Dewi[4] Yazathura of Pinle[note 1]
House	Pagan
Father	Kyawswa
Mother	Saw Soe[5]
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

In this Burmese name, Saw is an honorific, not a given name.

The brothers put him on the throne, officially styled as the king of Pagan, but essentially their viceroy.^[7] His authority amounted to the region around the Pagan city.^[8] The viceroy gave his first audience on 8 May 1299.^[2] He raised his father's chief queen Saw Thitmahti as his own chief queen.^[9] Two days later, the three brothers executed his brother Theingapati and his father Kyawswa.^[7]

King Swa Saw Ke of Ava (r. 1367–1400) was a grandnephew of Saw Hnit.^[8]

Dates

Saw Hnit was a son of King Kyawswa. The table below lists the dates given by the four main chronicles.^[10]

Chronicles	Birth–Death	Age	Reign	Length of reign
Zatadawbon Yazawin	1285/86–1331/32	46	1300/01–1331/32	31
Maha Yazawin	1285/86–1322/23	37	1300/01–1322/23	22
Yazawin Thit	1279/80–1330/31	51	1298/99–1330/31	32
Hmannan Yazawin	1283/84–1325/26	42	1298/99–1325/26	27

Ancestry

The following is the ancestry of Saw Hnit as reported by the Hmannan Yazawin chronicle (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 360, 402–403). He was descended from Pagan kings from both sides. His parents were second cousins, once removed.^[5]

Ancestry of Saw Hnit
8. Uzana of Pagan 4. Narathihapate 9. Su Le Htone of Pagan 2. Kyawswa of Pagan 10. unnamed 5. Shin Hpa of Pagan 11. unnamed 1. Saw Hnit 12. unnamed 6. Yazathingyan of Pagan 13. unnamed 3. Saw Soe of Pagan 14. Kyaswa of Pagan 7. Saw Khin Htut of Pagan 15. Yaza Dewi of Pagan

Notes

1. (Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 82): Yazathura was the younger brother of Atula Sanda. His children were Min Letya of Nyaungyan and Yandathu I of Lanbu.