Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Shin Myat Hla of Ava

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Predecessor
  
Shin Bo-Me

Parents
  
Princess of Myinsaing

Successor
  
Min Hla Nyet

House
  
Mohnyin Thado

Tenure
  
20 May 1426 – c. April 1439

Tenure
  
c. April 1410 – 20 May 1426

Tenure
  
c. December 1409 – April 1410

Issue
  
Minye Kyawswa I of Ava Narapati I of Ava Shin Hla Myat of Pakhan Saw Hla Htut of Pagan

Died
  
1439, Inwa, Myanmar (Burma)

Spouses
  
Minkhaung I, Mohnyin Thado

Children
  
Narapati I of Ava, Shin Hla Myat of Pakhan, Saw Hla Htut of Pagan, Minye Kyawswa I of Ava

Grandchildren
  
Thihathura of Ava, Min Mya Hnit, Mingyi Swa of Prome, Thado Minsaw of Prome

Shin Myat Hla (Burmese: ရှင်မြတ်လှ, [ʃɪ̀ɴ mjaʔ l̥a̰]; also known as Shin Mi-Myat or Me Myat Hla) was the chief queen consort of King Mohnyin Thado of Ava (now Burma) from 1426 to 1439. She was also a junior queen of King Minkhaung I of Ava for five months in 1409–10. She was the mother of kings Minye Kyawswa I and Narapati I of Ava. She was also an eight-times great grandmother of King Alaungpaya of Konbaung Dynasty.

Contents

Brief

Shin Myat Hla was descended from Pinya and Pagan royal lines. Her father Thihapate II was a grandson of King Thihathu of Ava, and her mother was a great-great granddaughter of King Kyawswa of Pagan. She was born in early 1388. She grew up in Taungdwin which her father had ruled since at least 1364. She had at least one elder half-brother, the father of Shin Bo-Me.

Her cloistered upbringing changed drastically in 1409. She was married off to King Minkhaung I of Ava. (She was following in the footsteps of her niece Shin Bo-Me, who became a queen of Minkhaung in 1407.) But five months into the marriage, in late 1409/early 1410, the king gave her to Min Nansi, then a commander in his army, as a reward for the commander's performance in then ongoing war with Pegu. Furthermore, the couple was sent off to Mohnyin, a rebellion-prone Shan state (in present-day Kachin State), where her new husband was appointed sawbwa (chief; essentially governor-general). Over the next 16 years, her husband came to be known as "Mohnyin Thado" (Prince of Mohnyin). The couple had four children (two sons and two daughters): Minye Kyawswa, Narapati, Shin Hla Myat of Pakhan, and Saw Hla Htut of Pagan (Bagan).

Myat Hla became queen of Ava again—this time as the chief queen, succeeding her niece Bo-Me—in 1426 when Mohnyin Thado seized the Ava throne. She remained the chief queen for the entire duration of Mohnyin's reign (1426–39).

Her two sons became kings of Ava. Her eldest child Minye Kyawswa reigned from 1439 to 1442 while her second child Narapati reigned from 1442 to 1468. In all, her descendants ruled Ava until 1527. King Alaungpaya, the founder of Konbaung Dynasty, was an 11th generation descendant of the queen.

Ancestry

The following is her ancestry as given in the Hmannan Yazawin chronicle.

References

Shin Myat Hla of Ava Wikipedia