, image = , caption = , reign = 1174 – 1186 , coronation = , succession = Chief queen consort of Burma , predecessor =

Min Aung Myat , image = , caption = , reign = 1174 – 1185 , coronation = , succession = Queen of the Southern Palace , predecessor = herself as Chief Queen , successor ...

, successor = Taung Pyinthe II (Sithu II) , suc-type = Successor , reg-type = , regent = , reign1 = April – May 1174 , succession1 = Queen of the Western Palace , predecessor1 = ''vacant'' , successor1 = ''vacant'' , spouse = Sithu II (1171–86)

Naratheinkha Naratheinkha ( my, နရသိင်္ခ, ; 1141–1174) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1171 to 1174. He appointed his brother Narapati Sithu heir apparent and commander-in-chief. It was the first recorded instance in the ...

(1174) , issue = Zeya Thura , issue-link = , full name = , house =

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. ...

, father = , mother = , birth_date = 1150s , birth_place =

Myinsaing Kyaukse District is a district of the Mandalay Region in central Myanmar. Townships The district contains the following townships: *Kyaukse Township *Sintgaing Township *Myittha Township Tada-U Township was promoted as Tada-U District Tada-U ( ...

Pagan Empire 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 ...

, death_date = 1186 , death_place =

(Bagan), Pagan Empire , 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 = Weluwaddy ( my, ဝေဠုဝတီ, ; pi, Veḷuvatī; d. 1186) was a chief queen consort of King Sithu II of the

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 ...

Myanmar 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 C. Wells, Joh ...

. According to the royal chronicles, Sithu II overthrew his brother King

after his brother seized his wife Weluwaddy in 1174.

Early life

According to the chronicles, the future queen was born inside the stalk of a glowing

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

plant in the forest of

. She was found by a commoner family, and grew up to be a great beauty.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 312 When King

came to power in 1171, the chief of Myinsaing sent her as part of his tribute to the new king. At the palace in

(Bagan), the king was not impressed by the country girl before him. He is said to have particularly disliked her ears, deeming them too large. He passed, and gave her to his younger brother Crown Prince Narapati who made her a junior wife.

At Pagan

Chronicles say that the former country girl blossomed into a sophisticated beauty in the next few years. Her transformation was orchestrated by the dowager queen Myauk Pyinthe. The queen mother had the girl's ears surgically reduced, sent her to

finishing school A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...

, and personally taught her court etiquette. The junior princess is said to have emerged more beautiful and sophisticated than all other princesses at the palace.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 312–313 She was finally noticed by the king himself one day when she accompanied the queen mother to a party at the palace. There, the king was taken by her beauty, and now coveted his brother's wife.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 313 Naratheinkha's attempt to seize her in the next few months would alter the course of history. The king hastily came up with a scheme: He had a minister falsely report a rebellion in the extreme north of the kingdom at Ngasaunggyan (present-day Dehong, Yunnan), and ordered his brother, commander-in-chief of the royal army, to march there. As ordered, Narapati left with the army. When the army reached Thissein (modern

Shwebo District Shwebo District is a district in south-central Sagaing Division of Burma (Myanmar).Aung Zwa with the order to assassinate the king.Harvey 1925: 53–54

Queen of Pagan

In 1174, Narapati became king as Sithu II. All three main chronicles say that she became the chief queen consort with the title of Weluwaddy (Pali: Veluvati).Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 211Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 133Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 315 However, a contemporary inscription from Sithu II's reign places her last in a list of six senior queens.Than Tun 1964: 129 The couple had a son, Zeya Thura. Both Weluwaddy and Zeya Thura were given the towns of Talok, Amyint and Aneint (modern

Myingyan Myingyan (, ) is a city and district in the Mandalay Division of central Myanmar, previously, it was a district in the Meiktila Division of Upper Burma. It is currently the capital of Myingyan Township and lies along the National Highway 2. , th ...

and

Monywa District Monywa District ( my, မုံရွာခရိုင်) (formerly Lower Chindwin District) is an administrative district in southern Sagaing Division, Burma (Myanmar).Maha Yazawin The ''Maha Yazawin'', fully the ''Maha Yazawindawgyi'' ( my, မဟာ ရာဇဝင်တော်ကြီး, ) and formerly romanized as the ,. is the first national chronicle of Burma/Myanmar. Completed in 1724 by U Kala, a historian at ...

'' (Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 214) says she died in early 538 ME (1176) but ''

Hmannan Yazawin ''Hmannan Maha Yazawindawgyi'' ( my, မှန်နန်း မဟာ ရာဇဝင်တော်ကြီး, ; commonly, ''Hmannan Yazawin''; known in English as the '' Glass Palace Chronicle'') is the first official chronicle of Konbaung ...

'' (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 321) corrects it, saying she died in early 548 ME (1186). After her death, the king dedicated the Shwe Thabeik Pagoda in Talok (Myingyan District).

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Queens consort of Pagan Chief queens consort of Pagan 1186 deaths 1150s births 12th-century Burmese women