Thu Thiri Myatswa Ratana Devi (, ), commonly known as the Princess of Salin () or Salin Supaya (, ),Burmese royals were only known by the name of the towns or territories they governed as liege-lord or ''myosa'', which was the equivalent of a

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

. For example, King Thibaw governed the town of Thibaw (Hsipaw, in the

Shan State Shan State (, ; , ) is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos (Louang Namtha Province, Louang Namtha and Bokeo Provinces) to the east, and Thailand (Chiang Rai Province, Chia ...

) when he was a prince. was the Tabindaing princess (chief queen designate) during the late

Konbaung dynasty The Konbaung dynasty (), also known as the Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်), was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in history of Mya ...

. She was nicknamed "Selina Sophia" by Europeans. As a favourite daughter of King Mindon and one who was proficient in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, she served as head of the royal treasury (the equivalent of

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...

) during the reign of King Mindon.

Biography

Salin Supaya was born in 1847 to King Mindon and his consort Limban Mibaya at the Amarapura Palace in the old capital of Amarapura in Burma. Her given name was Me Myo Mon (မယ်မျိုးမွန်). She was considered to be King Mindon's mother reborn. She was adopted by the Queen of the Northern Palace,

Khin The Khin The (, January 1814 – 3 May 1872), commonly known by her regnal title Thiri Maha Yadana Mingala Dewi (; ), was the Burmese royal titles, Queen of the Northern Palace of King Mindon Min during the Konbaung dynasty. Among several queen consor ...

, who was the half-sister of Limban Mibaya. When King Mindon ascended to the throne, Salin Supaya was granted the

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture (where only the eldest inherits). It was ...

of Shwegu and later of Salin, gaining the title ''Sri Ratana Devi''. She also held the high-ranking royal title ''

Supaya Supaya (, also spelt suphaya) is the highest royal title for the Burmese royal princesses. The title is given only to the daughters of the Chief Queen, and those of blue-blooded queens. It is said that there were only 8 princesses given the title o ...

''. She was chosen as the '' Tabindaing Princess'', or as the ''Einshe Hteik Hta Mibaya'' (Queen of the Crown Prince, အိမ်ရှေ့ထိပ်ထား မိဖုရား), after the assassination of Crown Prince Kanaung in 1866. The position of Chief Queen Designate or Tabindaing Princess is similar to the position of crown princess. The person designated is sequestered in a separate palace and expected to be the chief queen when the heir apparent eventually ascends the throne. As the saying goes, "Son Kyapin, daughter Salin," and since Salin Supaya was the dearest daughter of King Mindon, she was chosen by him for the position. Although she was the chief queen designate, Salin Supaya took delight in religious works; most notable was her donation of Salin Monastery at

Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...

. In the end, however, Salin Supaya did not become Chief Queen as King Thibaw married

Supayalat Supayalat (, ; 13 December 1859 – 24 November 1925), also spelt Suphayalat, was the last queen of Burma who reigned in Mandalay (1878–1885), born to King Mindon Min and Queen of Alenandaw (; also known as Hsinbyumashin or Lady of the White Elep ...

and her elder sister

Supayagyi , image = Queen Supayagyi.jpg , caption = , succession = Chief queen consort of Burma , reign = 30 October 1878 – 12 April 1879 , predecessor = Thiri Pawara Maha Yazeinda Yadana Dewi , successor = Sup ...

. It is said that Salin Supaya joined the Buddhist order of nuns at Salin Monastery as soon as her father King Mindon was entombed. There she died in 1879 at the age of 33.

In popular culture

* Thong Paya, one of the characters in Thai television series, '' Plerng Phra Nang'' is based on the historical prototype of Salin Supaya and that character is also portrayed as a chief-queen designate just as the same way as she was in the real history.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Supaya, Salin 1879 deaths Burmese royal consorts 1847 births Burmese princesses Konbaung dynasty Burmese Buddhists Daughters of kings