Shin Sawbu
Mon · mortal · Mon traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Shin Sawbu, known to the Mon as Baña Thau, 'the old queen', was the only woman to rule Hanthawaddy in her own right and the daughter of the warrior-king Razadarit. Legend celebrates her devotion to the Shwedagon, which she is said to have overlaid with gold equal to her own body weight, raised in height, and endowed with terraces and lands, retiring at last to Dagon to end her days within sight of the golden stupa. She named the learned monk Dhammazedi her successor, and her patronage fixed the Shwedagon in Mon memory as a work of their royal piety.
Parentage
- parent: RazadaritDaughter of King Razadarit of Hanthawaddy.G. E. Harvey, History of Burma (London: Longmans, Green, 1925) (secondary)
Domains
- queenship
- pagoda patronage
Powers
- gild the Shwedagon with her own weight in gold
Epithets
- Baña Thau — The old queen, the queen motherG. E. Harvey, History of Burma (London: Longmans, Green, 1925) (secondary)
Relations
- parent: RazadaritDaughter of King Razadarit of Hanthawaddy.G. E. Harvey, History of Burma (London: Longmans, Green, 1925) (secondary)
Sources
- Shin Sawbu (Baña Thau), daughter of Razadarit and sole queen regnant of Hanthawaddy (r. c. 1454–1471), is remembered for gilding the Shwedagon with her weight in gold and enlarging the stupa.: G. E. Harvey, History of Burma (London: Longmans, Green, 1925) (secondary); Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma (Bangkok: River Books, 2011) (secondary)