Hnin U Yaing

Hnin U Yaing နှင်းဥရိုင်
Princess of Martaban
Reign	1287 – 1310s
Born	c. 1260s Donwun Pagan Empire
Died	by 1319 Martaban (Mottama) Martaban Kingdom
Spouse	Min Bala
Issue	Saw O Saw Zein
House	Wareru
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Hnin U Yaing (Burmese: နှင်းဥရိုင်, Burmese pronunciation: [n̥ɪ́ɴ ʔṵ jàiɴ]; c. 1260s – 1310s) was a princess of Martaban and the mother of kings Saw O and Saw Zein.

She helped her eldest brother Wareru seize the governorship of Martaban (Mottama) in 1281. Thirty years later, she and her husband Gov. Min Bala of Myaungmya overthrew her brother King Hkun Law, and placed their eldest son Saw O on the throne.

U Yaing was born to commoner parents in Donwun, then part of the Pagan Kingdom. She had at least two elder brothers, Ma Gadu and Ma Gada. The siblings were of Shan and/or Mon background.

U Yaing played an import role in the rise of her eldest brother's early rise to power. In 1281, Gadu reportedly used his younger sister's good looks to seize the governorship of Martaban, the provincial capital. Gadu asked U Yaing to strategically choose her bathing place in a river spot where Gov. Aleimma of Martaban would see her. The governor fell for U Yaing, and asked to marry her. At the wedding ceremony, Gadu killed the governor, and became the rebel lord of Martaban. Gadu, now styled as King Wareru, went on to declare independence from Pagan in 1287, and consolidate all three Mon-speaking provinces of Lower Burma by the mid-1290s.

U Yaing rose along with her brother. Wareru appointed U Yaing's husband Min Bala governor of Myaungmya, in the westernmost province. By 1307, when Wareru was assassinated by his grandsons, U Yaing and Bala were entrenched in the delta. They did not respect her other brother Gada, who succeeded as King Hkun Law. In March 1311, the couple went to the capital, and seized the throne while Law was on a hunting trip. Bala's troops subsequently killed Law at the outskirts.

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