, image = , caption = , reign = 1084–1112 , coronation = , succession = Queen of the Northern Palace , predecessor = herself , successor = Yadanabon I (as the Chief Queen) , suc-type = Successor , reg-type = King , regent =

Kyansittha Kyansittha ( my, ကျန်စစ်သား, ; also spelt as Kyanzittha or Hti-Hlaing Shin; 1030 – 1112/13) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1084 to 1112/13, and is considered one of the greatest Burmese monarchs. He cont ...

, reign1 = 1077–1084 , succession1 = Chief queen consort of Burma , predecessor1 = Usaukpan , successor1 =

Apeyadana , image = , caption = , reign = 1084 – c. 1100s (decade) , coronation = , succession = Chief queen consort of Burma , predecessor = Manisanda , successor = ...

, reg-type1 = King , regent1 =

Saw Lu Saw Lu ( my, စောလူး ; also spelled Sawlu; also known as Min Lulin ( ), ; 19 April 1049 – 21 April 1084) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1077 to 1084. He inherited from his father Anawrahta the Pagan Empire, the f ...

, reign2 = 1070s–1077 , succession2 = Queen of the Northern Palace , predecessor2 =

Saw Mon Hla Saw Mon Hla ( my, စောမွန်လှ ) was a principal queen of King Anawrahta of Pagan. She is known in Burmese history for her beauty and her eventual exile instigated by other rival queens. Her story is still part of popular Burmes ...

, successor2 = herself , reg-type2 = King , regent2 =

Anawrahta Anawrahta Minsaw ( my, အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော, ; 11 May 1014 – 11 April 1077) was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone ...

, spouse =

(1070s–77)

(1077–84)

(1084–1112) , issue = , issue-link = , full name = , house = Pegu , father = Ruler of Pegu , mother = , birth_date = , birth_place =

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

(Bago) , death_date = , death_place =

Pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

(Bagan) , date of burial = , place of burial = , religion =

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

, signature = Manisanda Khin U ( my, မဏိစန္ဒာ ခင်ဦး ) was queen to three consecutive kings of

Pagan dynasty The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(Myanmar). The ethnic Mon queen is famous in

Burmese history The history of Myanmar (also known as Burma; my, မြန်မာ့သမိုင်း) covers the period from the time of first-known human settlements 13,000 years ago to the present day. The earliest inhabitants of recorded history wer ...

for her

love triangle A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...

with Gen.

and King

. Their story has been compared to the legend of

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...

and

Guinevere Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First ment ...

.Htin Aung 1967: 38 Manisanda was a daughter of the ruler of

(Bago), which was subject to Pagan. Circa early 1070s, her father gave the princess to Anawrahta as gratitude for Pagan's help in repelling attacks on Pegu by foreign invaders from the direction of

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

. Kyansittha, who led the Pagan army that drove out the invaders, rode alongside the lady Manisanda who was borne in a curtained

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...

. During the long journey, they fell in love with each other so violently that the matter had to be reported to Anawrahta. The king nearly killed Kyansittha, and banished his adopted son and best general for the rest of his reign. The princess, who was probably still in her early to mid teens, became one of his queens.Harvey 1925: 31–32 After Anawrahta's death,

became king and married her. She became the chief queen soon after as Lu's chief queen Usaukpan died soon after his accession.Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 108 Uninterested in running the kingdom, Lu brought back Kyansittha from banishment. But Kyansittha and Manisanda resumed their love affair, and Lu too had to banish Kyansittha. Her father, the ruler of Pegu, had died by then, and Lu appointed his childhood friend

Yamankan Burmese names#Honorifics, Nga Yamankan ( my, ငရမန်ကန်း, ; 1039–1084) was List of rulers of Pegu, Governor of Pegu (Bago) from 1077 to 1084, who raised an unsuccessful rebellion against Sawlu, Saw Lu of Pagan Dynasty. He near ...

as governor of Pegu. In 1084, Lu was killed by Yamankan who had raised a rebellion against Pagan rule.Harvey 1925: 34–36 Kyansittha defeated the rebellion, and became king of Pagan. He married his love Manisanda for whom he had twice endured exile, and made her his queen. She became queen to the third

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

in succession.Harvey 1925: 38

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Queens consort of Pagan Chief queens consort of Pagan Queens consort of Pagan Burmese people of Mon descent 11th-century Burmese women 12th-century Burmese women