Key Facts
- Duration
- 1313–1365
- Predecessor state
- Myinsaing (1297–1313)
- Successor state
- Ava Kingdom (founded 1365)
- Sagaing secession
- 1325, after Thihathu's death
- Fatal Maw raids
- 1358–59 and 1362–63
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
Thihathu founded Pinya in 1313 as the formal successor to the Pagan Empire, building on the earlier Myinsaing polity that had controlled Upper Burma since 1297. From the outset, however, the kingdom faced centrifugal pressures: the northern province of Sagaing, led by Thihathu's eldest son Saw Yun, fought for autonomy in 1315–17 and formally seceded upon Thihathu's death in 1325, immediately curtailing Pinya's reach.
Phase II: Zenith
At its most stable, during Kyawswa I's reign (1344–50), Pinya reasserted central authority over its core territory and controlled two of the three principal granaries of the Irrawaddy valley. This brief consolidation represented the kingdom's closest approach to effective governance, though southern vassals Toungoo and Prome remained practically independent throughout, and no significant cultural or economic expansion beyond the agrarian heartland is recorded.
Phase III: Decline
Repeated Maw Shan raids in 1358–59 and 1362–63 devastated Pinya's countryside and accelerated the loss of Toungoo. After the vassal Narathu defected to aid a Maw assault on Sagaing in 1363–64, Maw forces sacked both Sagaing and Pinya in succession. Thado Minbya of Sagaing seized the ruins of both capitals in 1364 and founded the Ava Kingdom in 1365, ending Pinya's existence.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory