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Nat Shin Mai

Nat Shin Me was one of those formidable women who are commoner in the history of Asia than is generally supposed. Though her influence over Thirithudamma was strong, she was not satisfied with her position, her desire being to become ruler of Arakan 1 Maurice Collis Nat Shin Mai (Thirithudevi) was the queen of Thirithudamma or Slim Shah II (162238) who was the son of Minkhamaung or Hussain Shah (1612-22) and Thupabadevi while Nat Shin Mai was the daughter of Minkhamaung and the Queen Shin Htwe. They were brother and sister of the same father and different mothers. After the death of Thirithudamma his son Minsani proclaimed king after putting Kuthala behind the prison bars, but he was poisoned by his mother, Nat Shin Mai within seven days because she wanted to marry Kuthala and make him the king of Arakan. But it was officially announced that Minsani was died of smallpox. By her intrigues Nat Shin Mai succeeded in effecting the release of Kuthala. 2 Then the council was summoned to select a king as there was no direct heir. As Kuthala was a royal blooded man descended direct from Minbins brother, though only by a concubine was a possible candidate, but there were other princes. Nat Shin Mai brought the advantageous idea of surrounding the council hall with Kuthalas soldiers. It was an insult to the council, but the council received the insult without showing anger and the council did not scruple to register her wish. Kuthala was crowned with the title Narapatigyi (1638-45) and ruled the country for seven years. 3 He was a handsome man. He was a member of the council and was the commander in chief of the household troops. He was ambitious, not honest, and was a careless4 and a wicked man Nat Shin Mai was one of the formidable women who are commoner in the history of Asia. Her influence over Thirithudamma was strong. But she was not satisfied with her position. She wanted to become the ruler of the country. Her character was stronger than Kuthalas. She thought herself that with his soldiers assistance and with her help Kuthala could dethrone the king. She also felt that when she enthroned him as king of Arakan and she was his Centre Queen, she could make him an instrument and could dominate his actions. 5 She had the charming beauty and possessed all the qualifications to win the heart of Kuthala. She told him that she would make him king after Thirithudammas death.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Maurice collis; The land of the Great Image, p.289. land Ibid , p.300. R.B. Smart; Burma Gazetteer Akyab District, Vol:A, p.26 Ibid, Ibid, pp. 289+300. Ib id, p.26. Ibid, p.289. Ibid, p.290.

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She suggested to him to conduct a palace revolution. He was dazzled by the suggestion. He accepted the plot. These were the reasons which caused the murder of king Thirithudamma,6 and these were the stepping stones to his accession to the throne. When Kuthala was made as the king of Arakan Nat Shin Mai married him. But Kuthala became suspicious of her who was not satisfied with him because her authority was not as certain as she had looked forward to before she made him king. She planned to get rid of him by falling in love secretly with Shwe Dah Swe Bo. This might have always been her intention. It was discovered by Narapatigyi who executed Shwe Dah Swe Bo while Nat Shin Mai was thrown off out of the palace and put her in a public rest-house outside the city wall. Maurice Callis writes After a trial of strength he succeeded in expelling her from the palace. Yet the fear of death continued to haunt him. He believed that she, or some person ill disposed towards him, had undermined his astrological position with Yattara squares, precisely as he had undermined Thirithudammas. In desperation he built two pagodas, the Thet-daw-she and the Thetdaw-saung, close to the palace. 7 These two pagodas still stand with Yattara ciphers on their walls. He hoped that the Yattara squares would weak Nat Shin Mais Yattara squares which he feared were in operation. He fell sick and became horribly afraid that his pagodas failed to act in opposition to Nat Shin Mais magic. Later he died of terror in his own heart in 1645 like Thirithudamma. 8 Women of her (Nat Shin Mais) type have always brought misfortune upon their countries. A woman of this kind will enter to dominate the government of a country and will bring the ruin because she represents its opposite. Such kind of woman are Nur Jahan, the Empress of Jahangir, the Moghul Emperor of India; Supayalat, the queen of Thibawmin, the last king of Burma; Tzu Hsi, the Manchu Empress Dowager of China, the most terrible of all.9 Nur Jahans original name was Meherun Nisa who, with a little daughter named Ladli Begum, was the widow of Ali Khuli Istajul known as Sher Afghan, the Pargana officer of Bardwan. In 1611 at the age of 35 she was married to Nuruddin Mohammad Jahangir (1605-26), the emperor of India who made her his Chief Queen and gave her the title of Nur Jahan, the light of the world. Her quick understanding, penetrating intellect, sound temper, beauty, bewitching charm and rosy freshness of her body highly influenced Jahangir. As a token of love Jahangir put her name on coins. She was an ambitious lady. She wanted to hold her power for long. So she began to gather power in her hands and the emperor grew ease-loving. She became the practical sovereign of the empire and Jahangir became a tool in her hands. To secure her own power she appointed her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg entitled Makhdumul Mulk and her talented brother Asaf Khan to high offices. Jahangir capable son Khurram (Shah Jahan) was married to the daughter of Asaf Khan. Thus she secured her position. She was also an abler
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6. 7. 8. pp.289Ibid, pp.289 -296. Ibid, p.301. Ibid, p.301. Ibid, p.302

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administrator. Then she entered the smallest details of administration. The ministers, the governors, the generals, the subjects all bowed before her and none ventured to oppose her authority. The early political career of Nur Jahan was very successful. The rebels were crushed, administration was smoothly maintained and some new territories were conquered. But later her reputation began to wane. She was afraid of the accession of Shah Jahan because she knew very well that Shah Jahan would not allow her influence in political affairs. So she planned secretly to place her own son-in-law, Shahriyar (husband of ladli Bengum), the most worthless son of Jahangir on the throne and to retain her power. This led Shah Jahan to break into rebellion; Qandahar was occupied by the Iranians, the Moghul army was defeated in Deccan and Muhabbat Khan, the imperial commander made a coup arresting Jahangir and Nur Jahan while they were marching against Kabul in 1625. They escaped from the prison and joined their regiment again. But Nur Jahan could not enjoy the fruits of this power for long as Jahangir expired on 28 October 1626, and Shah Jahan on 28 January 1628 became the Emperor after arresting and blinding Shahriyar, and deposing and deporting Darwar Baksh ( son of the late Khasru, Jahangirs son ) to Persia, and Nur Jahan retired from politics. But she was treated with honour and granted a pension. She died in 1645. Supayalat was the second daughter of the Queen Hsinphyumashin, the senior most Queen since October 1876. Hsinphyumashin was looking for a son-in-law who would become a king under her influence. Thibaw became the choice of Hsinphyumashin. Supayalat with her elder sister Supayagyi was married to Thibaw on his accession to the throne in October 1878. Her influence over Thibawmin (1878-85) was very forceful. She succeeded to a great extent in controlling and dominating the attention of Thibawmin. She was the person who helped throw off the influence of Hsinphyumashin and the ministers. Her influence was so crucial that she affected Thibawmins dismissal of ministers Magwe Mingyi and Yenangyaung Mingyi in January 1879 and she also forcefully refused the deposed ministers and Kinwun Mingyis idea of a constitutional monarch. She devotedly remained to the traditional idea of kingship and she severely protected the royal previlege and authority as she was more unwilling to make any changes in the kingship than the ministers. She strongly rejected, at the expense of war, the terms of the British ultimatum of 22 October 1885 in which the British demanded for establishing a British protectorate over Burma, representing a very strong challenge to the idea of kingship. War was declared on Burma and the British forces landed in Mandalay on 28 November 1885 and the ceremony of surrender was arranged for the next day in the evening of which Thibawmin had been deposed, he and his Queen Supayalat boarded the ship named Thuriah to go to India into exile and forgetfulness. The Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi was a living symbol of the corruption of the Manchus. She was a strong-willed woman who held the real power of the government by ruling as regent for a series of weak or child emperors. As an example of her ruling style, she once took tax money intended for building a modern Chinese navy and used it instead to build a summer palace with a large marble boat sitting in the lake, unmoving and entirely useless for the defence of China. She died in 1908. Four years later, the last imperial dynasty to rule over China broke up and sank out of sight.
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Nat Shin Mai was an ambitious woman. She was eager to become the ruler of Arakan. She killed her husband and her own son to marry Kuthala (Narapatigyi) and to become his Centre Queen. She could not dominate his actions as anticipated. She was not a loyal woman. She planned to kill him. The plan was immediately known to Narapatigyi who expelled her from the palace and put her in a public rest-house outside the city wall where she died as an unfaithful and a fickle woman. An evil deed always brings evil fruits. She had looked into the abyss, the abyss looked into her.

The End 4.8.2007

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