Baña Thau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baña Thau is the Mon name for the queen who ruled for seventeen peaceful years (1453-1470 or 72) over a Mon kingdom in Lower Burma . In the Burmese language, she is famous as Queen Shin Sawbu.

Queen Baña Thau and Queen Camadevi of Haripunjaya are the two most famous queens among the small number of queens who ruled in mainland Southeast Asia Baña Thau's reign began a 50 year period of peace between Burman Ava in Upper Burma and Mon Pegu in Lower Burma.

Baña Thau was the only daughter of the Mon King Rajadhirat who had two sons as well. She was born on Wednesday in 1395 to the chief queen Thuddhamaya. At birth she was given the name Viharadevi which means "Divinity of the monastery" in Pali. In 1415, at age 20 she was married Byinnya Bye, Rajadhirat's nephew and had a son Byinnya Paru and two daughters, Netaka Taw and Netaka Thin.

Residence at Ava (1423-30)
Baña Thau was sent north and resided at the court of Ava for many years after her husband's death at Pegu. This state of affairs came about in the following manner. At the time, Shin Sawbu's brother ruled over Pegu as King Banya Ram I [Burmese: Binnyaran]. Initially, Toungoo and Pegu entered a marriage alliance with the ruler of Toungoo who gave the king of Pegu his daughter in exchange for Pegu's help in winning the throne of Ava.

Toungoo and Pegu laid siege to Prome. Pegu finally made a truce with Ava in which Shin Sawbu was given to the king of Ava and Mohnginthade, a princess of Ava, was sent south to marry Banya Ram I at Pegu. When Banya Thau was sent to Ava she was 29 years old, a widow and a mother with a son and two daughters. During the time she resided at Ava, Baña Thau did not have any additional children.

During her residence at Ava, Baña Thau became the patron of two Mon monks, Dhammanyana and Pitakahara, who resided at the Ariyadhaza monastery at Sagaing near Ava. In 1430, after seven years of living at Ava, at the age of 36, Baña Thau escaped with the help of her Mon monk preceptors and returned to Pegu accompanied by them.

Reign at Pegu (1453-60)
All members of Pegu's male line to the throne having been exhausted, Baña Thau ascended the throne as queen in 1453. Two of her brothers, Binnyadammayaza and Banya Ram I, and one of her sons, Binnyawaru, had already ruled as kings of Pegu.

In 1457, shortly after ascending the throne, the Buddhist world celebrated the two thousandth anniversary of the Buddha's Paranirvana which in Southeast Asia is dated to the year 543 B.C.

After ruling Pegu for around seven years, in 1460 Baña Thau decided to abdicate and move from Pegu to Dagon where she could lead a life of religious devotion next to the Shwedagon pagoda.

Baña Thau chose a monk to succeed her on the throne of Pegu. The monk Pitakahara, who had helped her escape from Ava, left the sangha, was given the titles Punnaraja and Dhammaceti, and became Baña Thau's son-in-law and a suitable heir to the throne by marrying her younger daughter Mipakathin.

Reign at Dagon (1460-1470 or 72)
Baña Thau lived in Dagon next to the Shwedagon pagoda until the end of her life in 1470 or 1472. [11] Even after she moved to Dagon she is said to have still worn a crown.

The actually handing over of power from Queen Baña Thau to Dhammaceti, who became king under the title Ramadhipati in the year 1457, is commemorated in an inscription written in the Mon language.

In Dagon, Baña Thau devoted her time and attention to the Shwedagon pagoda, enlarging the platform around the pagoda, paving it with stones and placing stone posts and lamps around the outside of the pagoda. She extended the glebe lands supporting the pagoda to Danok. [14] Almost everything that Baña Thau did, she did in multiples of four:

"There were four white umbrellas, four golden alms-bowls, four earthenware vessels, and four offerings were made each day. There were twenty-seven men who prepared the lamps each day. There were twenty men as guardians of the pagoda treasury. There were four goldsmith's shops, four orchestras, four drums, four sheds, eight doorkeepers, four sweepers, and twenty lamp lighters. She built round and strengthened the sevenfold wall. Between the walls Her Majesty Banya Thau had them plant palmyra and coconut trees." [15]

She also had her own weight in gold (25 viss) beaten out into gold leaf and covered the Shwedagon pagoda with this gold leaf. The inhabitants of Dagon donated 5,000 viss of bronze to the pagoda.

Stone Inscriptions
Three inscriptions in stone have been found from Baña Thau's reign.

The first inscription known as Kyaikmaraw I commemorates a land dedication. On 25 September 1455 the queen dedicated land to the Kyaikmaraw pagoda that she had built. The inscription records that jewels, precious objects, and the revenues of a place named "Tko' Mbon" were given to the Moh Smin [Royal Promontory] pagoda at Myatheindan near Martaban. The second part of the inscription provides benedictions for those coming to pay their respects to the pagoda and makes many references to Buddhist scripture. The third part of the inscription outlines the torments of hell. The inscription is rich in linguistic, religious, and historical information with Burmese linguistic influences and the word "caw" or "chao" meaning "lord" from a Tai language used supposedly because "this title had been given to the Wareru dynasty by the Thai king."

Mon folk traditions
At the end of the nineteenth century, some Mons are said to have regarded the British Queen Victoria as the reincarnation of Baña Thau.

The story of how Baña Thau chose a successor runs as follows. After ruling for only seven years, Baña Thau decided to abdicate [19]. She devised a method to choose which one of the two monks had accompanied her during her residence in Ava should succeed her as ruler:

"One morning when they came to receive the royal rice, she secreted in one of their bowls a pahso (layman’s dress) [male sarong, skirt-like dress] together with little models of the five regalia; then having prayed that the lot might fall on the worthier, she returned the bowls. [20] Dammazedi. To whom the fateful bowl fell, left the sacred order, received her daughter in marriage, and assumed the government. The other monk in his disappointment aroused suspicion and was executed in Paunglin, north of Rangoon. The lords also resented the choice at first but became reconciled owing to Dammazedi’s high character; when some of them continued murmuring that he was not of royal race, Shinsawbu had a beam taken out of the and carved into a Buddha image, and showed it to them saying 'Ye say he is of common blood, he cannot be your King. See here this common wood – yesterday it was trodden in the dust of your feet, but to-day, is it not the Lord and do we not bow before it?'."

Singer provides an alternative story with the governor of Bassein, Baña Ain, married to Baña Thau's elder daughter Mipakahtau, rebelling because he was not appointed king ahead of Dhammacedi. This rebellion ends when he is poisoned.

Baña Thau means "Old Queen" in the Mon language. Harvey relates the story of how this name originated taken from the "Thatonhnwemun Yazawin" chronicle:

"Once while being carried around the city in her gorgeous palanquin, sword in hand and crown on head, she heard an old man exclaim, as her retinue pushed him aside "I must get out of the way, must I? I am an old fool, am I? I am not so old that I could not get a child, which is more than your old queen could do!" Thunderstruck at such irreverence, she meekly accepted it as a sign from heaven, and thereafter styled herself 'The Old Queen'."

The Mon history Nidana Ramadhipati Katha provides an alternative story of how Baña Thau ended up living in Ava claiming that she was already ruling at Pegu as queen when she was abducted and brought to Ava and made chief queen.

Dispute over how many years Banya Thau reigned
Some hold that Baña Thau ruled for seven years [25], others seventeen years [26]. Shorto first hypothesized that Banya Thaw might have ruled jointly with Dhammazedi. [27] Guillon holds that Baña Thau and Dhammazedi ruled jointly with Dhammazedi ruling over Pegu and Shinsawbu ruling over Dagon. [28] Dagon had long been the traditional appanage of Mon queens.

Palace and burial locations
Furnival claimed that "the ramparts of Baña Thau's residence at Dagon" were the colonial era "bunkers of the golf course near the Prome Road," but others claim these ruins are, in fact, a wall built in 1841.

The stupa that contained her remains is said to be at a monastery in Sanchaung Township of modern-day Yangon near the Shwedagon Pagoda on the grounds of a monastery once named the Shinsawbu Tomb Monastery, which is located west of Pyay Road (Prome Road) on Windsor Road.

Elizabeth 1 of England,
The daugher of Henry the 8 and his second wife the ill fated Anne Boleyn. Under her reign England began its ascent as the greatest Empire the world has ever seen. Her era was called the Golden Age of England. There was a rebirth of writing, such as Shakespeare,
Ben Johnson, and Christopher Marlowe. Art and music. She was Englands greatest queen, perhaps its greatest monarch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SteffieT/picture2.jpg

Arch Duchess of Austria, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, and Queen of Hungary
Maria Theresa,
She was able to keep her realm together despite the onslaughts of the Prussians during the wars of the Austrian succession. In her later years she concentrated on making life better for the people of the nations she ruled. She is considered by many to be the greatest of all the Holy Roman rulers. She mothered 16 children, including Joseph 2 and the unfortunate Maria Antoinette.

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Elizabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria Hungary

She is considered by some to be the most beautiful woman of the 19 century. She was renowned for her beauty and charms and her amazing riding ability. However she carried the Wittlesbach family curse of mental instability. As she grew older she grew more reclusive and strange. Her oldest son, the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Rudolph committed suicide and murdered his mistress, Maria Vetsera in 1889 and later in the decade, Sissy as she was called was assasinated by an Italian Anarchist in Geneva while boarding a ferry. She could be considered the Diana of the 19 century.

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Sorry Steff,
I forgot to tell you, when using Photobucket, here....Bravenet .....you have to use the "middle" line...the "tag" line, and it will show all of the HTML codes, to post a picture!

Great Post though!


Smooches

Alexandria
by Maria Dzielska
Translated by F. Lyra
Harvard University Press
1995; 157 pages.

"Well, she [Hypatia] was speaking in the square to many people,
speaking about the present God and they were listening to her in silence,
in a stupor, both followers and adversaries.
But a fanatic horde interrupted,
hands and hands came down upon her,
they tore her clothes and her flesh,
they pushed her into the church of Christ,
and there they finished her. There she died on the floor of the temple."

Like many figures from antiquity, biographical details about Hypatia are tainted by partisan legend and speculation. In Hypatia of Alexandria, Maria Dzielska attempts to unravel layers of propaganda to reveal a core of verified or plausible truths.

Described as "the spirit of Plato and the body of Aphrodite," Hypatia was turned into a martyr immortalized when local monks stripped her alluring body and tore it to shreds. She was the last significant mathematician until the late Middle Ages. Her death marked the end of the freedom of inquiry. Hypatia stood as the leader of pagans against an oppressive Christian tyranny. She was a mathematical, astronomical, and philosophical scholar because she trained in Athens. These are some of the myths perpetrated by the likes of heavyweights, Edward Gibbon and Voltaire, who looked at events through anti-Christian prisms, and whose accounts Dzielska counters.

Biographical evidence about Hypatia of Alexandria is sparse. Most important is her contemporary, Socrates Scholasticus (c. 379-450) who devoted a chapter to her biography. Less reliable are a few sentences by another contempoary, the Arian Philostorgius of Cappadocia (born c. 368). Later, John Malatas (491-578) wrote two important sentences; Hesychius of Miletus (6th C.) wrote a biography, and chronicler John of Nikiu wrote unfavorably in the seventh century. The next major source is the tenth century Byzantine Suda.

These sources alone are inadequate for a thorough account of Hypatia's life. Fortunately, she had literate disciples, one of whom, Synesius of Cyrene, maintained correspondence with Hypatia throughout his life. Maria Dzielska was studying Bishop Synesius' writing when she became interested in Hypatia.

Among the more significant corrections Dzielska makes to the Hypatia legend is the idea that Hypatia was not "a body of Aphrodite" when she was killed. She was no longer a tantalyzing beauty when the Parabolans (not monks, but a sort of military arm of the Alexandrian patriarch whom Dzielsjka says spread lies about the philosopher's sorcery) slew her. Instead, Hypatia was about sixty years old.

A second imporant point Dzielska makes is that Hypatia did not so much stand for paganism at odds with a new Christian tyranny, but as a supporter of one Christian political faction against another. The local prefect, Orestes, whom Hypatia supported, resisted incursions into his civil sphere by the new (religious) patriarch, Cyril. Dzielska goes further to say that Hypatia barely stood up for the pagan religion. Instead, unconcerned with the religious aspect, she offered her support to various Christian students.

Hypatia of Alexandria contains four chapters and an appendix. Dzielska reviews the relatively familiar literary tradition first. In the second chapter, she describes Hypatia's circle of followers, the mysteries she taught, and the limited public nature of her teaching. The third chapter pinpoints what can be reasonably ascertained about Hypatia's birth and murder. The conclusion summarizes the differences between Dzielska's research and the common myth. An appendix provides her sources.

Kings & Queens :: Medb

Name: Medb/ Maeve/ Maebh / Medba/ Maev/ Meadhbh/ Méadhbh/ Meave/ Maive

Race: Celtic

Province: Connaught

Profession: Queen, Warrior

Father: Eochu Fedlech

Mother: Cruacha

Brothers: Finn Emna (the three Finns of Emain):

Bres Nár Lothar

Sisters: Ethne Inguba married Conchobar Mac Nessa Clothra also married Conchobar Mac Nessa Mugain was consort to Conchobar also.

Uncles: Eochaid Airem Ailill Anglonnach

Cousins: Derbrenn Mess Buachalla

Cousins once removed: Conaire Mór (son of Mess Buachalla)

Nephews: Furbaide Ferbenn Lugaid Riab nDerg (Red Stripes)




'Queen Maeve and the Druid' after original illustration by Stephen Reid 1910


Husbands: Conchobar Mac Nessa Ailill (A Connaught Chieftain) Tinde son of Connra Cas Eochaid Dála Ailill Mac Ross

Sons: Orlám (killed by Cúchulainn)

The seven sons called Maine:

Maine Mathremail - like his mother

Maine Athremail - like his father

Maine Mo Epert - the talker

Maine Milscothach - the honey worded

Maine Andoe - the quick

Maine Mingor - the gently dutiful

Maine Morgor - the very dutiful

Ciar son of Fergus Mac Roich Conmaic also a son of Fergus

Daughters: Finnabair Cainder Faife

Foster Son: Etarcomol

Consorts: Fergus Mac Roich

Associated Deities: Medb the Intoxicated : Aengus Mac Óg : Mór Muman

Associated Sites: Cruachu (modern Sligo/ Roscommon)

Lough Ree in Co. Roscommon (death-place) Inchcleraun Island

Knocnarea Co. Sligo (Maeve's Cairn) Knockmaa near Tuam Co. Galway also the sidhe mound of Finn Bheara the Fairy King of Galway.

Medb was a queen living in approximately the 1st century B.C. (She was once considered a historical queen but now is considered mythological). She is most famous as a protagonist in the story of the Cattle Raid of Cooley (The Táin Bó Cuailnge) and adversary of Cúchulainn the legendary Celtic hero.

She lived in Co. Sligo in Connaught and there are many monuments which are linked to her name. She was named after the Celtic Goddess of Intoxication. Firstly she married Conchobar Mac Nessa of Ulster but they did not get on well so her sister Ethne married him instead. She then married a Connaught chieftain called Ailill but that did not work out either, so finally she was married to Ailill a son of the King of Leinster. She also frequented the area in Roscommon known as Rathcroghan today which was called Cruachain in ancient times and was said to hold the entrance to the Otherworld, which is now called the Cave of the Cats.

In many accounts the attributes of Medb are very similar to the attributes of the Goddess Medb and there is therefore confusion over which of them is the mortal and which the immortal. There also was a Medb in Leinster called Medb Lethderg (Red-Side or Half-Red) who married nine men in order to give them Kingship of their territories. This story sounds more like the Goddess Medb who conferred sovereignty on the Kings by a ritual of intoxication and then a 'marriage' to them.

Queen Medb has many attributes of the goddess and may be an aspect of the goddess in human form just as the Goddess Macha lived among mortals and married the farmer Crundchu in one of her manifestations. Medb has an insatiable sexual appetite and boasts openly of sleeping with thirty men in one day. She has a sacred grove known as Bile Meibe and two tree-dwelling creatures perch on either of her shoulders the squirrel and the raven.

She mates with the hero Fergus Mac Roich 'Son of Great Horse' who himself has a large sexual appetite so that he satisfies her. 'she used to know thirty men every day or go with Fergus once.' During the battle of the Táin Bo, Medb wanted to pass water and Fergus hid her with his shield, the water she passes forms three great dykes 'so that a mill could find room in each dyke'. The place became known afterwards as Fual Medba, 'Medb's Urine'. Natural features are frequently formed through the actions of supernatural beings.

Medb murdered her sister Clothra while she was pregnant with Furbaide son of Conchobar Mac Nessa, the baby survived this and when he grew up he murdered Medb in revenge with a slingshot of hard cheese while she was bathing in a lake on an island in Lough Ree, Co. Roscommon. His name was Furbaide Ferbend.

Stories, Myths and Legend associated with Queen Medb:

The Cattle Raid of Cooley

The Battle of Muirthemne

The naming of Mag Mucraime

The Pillow-Talk of Medb and Ailill

The Birth of the Bulls

The Death of the Bulls

The Combat of Ferdiad and Cúchulainn (full version)

Aengus Óg and Caer Ibormeith

The Awakening of Ulster

Cruachan

Cúchulainn slays Finnabair

The Boyhood Deeds of Cuchulain

The Firbolg

Scél Muicce Mac Dathó

The Story of Mac Dathó's Pig

Nothing like getting hard cheese to the noggin.

Mo

Viktoria Alix Helena Luise Beatrice Prinzess in von Hessen who later became......
ALEXANDRA ROMANOV EMPRESS OF ALL MOTHER RUSSIA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Fyodorovna_of_Hesse

Talk about true love conquering all.

She had a tough reign with her husband Nicky but their love and respect and admiration for each other never failed.

Elizabeth 1



Maria Theresa of Austria Hungary




Elizabeth 1, of Austria Hungary