Min Bala of Myaungmya

Min Bala မင်းဗလ
Governor of Myaungmya
Reign	c. 1296 – 1310s
Successor	Smim Za-E
Born	Pagan Empire
Died	by 1319 Martaban (Mottama) Martaban Kingdom
Spouse	Hnin U Yaing
Issue among others...	Saw O Saw Zein
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Min Bala (Burmese: မင်းဗလ, [mɪ́ɴ bəla̰]; also known as Smim Min Hla and Smim Myaungmya; d. 1310s) was governor of Myaungmya (in present-day Myanmar) from the 1290s to the 1310s. He was the father of kings Saw O (r. 1311–1323) and Saw Zein (r. 1323–1330) of Martaban. Bala was the power behind the throne during the early reign of Saw O.

In 1311, Bala successfully staged a coup against his brother-in-law King Hkun Law. He reluctantly gave up the throne at the urging of his wife Princess Hnin U Yaing, who had lobbied for their eldest son's accession. However, Bala essentially ruled the Mon-speaking kingdom like a sovereign from his own palace just outside the capital Martaban (Mottama) until his death.

Chronicles do not mention his background. Based on the reporting of the chronicle Razadarit Ayedawbon, it can be inferred that Bala married Hnin U Yaing, the younger sister of Ma Gadu, c. 1282/83.

Bala and U Yaing became a powerful couple in the following dozen years by being close to Gadu, who went on to carve out a largely independent polity based out of the three Mon-speaking regions of Lower Burma by 1296. (Supported by the Siamese kingdom of Sukhothai, Gadu, styled as Wareru, formally declared independence from Pagan in 1287, and had gained control of Lower Burma by the mid-1290s.) Bala later become governor of Myaungmya, a key port in the Irrawaddy delta, known by the titles of Smim Min Hla and Smim Myaungmya.

...
Wikipedia