Smin Than-Kye

Smin Than-Kye (Mon: သၟိင် သာံကြာယ် or သၟိင် သာံကြာဲ;^{[note 1]} Burmese: သမိန် သံကြယ်, Burmese pronunciation: [θəmèiɴ θàɰ̃ dʑɛ̀]) was a Hanthawaddy military commander who fought in several campaigns of the Forty Years' War against Ava forces at least between 1389 and 1413. He is best remembered for his successful defense of Gu-Htut against much larger forces led by King Swa Saw Ke of Ava in 1390–1391.

Smin Than-Kye သမိန် သံကြယ်
Native name	သၟိင် သာံကြာယ် (also သၟိင် သာံကြာဲ)
Allegiance	Royal Hanthawaddy Armed Forces
Service / branch	Navy, Army
Years of service	by 1389–1413
Rank	Commander
Battles / wars	Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1385–1391) Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1401–1403) Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1408–1418) (to 1413)

Military service

The following is a list of military campaigns in which Than-Kye is explicitly mentioned in the royal chronicles as a commander.

Campaign	Duration	Troops commanded[note 2]	Notes
Hanthawaddy conquest of the Irrawaddy delta	1389–1390	?	Co-commanded the Hanthawaddy force that occupied Gu-Htut.[3]
Battle of Gu-Htut	1390–1391	5000 troops, 150 war boats	Overall commander of Gu-Htut Corps consisted 1 regiment and 4 naval squadrons.[4][5][6][7]
Invasion of Ava	1401–1402	1 flotilla	Commanded one of the 13 flotillas that invaded along the Irrawaddy[8]
Conquest of Arakan	March 1408		One of two deputy commanders in 1st Division of the strike force[8]
Pursuit of Ava Army	August 1408		Commanded a regiment in the 2nd army that pursued the retreating Ava forces.[9][10][11]
Battle of Khebaung	late 1410		Successfully defended Fort Khebaung against Minye Kyawswa's forces[2][12][13][14]
Siege of Prome	late 1412	1 regiment	Commanded one of the eight regiments that laid siege to Prome[15][16][17]
Siege of Talezi	December 1412–March 1413	1 regiment	Commanded one of the eight regiments that defended Fort Talezi (across the river from Prome) against Minye Kyawswa's forces[15][16][17]

Notes

1. (Pan Hla 2005) provides two Mon spellings: သာံကြာယ်^[1] and သာံကြာဲ^[2]
2. Chronicle reported troop levels reduced by an order of magnitude per (Harvey 1925: 333–336)

References

1. Pan Hla 2005: 240
2. Pan Hla 2005: 273
3. Pan Hla 2005: 197
4. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 301
5. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 202
6. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 429–430
7. Pan Hla 2005: 198
8. Pan Hla 2005: 205
9. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 340
10. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 233
11. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 484
12. Maha Yazawin Vol. 2 2006: 29
13. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 237
14. Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 6
15. Maha Yazawin Vol. 2 2006: 32–33
16. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 239
17. Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 10

Bibliography

• Harvey, G. E. (1925). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
• Kala, U (2006) [1724]. Maha Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (4th printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Maha Sithu (2012) [1798]. Myint Swe; Kyaw Win; Thein Hlaing (eds.). Yazawin Thit (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (2nd printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Pan Hla, Nai (2005) [1968]. Razadarit Ayedawbon (in Burmese) (8th printing ed.). Yangon: Armanthit Sarpay.
• Royal Historical Commission of Burma (2003) [1832]. Hmannan Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3. Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar.