Thilawa of Yamethin

Thilawa of Yamethin ရမည်းသင်း သီလဝ
Governor of Yamethin
Reign	c. 1351 – 1395/96
Predecessor	Swa Saw Ke
Successor	Maha Pyauk
King	Kyawswa II (1351–59) Narathu (1359–64) Uzana II (1364) Thado Minbya (1364–67) Swa Saw Ke (1367–95)
Born	c. 1330
Died	1395/96 757 ME Yamethin
Spouse	Saw Pale
Issue	Min Hla Myat
House	Pinya
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Thilawa (Burmese: သီလဝ, pronounced [θìləwa̰]; d. 1395/96) was governor of Yamethin in the late Pinya period and early Ava period of Myanmar. He is best remembered in Burmese history as someone who smiled only three times in his life. The taciturn governor refused the court's offer to become king in 1367, and instead became one of the four top commanders of the eventual king, Swa Saw Ke. He served in the war against the southern Hanthawaddy Kingdom between 1386 and 1391, and decisively defeated the 1392–93 invasion by the northern state of Mohnyin.

The royal chronicles provide no detail about his background. But given that he was a governor of a key region; he was married to Saw Pale, a granddaughter of King Kyawswa of Pagan; his younger sister Khame Mi was the chief queen of King Swa Saw Ke; and he was offered the throne in 1367, he was most probably of the Pagan–Myinsaing–Pinya royal line.

Thilawa succeeded Swa as governor of Yamethin after Swa defected to Sagaing, Pinya's cross-river rival c. 1351. At Yamethin, he remained loyal to his overlords at Pinya until 1364 when he submitted to Thado Minbya of Sagaing, the founder of Ava Kingdom. According to the chronicles, Thilawa was stoic and taciturn in character, and utterly disinterested in the niceties of statecraft. Nonetheless, he was noticed for his leadership abilities. When Thado Minbya died without an heir in 1367, the court offered the Ava throne to Thilawa. But he refused, saying that he spoke no more than three or four words a day, and would not make an effective king. Instead, he suggested that the court offer the office to his brother-in-law Swa.

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