Kayin Ba

Kayin Ba (1253–1342) was a commoner who made himself master of Toungoo. Born an athi, he joined Toungoo's founders in 1279 and rose from prison keeper to mayor, winning his name by adopting a Karen orphan girl.

In 1317 he backed Thawun Nge's seizure of the governorship, and Toungoo survived a siege by its overlord Pinya. After Thawun Nge's death in 1324 his powers were curtailed, but when Pinya's king died the next year and his sons fought over the throne, the seventy-two-year-old killed Governor Saw Hnit and seized power; Pinya did not intervene.

For seventeen years he ruled like a sovereign, repairing irrigation, drawing in settlers and keeping 150 war elephants. He died in 1342 aged eighty-nine, the chronicles calling him min, lord; his son-in-law succeeded him, and Toungoo broke from Pinya in 1358.