Nanmadaw Me Nu

Nanmadaw Me Nu (Burmese: နန်းမတော် မယ်နု, pronounced [náɰ̃mədɔ̀ mɛ̀ nṵ]; 18 June 1783 – 12 May 1840), commonly known by her regnal title Thiri Pavara Mahayazeinda Yadana Dewi (Burmese: သီရိပဝရ မဟာရာဇိန္ဒာ ရတနာဒေဝီ; Pali: Siripavaramahārajindaratanadevī) was the chief queen of King Bagyidaw of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma from 1819 to 1837. She married Bagyidaw when he was Prince of Sagaing, then became chief queen consort when he ascended to the throne on 5 June 1819, gaining the title Namadaw Mibaya Khaunggyi (lit. Queen of the Main Palace). Me Nu was later sentenced to death when Bagyidaw's brother, Tharrawaddy Min, usurped him.[1]

Nanmadaw Me Nu နန်းမတော် မယ်နု
Chief queen consort of Burma
Tenure	5 June 1819 – 15 April 1837
Predecessor	Shin Paik Thaung
Successor	Thiri Pawara Ti Lawka Maha Yadana Padomma Dewi
Born	18 June 1783 Pha Lan Gon
Died	12 May 1840 (aged 56) Amarapura
Spouse	Bagyidaw ​ (m. 1801)​
Issue	Prince of Palaing Hsinbyumashin
Full name Siripavaratiloka Mahāratanadevī (သီရိပဝရတိလောက မဟာရတနာဒေဝီ)
House	Konbaung
Father	Prince Thiha Kyawswa of Shwedaung
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Background

Me Nu was born Shin Min Nu on 18 June 1783 at Phalangon Village, 5 miles northwest of present-day Khin-U. She had an elder brother, Maung O, and was the great-grand daughter of the hero Bala Thaman. He founded the village during the reign of King Mahadhammaraza Dipadi of the Nyaungyan dynasty, who assigned him to the local fort to help guard against the Manipuris.

Her mother was Daw Nge, and her father, Htaung Thinn Hmu Thiha Kyawswar U Hlote, was a son of Thakhin Mun, who was the third daughter of Bala Thaman.

Selection as crown princess

During the reign of King Bodawpaya, a falcon took 11-year-old Me Nu's sarong as she was bathing, dropping the garment in the left wing of the southern royal palace. When the king searched sarong owner for it, she soon arrived in the presence of the king. After royal officials had conducted an investigation, the king offered her a position as lady-in-waiting at the palace.[2]

Prince Sagaing became crown prince on 6 April 1809. At the end of 1812 his consort, Hsinbyume, gave birth to Prince Nyaungyan, but died seven days later. Prince Sagaing married Me Nu in 1813 and she became crown princess. This granted her the rights to nine villages (five of them salt farms), thiry horses, 3,000 pei of land, and the taxes from four kinds of products.[2]

Chief queen

Prince Sagaing became King Bagyidaw, the seventh king of the Konbaung dynasty, on 7 June 1819, making Me Nu his chief queen and given the title of Thiri Pavara Mahayazeinda Yadana Dewi. Her husband also given the title Thadoe Minhla Kyawhtin and granted the appanage of Salin to her brother, Maung O.[2]

Me Nu had three children with Bagyidaw. Their eldest daughter passed away in childhood and their son, the Prince of Palaing, died in April 1804 at age 10 due to chickenpox. Their remaining daughter, Princess Supayagale, became Queen Hsinbyumashin; she was the wife of King Mindon and mother of Burma's last queen, Supayalat.[2]

The Queen's Brick Monastery

Increasing power and downfall

Bagyidaw favored Mei Nu, who became a powerful in the palace. Alongside her brother and General Maha Bandula, she advocated for war with the British.[3] After the disastrous First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826) left the country crippled, Bagyidaw became increasingly reclusive. Me Nu and Maung O became the de facto rulers of the country, and they were much feared due to their tyrannical policies.[2]

In February 1837, Crown Prince Tharrawaddy, brother of Bagyidaw, raised a rebellion. By April he had forced Bagyidaw to abdicate in his favor. Tharrawaddy put his brother under house arrest but executed Me Nu and her brother.[2]

Donations

Me Nu established the Me Nu Oak-kyaung (Brick Monastery) in 1822 for royal abbot Nyaunggan Sayardaw U Po. It was then offered to the second Nyaunggan Sayardaw U Bok. The monastery was damaged by the earthquake of 1838 but repaired in 1873 by Hsinbyumashin. The monastery is a fine specimen of the Konbaung period of architecture. It consists of a series of wooden monasteries with multiple roofs and a prayer hall with a seven-tiered superstructure.

References

1. "Nanmadaw Mei Nu versus Phalankhon". Myanmar DigitalNews. 17 August 2019.
2. "နန်းမတော်မယ်နုနှင့် ဖလံခုံ". Myanmar Digital News (in Burmese). 16 January 2018.
3. Myint-U 2006: 112

Bibliography

• Myint-U, Thant (2006). The River of Lost Footsteps—Histories of Burma. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-16342-6.