Atula Thiri Maha Yaza Dewi of Ava

Atula Thiri Maha Yaza Dewi အတုလ သီရိ မဟာရာဇ ဒေဝီ
Chief queen consort of Ava
Tenure	25 April 1442 – 24 July 1468
Predecessor	Min Hla Nyet
Successor	Ameitta Thiri Maha Dhamma Dewi
Born	1410s Pagan (Bagan)
Died	c. 1470s Ava (Inwa)
Spouse	Narapati of Ava
Issue	3 sons and 5 daughters: Thihathura I Shwe Einthi of Twinthin Min Hla Htut of Sagaing Mingyi Swa of Prome Bodaw Me of Kale Min Mya Htut of Pakhan Thado Minsaw of Prome Min Taya Medaw of Pinle
House	Mohnyin
Father	Thinkhaya of Pagan
Mother	Saw Min Pu
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

This article is about a queen consort of Ava. For Bayinnaung's chief queen, see Atula Thiri Maha Yaza Dewi.

Atula Thiri Maha Yaza Dewi of Ava (Burmese: အတုလ သီရိ မဟာရာဇ ဒေဝီ, pronounced: [ʔətṵla̰ θìɹḭ məhà jàza̰ dèwì]; also known as Atula Maha Dhamma Yaza Dewi) was the chief queen consort of King Narapati I of Ava from 1442 to 1468. She was the mother of King Thihathura of Ava and King Thado Minsaw of Prome,^[1] and a maternal aunt of King Leik Munhtaw of Hanthawaddy. King Alaungpaya, the founder of Konbaung Dynasty, was a tenth generation descendant of the queen.^[2]

She became the queen dowager in 1468 after her husband died from a stab wound by one of her grandsons. She instigated a rebellion by Toungoo (Taungoo) when her son Thihathura, who was now king, failed to punish the grandson.

Ancestry

The queen was descended from the Pagan royal line--she was a great granddaughter of King Kyawswa of Pagan. She was a half cousin as well as niece of King Minkhaung I of Ava^{[note 1]} although she was about four decades younger. She had four siblings. Her eldest sibling Saw Shwe Khet was viceroy of Prome (Pyay) from 1417 to 1422 and from 1442 to 1446.^[3] Her elder sister Soe Min Wimala Dewi was queen of Hanthawaddy Pegu.^[4]

Ancestry of Queen Atula Thiri Maha Yaza Dewi

8. Kyawswa of Pagan               4. Min Shin Saw of Thayet                       9. Saw Soe of Pagan               2. Thinkhaya of Pagan                             10. unnamed               5. unnamed                       11. unnamed               1. Atula Thiri                                   12. Min Letwe of Si-Gyay               6. Thinkhaya of Wadi                       13. unnamed               3. Saw Min Pu                             14. Yandathu II of Lanbu               7. Saw Pale of Wadi                       15. Saw Chit-Ke

Brief

She was the chief consort of Narapati (then known as Thihathu), Viceroy of Prome, from 1429 to 1442. The family moved to Ava (Inwa) in 1442 when her husband succeeded the throne.^[3] The couple had to flee Ava 25 years later in June 1467 after Thado Kyaw, one of their grandsons, stabbed Narapati, They never returned to Ava. The king never fully recovered from the stab wound, and died a year later at Prome.^[5] She was shocked when her son Thihathura, who was now king, failed to punish his son Thado Kyaw. She nursed a grudge, and in 1470, instigated Letya Zeya Thingyan, Viceroy of Toungoo, to revolt. The rebellion however failed. The chronicles do not say whether or not the queen dowager was punished by her son the king.^[6]

Notes

1. Hmannan (Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 82) says Thinkhaya of Pagan was the youngest paternal uncle of King Minkhaung I. But Thinkhaya could not have been a full paternal uncle since Minkhaung's father Swa Saw Ke did not have any full younger brothers. It means Thinkhaya was born to a junior wife of Min Shin Saw of Thayet. Moreover (Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 74) says she was also a niece of Minkhaung I.

References

1. Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 83–84
2. Letwe Nawrahta 1961: 12
3. Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 82
4. Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 74
5. Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 97–99
6. Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 100–101

Bibliography

• Letwe Nawrahta and Twinthin Taikwun (c. 1770). Hla Thamein, ed. Alaungpaya Ayedawbon (in Burmese) (1961 ed.). Ministry of Culture, Union of Burma.
• Royal Historical Commission of Burma (1832). Hmannan Yazawin (in Burmese). 1–3 (2003 ed.). Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar.