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The story of Shin Mwaynun and Min Nandar
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The story of Shin Mwaynun and Min Nandar
Once upon a time there was a kingdom called Syriam on the site of present-day Thanlyin, just across the river from Yangon. The queen of this kingdom died while she was pregnant and her baby girl was delivered just before the queen’s funeral pyre was lit at the cemetery on the bank of the river.
The baby girl grew up to be a princess who was named Shin Mwaynun by her beloved father the king. Her name meant “left at the cemetery” and many people believed she would bring bad luck to the kingdom since she was born in a place normally associated with death. The king, who loved Shin Mwaynun very much, built a palace for his daughter near the cemetery, where she was brought up with lots of servants and grew into a beautiful princess.
The news of her beauty spread to nearby territories, eventually reaching Min Nandar, the prince of Dagon Kingdom (Yangon) on the other side of the river. When he heard the news he decided he wanted to meet Shin Mwaynun, but his father – the king of Dagon – and the people of the kingdom disliked the idea of the prince marrying a woman who had been born in a cemetery. Afraid that she would bring bad luck to Dagon, everyone refused to row the prince to the other side of the river.
Instead, the prince rode across the river on the back of a crocodile named Ngamoeyeik (Rain Cloud), met the princess and fell in love with her. Then Min Nandar started frequently riding across the river on the crocodile and visiting his girlfriend. In order to keep the visits secret from his father, Min Nandar only rode across the river at dusk and returned to Dagon at dawn.
Meanwhile, Ngamoeyeik had accumulated a few enemies in his life, including a female crocodile named Ma Lat To who was seeking revenge after Ngamoeyeik had broken her hand in fight. Ma Lat To eventually spotted Ngamoeyeik swimming back and forth across the river, proudly carrying the prince on his back. As Ma Lat To had attained the age of 100 years, she had the power to transform herself into a human. So she changed into a maid and approached Shin Mwaynun, trying hard to be the best maid possible by obeying every order and being proactive in every task. She soon became the princess’ favourite maid.
Once she had gained the trust of the princess, Ma Lat To told her that she should test the prince’s love for her. But Shin Mwaynun insisted that Min Nandar loved her so much that there was no need for a test. Ma Lat To persisted, saying the prince would allow the princess to sleep on his right arm if he really loved her. Otherwise he did not love her enough. Shin Mwaynun grew angry and said she would therefore encourage her boyfriend to show his love.
However, what the princess did not remember at the time was that according to traditional Myanmar belief, if a woman should sleep with her head on the right arm of a hero or prince, ill luck will befall him.
As usual, under the starry skies, the prince visited Shin Mwaynun riding on the back of the crocodile Ngamoeyeik to happily spend another night with his beautiful girlfriend. In order to show her dignity to her maid, Shin Mwaynun insisted that she be allowed to sleep on Min Nandar’s right arm. The prince knew that this would bring bad luck but eventually gave into Shin Mwaynun’s repeated requests. So she fell asleep on his right arm.
Peering into their room and seeing how the lovers slept, the wicked Ma Lat To laid out her plan. She transformed back into a
crocodile and waited in the river for Min Nandar’s return trip to Dagon on the back of Ngamoeyeik. Before dawn the innocent
prince departed in delight from his beloved girlfriend’s palace and started on his way back to his kingdom on the crocodile’s back. As planned, Ma Lat To attacked them in the river as they passed. Due to a combination of bad luck and being unprepared for the attack, Min Nandar was severely injured in the fight.
The faithful Ngamoeyeik, realising the extent of Min Nandar’s injuries, insisted on carrying the prince in his mouth to the other side of the river for the sake of relief and safety. The prince agreed and crawled into Ngamoeyeik’s mouth but the trip to the Dagon side of the river took a long time because of repeated attacks by Ma Lat To.
By the time Ngamoeyeik reached Dagon the prince had fainted due to the lack of air in the crocodile’s mouth. The king of Dagon had been too busy to realise that the prince was missing. Ngamoeyeik went to the palace to open his mouth and lay Min Nandar at the foot of the king’s throne but by that time the prince was already dead. News of Min Nandar’s death quickly reached Shin Mwaynun’s ears. She was heartbroken and died of regret, realising that her insistence on sleeping on the prince’s right arm had brought him ill luck and had led to his demise day at sunset the funeral pyre of the prince was lit in the Kingdom of Dagon. At the same time the funeral pyre of the princess was lit on the other side of the river. People on both riverbanks could see the smoke from the funeral pyres rising into the sky. While they watched, the smoke from each fire met over the river, signifying that the two lovers would be together in their next life.
A pagoda dedicated to Shin Mwaynun still stands in Thanlyin to this day, a must-see for any visitor to the small town across the river from Yangon.
Author by Hnin (Swesone Yangon Inflight Magazine)
