Consort: | yes |
Shin Myat Hla ရှင်မြတ်လှ | |
Reign: | 16 May 1426 – April 1439 |
Coronation: | 20 May 1426 |
Succession: | Chief queen consort of Ava |
Predecessor: | Shin Bo-Me |
Successor: | Min Hla Nyet |
Suc-Type: | Successor |
Reign1: | April 1410 – 16 May 1426 |
Succession1: | Duchess of Mohnyin |
Predecessor1: | vacant |
Successor1: | unknown |
Reign2: | October 1409 – March 1410 |
Succession2: | Queen consort of Ava |
Suc-Type2: | Successor |
Spouse: | |
Issue: | Minye Kyawswa I of Ava Narapati I of Ava Shin Hla Myat of Pakhan Einda Thiri Saw Hla Htut of Pagan |
House: | Mohnyin |
Father: | Thihapate II of Taungdwin[1] |
Mother: | Daughter of Thettawshay of Myinsaing |
Birth Date: | April 1388 Kason 750 ME |
Birth Place: | Taungdwin Ava Kingdom |
Death Place: | Ava (Inwa) Ava Kingdom |
Religion: | Theravada Buddhism |
Shin Myat Hla (Burmese: ရှင်မြတ်လှ, in Burmese pronounced as /ʃɪ̀ɴ mjaʔ l̥a̰/; also known as Shin Mi-Myat[2] or Me Myat Hla[3]) was the chief queen consort of King Mohnyin Thado of Ava (now Burma) from 1426 to 1439. She was also a junior queen of King Minkhaung I of Ava for five months in 1409–10. She was the mother of kings Minye Kyawswa I and Narapati I of Ava. She was also an eight-times great-grandmother of King Alaungpaya of the Konbaung dynasty.[3]
Shin Myat Hla was descended from Pinya and Pagan royal lines. Her father Thihapate II was a grandson of King Thihathu of Ava, and her mother was a great-great-granddaughter of King Kyawswa of Pagan. She was born in early 1388.[4] She grew up in Taungdwin which her father had ruled since at least 1364.[5] She had at least one full younger brother, Thiri Zeya Thura.[6]
Her cloistered upbringing changed drastically in 1409. She was married off to King Minkhaung I of Ava. (She was following in the footsteps of her niece Shin Bo-Me, who became a queen of Minkhaung in 1407.) But five months into the marriage,,[7] the king gave her to Thado, then a commander in his army, as a reward for the commander's performance in then ongoing war with Pegu.[2] Furthermore, the couple was sent off to Mohnyin, a rebellion-prone Shan state (in present-day Kachin State), where her new husband was appointed sawbwa ("lord governor"). Over the next 16 years, her husband came to be known as "Mohnyin Thado". The couple had four children (two sons and two daughters): Minye Kyawswa, Narapati, Shin Hla Myat, and Saw Hla Htut.[8]
Myat Hla became queen of Ava again—this time as the chief queen, succeeding her niece Bo-Me—in 1426 when Mohnyin Thado seized the Ava throne.[9] She remained the chief queen for the entire duration of Mohnyin's reign (1426–39).[10]
Her two sons became kings of Ava. Her eldest child Minye Kyawswa reigned from 1439 to 1442 while her second child Narapati reigned from 1442 to 1468. In all, her descendants ruled Ava until 1527.[11] King Alaungpaya, the founder of the Konbaung dynasty, was an 11th generation descendant of the queen.[3]
The following is her ancestry as given in the Hmannan Yazawin chronicle.[12]