| By THE BANDOOLA JOURNAL | FEBRUARY, 2007 - VOLUME 15 NO.2 |
“I didn’t kill the princes,” Suphayalat told a Rangoon reporter in a rare interview
After the death of King Thibaw, Queen Suphayalat returned to Burma from India in 1919 and lived the rest of her life in a mansion provided by the British government in Churchill Road (now known as Komin Kochin Road) in Rangoon. She was visited there by foreigners and Burmese from all walks of life, and in September 1924 a local reporter was granted a rare interview with her. The Bandoola Journal senior reporter, Maung Ka Lay, wrote a verbatim report of the interview:
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“According to our tradition, I paid homage to the queen as she entered the upstairs living room. I had deep feelings when I saw the queen and Princess Suphaya, the queen’s daughter. The princess was also known as Madarus Suphaya as she was born in Madarus, India. Nowadays, it is rare to find a face as full of honesty as [that of] the queen and the princess.
The queen glanced at me and asked: From where?
The queen’s son-in-law, Hteik Tin Gyi, replied: A reporter from Bandoola Journal. He wants to meet you.
Q: What do you want to know? Ask me whatever you want to know.
After that, she told me to sit and make myself at ease.
Q: Your majesty! How are you?
A: Fine.
Q: How old are you?
A: I am 65 years old.
Q: How much salary did they pay you while living in Yadanagiri?
A: At first, they gave me 10,000 [Rupees] and then 6,000.
Q: Apart from the salary, was any other money given to you?
A: Every year they gave us 5,000 [Rupees] in Tagu (April) and 1,500 in Thadingyut (October), above the salary. They also gave us 3,000 for the birthdays of the king and Suphaya.
Q: After returning to Burma, how much salary did they pay you then?
A: At first, they paid 2,500 and then 2,000, a reduction of 500. But after the lawyer’s wife told them about the matter, they increased it again by 500.
Q: The salary they gave to you is very low.
A: I don’t know. They give us as they wish. I don’t want to say anything.
Q: Apart from 2,500, did they give you extra money as they did in Yadanagiri?
A: No. But when I asked for that in Tagu, they gave us 3,000. But they cut 250 from my salary for that payment. When I donated 1,000 for the funeral of Mya Taung Sayadaw [a venerable monk], I borrowed the money from the wife of a rich Chinese. I am still repaying the debt.
The queen then asked me an unusual question: Is it true that the people believe I killed the princes?
A: Yes, they do.
The queen: What the people believe is wrong. I didn’t kill the princes. I was a child when I was installed on the throne.
Q: Is this mansion owned by the government?
A: (Princess Madarus Suphara) Yes. But they asked for tax when a garden was built in a small space in the grounds of the mansion. We didn’t pay for it because of our defense [costs?].
Q: I would like to know about King Thibaw’s death.
A: He died at 12 pm on December 15, 1916. Three years later, I left Yadanagiri on April 10, 1919 and arrived in Burma on April 18.
Q: I would like to know about King Thibaw’s body?
A: When the King died, we didn’t have enough money for his funeral, and we didn’t have a chance to hold a traditional funeral rite. The body was first placed in a room of the mansion, and then, on February 9, 1917, it was placed in a tomb located in the yard. The tomb was moved into a forest in March 1919 by the authority concerned.
Princess Madarus Suphara: The tomb is so far from the palace that it takes half a day to get there. The tomb was on a hill at the center of the forest.
A: When I knew that I would have to come back to Burma and when I planned to take the tomb with me to Burma, I was thinking of whether or not the people embraced it [the idea] warmly. When I told the English official concerned that I wanted to take the tomb with me to Burma, he said the people of Burma would get angry at sending their king to them dead though we [sic] caught King Thibaw alive. The death of my sister Suphaya Lay is very strange. She died immediately after she felt extreme pain in her stomach. She died on June 23, 1912. At that time, we didn’t have a chance to hold a traditional funeral rite, too.
Q: Did you read newspapers from Burma while living in Yadanagiri?
A: I always read Hanthawaddy and New Light of Burma.
Q: I would like to know about your life in the new Yadanagiri mansion?
A: The area of the mansion’s grounds is 27 acres. That included a lake and garden. Work on the mansion began in 1900 and was completed in 1910. The value of the mansion is over 200,000. The household materials of the mansion are grand, too. Two big carpets are each worth 6,000. The chairs are covered with velvet. The value of household materials is 18,000. There are two cars each worth 10,000, and three horse-drawn carriages.
When I heard what the queen said about the mansion, it could be considered that the king and queen lived well in Yadanagiri. During the conversation, I remembered the Nga Mauk ruby…the heritage of Burmese kings, and asked:
Q: Did you have Nga Mauk ruby with you when you were sent to Yadanagiri?
A: No, we didn’t. It was given to Sladen [a British army colonel] to keep. I don’t know who owns it now. Not only the Nga Mauk ruby was given to Sladen to keep, but also the diamonds and rubies, such as the Hlaw Kar Hteik Tin Lay royal stone, the Hlaw Kar Tin Gyi royal stone, Sin Ma Taw royal stone, San Royal stone, etc.
[Sladen was stationed in Mandalay during King Mindon’s rule and was a frequent visitor to the royal palace. The Nga Mauk ruby disappeared without trace shortly after the British entered Mandalay and occupied the palace. Successive Burmese governments continue to question the disappearance of the royal ruby, often accusing British officers and Col Sladen in particular of stealing the stone.]
Q: How long did you stay in Madarus after leaving Burma?
A: Six months. Then we were sent to Yadanagiri. Living there wasn’t comfortable for 23 years after leaving Burma. In 1270 [Burmese Year], after a grand building [the mansion] was built, we got more rights.
After about an hour with the queen, she turned to Hteik Tin Gyi and asked: Have you offered him tea?
Then the queen went back to her room.”