Setkya Dewi

Thiri Pawara Atula Tilawka Maha Yazeinda Adhipati Yadana Dewi (Sīripavara Atulatiloka Mahārājindādhipati Ratanādevī; သီရိပဝရ အတုလတိလောက မဟာရာဇိန္ဒာဓိပတိ ရတနာဒေဝီ; born Supaya; 22 December 1813 – 12 November 1876), commonly known as Setkya Dewi or Sekkya Dewi (စကြာဒေဝီ; Cakrādevī), was Queen of the Konbaung Kingdom of Burma from 26 March 1853 to 12 November 1876 as the chief queen of Mindon Min. Born to Tharrawaddy Min and his wife, she held the position of the Tabindaing Princess (chief queen designate) during her father's reign. Being renowned for her knowledge of modern science and astrology, Setkya Dewi was popular with the British, who described her as a well-educated woman (a "bluestocking"), and visitors would often bring her gifts related to her astrological interests.

Early life and education
Setkya Dewi was born Supaya on 22 December 1813, during the reign of her great-grandfather King Bodawpaya, at the House of Thayet, Amarapura Palace, Amarapura. Her father, the Prince of Thayet (later Tharrawaddy Min), was a son of Crown Prince Thado Minsaw, Prince of Shwedaung (son of Bodawpaya and the Queen of the Northern Palace) and the Princess of Taungdwingyi (daughter of Bodawpaya and the Chief Queen). Her mother, the Princess of Kyapin, was a daughter of Thiha Thura Maha Dhamma Yaza, Viceroy of Pagan (son of Bodawpaya and the Queen of Southern Apartment) and Min Shwe Nan (daughter of Hsinbyushin and the Chief Queen). Setkya Dewi had seven siblings, five of whom died young; Pagan Min was her elder brother. Pagan Min eventually became the abdicated predecessor of her husband, Mindon Min, in 1853.

Setkya Dewi was educated at home, and her best subject was astrology; she read both traditional Burmese Bedin and the Vedas. She studied the English language under her grandfather the Prince of Mekkhaya and learned Western astronomy from Charles Lane, an English merchant. She was held in high regard by the British who often brought her gifts related to her interests in modern science. Lord Dalhousie described her, in his letter to Major Arthur Phayre on 21 May 1853, as the "Queen with such very blue stockings"; Phayre, on his arrivial at the Amarapura court on 17 September 1855, presented her a telescope.

Thameedawgyi (1837–1846)
Upon the abdication of her paternal uncle Sagaing Min, after about forty-day long palace revolution starting from 24 February 1837, her father ascended the throne on 30 April that year; consequently, Setkya Dewi assumed the position of Thameedawgyi (the equivalent of Princess Royal). On 31 May 1837, she was granted the appanages of Sagaing, Myede, Kyangin, Dala and Tharrawaddy. Acting as an adviser to her father, she was bestowed the newly-established honour of Jīvita Dāna (အသက်ဒါနဆု, Athet Dāna Hsu; lit. 'Life release award'), the authority to acquit people on death row, a power which she kept till the reign of Mindon Min. She was the first and only princess in Burmese history to be promoted such an honour; through her intervention, about fourteen people were absolved of their guilt, including Sagaing Min, Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa, Hsinbyumashin, Yaw Mingyi U Pho Hlaing and Hlaing Hteik Khaung Tin.

When her father was about to execute her uncle Bagyidaw, she saved his life by saying,

"(In Burmese): 'အဖနှင့်တူသော နောင်တော်ကိုသတ်လျှင် ပိတုဃာတကံကြီး ထိုက်ကာ အဇာသသတ်ကဲ့သို့ ရာဇဝင်ရိုင်းဖွယ်ရှိသည်။'

(Translation): 'Killing a brother who looks like father is akin to committing a great sin patricide, like Ajatashatru, and will deserve harsh historical retribution.'"

At her father's Rājjābhiseka coronation ceremony, held from 10 to 12 July 1840, Setkya Dewi was conferred the title of Thiri Pawara Tilawka Yadana Mingala Dewi (Sīripavara Tiloka Ratanā Maṅgalā Devī; သီရိပဝရ တိလောကရတနာ မင်္ဂလာဒေဝီ). She was styled Princess Tabindaing and designated the chief queen of the next monarch, by her father.

Ear-boring ceremony
A festival in honour of the kaṇṇavijjhana maṅgalā (ear-boring ceremony) of Setkya Dewi was held from 8 to 28 November 1840 in Amarapura, starting with a Thingyandaw bathing rite. At around 8:00 am on 11 November, a service conducting ear-boring, hair-knotting, shawl-wrapping and necklace-wearing rites of Setkya Dewi– accompanied by Thiri Thu Myatswa Yadana Dewi, Princess of Hlaing, Thiri Thu Manla Wadi, Princess of Pindale, Thiri Thu Nanda Wadi, Princess of Yinge, Thiri Pabawadi, Princess of Taungtha, Thiri Thama Wadi, Princess of Nyaung-oke, Thiri Athawadi, Princess of Saw-hla, on each side as maids of honour– was performed in front of the Bhamarāsana Throne in the Glass Palace. A service of hair-knotting and ear-boring was also carried out for Thado Minye Kyawhtin, Prince of Padein, Thado Minye Kyawgaung, Prince of Tayoke-myaw, Thado Minye Kyawswa, Prince of Mindat, at the same time. As part of the ceremony, a total of 42 prisoners were released; bolts of paso, gaung baung and cotton cloth were given to princes, ministers, counsellors, su-yays and su-gaings; pasos, htameins, gaung baungs, scarfs and towels were given away in charity to all the audience. On 28 December 1840, at the Southern Samote Hall, 1200 monks from kyaungs (monasteries) around the capital were offered food; on 3 January 1841, 1000 monks.

Hnamadaw (1846–1853)
Her brother, Pagan Min, acceded to the throne after the death of Tharrawaddy Min on 17 November 1846, and Setkya Dewi thus became Hnamadaw, still assuming the position of Princess Tabindaing. At the opening ceremony of royal hti and throne on 27 February 1847, she received the appanages of Sagaing, Singu, Kyaukmyaung, Myede, Kyangin, Tharrawaddy, Dala and Taungoo; the king ordered her to look after the Queen Mother (their mother) on his behalf. Maha Thiha Minhtin was appointed hnamadaw-wun, to serve as her private secretary.

Queen consort (1853–1876)
In the aftermath of the Second Anglo–Burmese War, Mindon Min took the throne following a conflict of succession with his half-brother, Pagan Min. Mindon Min and his brother Kanaung Min, with their immediate family and retainers, left the capital– through Laygyun Gate of the northernmost front moat– after 6 pm on 18 December 1852 and fled to Shwebo, the seat of their ancestor, King Alaungpaya, after 12 at noon on 21 December 1852. The issue was resolved on 17 February 1853, Pagan Min being overthrown and kept under house arrest.

Setkya Dewi, the Queen Mother, Ayeedaw Myingun Mibaya, Thiri Tilawka Maha Yadana Dewi, the Princess of Hlaing, the Princess of Pindale, and the Princess of Yinge were brought to pandals in the court of Shwebo on 10 March 1853. At around 1:36 am on 26 March, Setkya Dewi was made the chief queen consort at the front of the Great Audience Hall. The ugindaw bwint (lit. 'opening the royal palace') ceremony of Mindon Min was held on 16 June 1854, at Amarapura Palace, at which the king and chief queen assumed the regnal titles Thiri Thudhamma Pawara Mahayaza Diyaza and Thiri Pawara Maha Yazeinda Yadana Dewi respectively.

Death
She died in 1876 and was buried in the Mandalay Palace stockade. After her death, King Mindon paid her the respect of allowing no one to either enter her palace or comb his hair. As signs of grief he dressed in pure white and lived near her tomb, which was the third erected within the sacred precincts of the palace, the first being that of Khin The (the Queen of the Northern Palace), the favourite wife of King Mindon.