, image = Natshinnaung and Yaza Datu Kalaya.jpg , caption = Statue of

Natshinnaung Natshinnaung ( my, နတ်သျှင်နောင်, ; 1579–1613) was a Toungoo prince who was a noted poet and an accomplished musician, as well as an able military commander. He later became a rebellious ruler of Toungoo, and went ov ...

and Yaza Datu Kalaya in Taungoo , reign = – November 1603 , coronation = , succession = Princess consort of Toungoo , predecessor = Min Khin Saw , successor = ''unknown'' , suc-type = Successor , reg-type = , regent = , succession1 = Princess consort of Burma , reign1 = November 1586 – , predecessor1 = Natshin Medaw , successor1 = ''unknown'' , spouse =

Mingyi Swa Mingyi Swa ( my, မင်းကြီးစွာ, or ; 27 November 1558 – ) was List of heirs to the Burmese thrones, heir apparent of Burma from 1581 to 1593. The eldest son of King Nanda Bayin, Nanda of the Toungoo dynasty, Toungoo Dynasty ...

(1586–1593, his death)

(1603) , issue = None , full name = , house =

Toungoo Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ; also spelled Toungoo) is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east and west. The main industry ...

, father =

Bayinnaung , image = File:Bayinnaung.JPG , caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar , reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581 , coronation = 11 January 1551 at Toung ...

, mother = Yaza Dewi aka Htwe Hla , birth_date = 12 November 1559
Sunday, 14th waxing of Natdaw 921 ME , 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)

Toungoo Empire The First Toungoo Empire ( my, တောင်ငူ ခေတ်, ; also known as the First Toungoo Dynasty, the Second Burmese Empire or simply the Toungoo Empire) was the dominant power in mainland Southeast Asia in the second half of the ...

, death_date = November 1603
Tazaungmon 965 ME (aged ~44) , death_place =

(Taungoo) , 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 = Yaza Datu Kalaya ( my, ရာဇ ဓာတု ကလျာ, , pi, Rājadhātukalyā; also spelled Yaza Datu Kalya; 12 November 1559 – November 1603) was crown princess of

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 ...

from 1586 to 1593, and

crown princess A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wife ...

for seven months in 1603. Known for her great beauty, the princess was also a noted poet, and the subject of some of the "most beautiful poems in Burmese literature" by

Early life

The princess was born on 12 November 1559 to Queen Yaza Dewi and King

(Bago).Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 330 She was named Yaza Datu Kalaya because she was born on the day when the relic chamber of the Mahazedi Pagoda in Bago was dedicated for the first time.The donated materials to a Buddhist stupa's relic chamber, often gold, silver, jewelry, precious stones, and Buddha statues, were called ''Dat-taw'' (ဓာတ်တော်) of which ''dat'' is derived from Dhātu in

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

, which means physical elements per (Rhys Davids, Stede 1993: 340). Kalaya (ကလျာ) is a Burmese form of Pali Kalyāna, which means "beautiful, charming, auspicious, morally good" per (Rhys Davids, Stede 1993: 199). From her mother's side, she was descended from the Ava royal line. She had two full siblings: an elder brother

Nawrahta Minsaw Nawrahta Minsaw ( my, နော်ရထာ မင်းစော, ; formally, Anawrahta Minsaw; also known as Nawrahta Saw and Tharrawaddy Min; 1551/52–1607/08) was king of Lan Na from 1579 to 1607/08, and the first Burmese-born vassal king ...

and younger brother Thiri Thudhamma Yaza.Hmannan Vol. 3 2003: 68 The three children grew up at the

Kanbawzathadi Palace Kanbawzathadi Palace ( my, ကမ္ဘောဇသာဒီ နန်းတော်, ) is a palace in Bago, Myanmar. The original palace, built for King Bayinnaung , image = File:Bayinnaung.JPG , caption = Statue ...

in Pegu, and they officially became part of the most senior royalty in March 1563 when their mother was elevated to the king's third (and last) principal queen.Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 344 The princess was educated at the palace. She was interested in poetry, (and later became a noted poet).Ohn Shwe 1966: xvi At 15, she had her ear-piercing ceremony on 27 February 1574.(Maha Yazawin Vol. 3 2006: 37): ''Wednesday'', 7th waxing of Tabaung 935 ME = ''Saturday'', 27 February 1574

Crown Princess of Burma (1586–1593)

According to the chronicles, the princess grew up to be a great beauty. The princess nonetheless remained unmarried into her twenties although she was pursued by many senior princes, including

, her already married half-nephew and the heir-apparent of the kingdom.Ohn Shwe 1966: xxviii In 1583, Mingyi Swa's wife, Natshin Medaw, complained to her parents that Mingyi Swa spent much time pursuing Yaza Datu Kalaya.Maha Yazawin Vol. 3 2006: 78 Her complaints contributed to a fallout between her parents Viceroy Thado Minsaw of Ava and Inwa Mibaya and Mingyi Swa's father King

Nanda Nanda may refer to: Indian history and religion * Nanda Empire, ruled by the Nanda dynasty, an Indian royal dynasty ruling Magadha in the 4th century BCE ** Mahapadma Nanda, first Emperor of the Nanda Empire ** Dhana Nanda (died c. 321 BCE), last ...

, which led to a rebellion by Thado Minsaw in 1584.Maha Yazawin Vol. 3 2006: 79 Protected by her half-brother Nanda, Yaza Datu Kalaya continued to spurn Mingyi Swa's advances. But in October 1586, Nanda left Pegu with the army for his regime's third invasion of Siam. Mingyi Swa was left to guard the capital. With Nanda gone, Mingyi Swa raised the princess to be his queen, and formally divorced Natshin Medaw in the process. Nanda arrived back to Pegu in June 1587 from a failed campaign, and the king was extremely unhappy to learn of the news what had happened while he was away.Maha Yazawin Vol. 3 2006: 88 In all, she was Mingyi Swa's chief queen for about six years. She became a widow on when Mingyi Swa died in action in Siam.(Hmannan Vol. 3 2003: 93–94): 8th waxing of Tabodwe 954 ME = 8 February 1593 She learned of the news a month later when the defeated army brought back the body of the fallen crown-prince to Pegu.Hmannan Vol. 3 2003: 95

Princess dowager (1593–1603)

Yaza Datu Kalaya would lead the next ten years of her life as the princess dowager although she was never far from advances by other men. Her most famous suitor was one

who first met her at the cremation ceremony of Mingyi Swa in front of the

.Htin Aung 1967: 137 The 14-year-old prince from

(Taungoo) had gone to the front with Mingyi Swa, and was on one of the men who personally brought back the body. As the budding poet sang the praises of the dead hero, he watched "her eyes growing dim with sadness, and then sparkling with pride at the glorious death of her husband." From then on, the princess became the young prince's object of obsession. She was 19 years his senior, and his aunt—half cousin, once removed. (Both his parents were her half-cousins.) For the next three years, he wrote poem after poem, declaring his love for her until she, a poet herself, finally returned his love. King Nanda, however, refused to permit the marriage because of the disparity in ages. The marriage became totally out of the question in 1597 when Natshinnaung's father

Minye Thihathu II of Toungoo Minye Thihathu II of Toungoo ( my, မင်းရဲ သီဟသူ, ; c. 6 August 1550 – 11 August 1609) was king of the breakaway kingdom of Toungoo (Taungoo) from 1597 to 1609. His kingdom was one of several small states that emerged follo ...

declared independence.Hmannan Vol. 3 2003: 99 Natshinnaung, now 18, was deeply hurt, and became "obsessed with one idea only": marrying his love and making the lady queen of Burma. He continued writing love and philosophical poems, which are "generally considered to be the most beautiful poems in Burmese literature."Htin Aung 1967: 138 On , King Nanda surrendered to the combined forces of Toungoo and Arakan.(Maha Yazawin Vol. 3 2006: 100): Sunday, 4th waxing of Pyatho 961 ME = 19 December 1599 NS. Yaza Datu Kalaya, along with other Pegu royalty, was brought back to the Toungoo Palace. At Toungoo, Minye Thihathu II himself was resistant to the idea of his son marrying his half-cousin. For Natshinnaung, it was too much to take. Convinced that Nanda was still behind his father's refusal, Natshinnaung assassinated the fallen king on . Minye Thihathu was extremely displeased with his son's action, and ordered a respectful cremation ceremony for his cousin.Maha Yazawin Vol. 3 2006: 102

Crown princess of Toungoo (1603)

At any rate, Minye Thihathu finally relented, and Natshinnaung finally got his wish in 1603. At Natshinnaung's coronation ceremony as the crown prince of Toungoo on , Natshinnaung and Yaza Datu Kalaya were married.(Maha Yazawin Vol. 3 2006: 105): Friday, 10th waxing of Late Tagu 964 ME = 21 March 1603 NS. But she died just over seven months later in November 1603.(Maha Yazawin Vol. 3 2006: 106): Tazaungmon 965 ME = 3 November 1603 to 1 December 1603 NS.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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