Pwa Saw

She is remembered as witty, wise, and beautiful, and as someone who exercised political influence for four decades during one of the most difficult periods in the country's history.

Hla Wun was the most well known of the three historical Pagan period queens known by the epithet Pwa Saw (lit.

The queen was the benevolent power behind the throne, shielding the public and the court from the erratic pronouncements of Narathihapate, whom chronicles describe as arrogant, gluttonous, quick-tempered, paranoid and ruthless.

[2] According to the chronicles, Saw Hla Wun was born to a wealthy farming family in a small village named Hseit-htein Kanbyu (ဆိတ်ထိန်းကမ်းဖြူ)[note 1] in the Mount Popa region c.

[note 2] Apparently a precocious child, Hla Wun became well known in the region for her intellect and supposed clairvoyance at a young age.

One November, King Uzana, who was en route to Mount Popa to pay respects to the Mahagiri spirit there, heard the news about her, and had her brought before him.

[9] Most of the time, however, her job appeared to have been to control the wild destructive excesses of the king, whom the chronicles describe as "an ogre", who was "great in wrath, haughtiness and envy, exceeding covetous and ambitious.

[11] Some were of far more consequence: she, with the help of the Primate, got the king to issue a decree stating that his death sentences be suspended for a fortnight to allow his anger to cool.

[9] (The decree came too late to save Queen Saw Lon, whose death sentence prompted the king's remorse afterwards.

The paranoid king put her in charge of managing his daily meals, which according to the chronicles must total 300 dishes.

[2] In 1285, she accompanied the king who had decided to flee to Lower Burma from the latest Mongol invasion rather than fight.

On her advice, he bestowed his royal ring to her, prayed that "may no male-child be ever born to him again in all his future existences before attaining the nirvana", and consumed his last meal.

Now, the dowager queen, Hla Wun managed to return to Pagan, hoping to restore the kingdom.

According to the chronicles, she was hugely disappointed by the ineffectual Kyawswa whose real authority did not extend beyond a small region around Pagan.

She felt betrayed when Kyawswa, who wanted to counter the rising power of the brothers, decided to become a vassal of the Mongols in 1297.

[20][21] In December 1297, she persuaded Kyawswa to visit Myinsaing, ostensibly to lead a dedication ceremony of a monastery.

According to Hmannan, Thihathu asked her to anoint him as the rightful successor of Pagan at his coronation ceremony at Pinya.

[note 10] Queen Pwa Saw is remembered as witty, wise, and beautiful, exercising political influence for 40 years during one of the most difficult periods in Burmese history.