http://www.dpsmap.com/enchantingmyanmar/enchantingmyanmar6-3/enchanting/mashwe.

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Ma Shwe U ,
The patroness of weavers By MaThanegi

Myanmar is a land rich with cultural traditions, and folktales and legends give
an extra touch of enchantment. The Myanmar people are on the whole humorous and
hopeful and even the poor are too proud to wallow in self-pity. However, althoug
h they enjoy the slapstick comedy or witty repar- tees of classical theatre, by
traditional the height of entertainment is the tragic parts when the leading cha
racters fall into suffering. The end of course is always a happy
Old parabeik or folding book painting of Ma Shwe U at her loom, wooed by one of
the two Spirit brothers
one of the good rewarded and evil, punished. One tragic legend the people love i
s
the story of Ma Shwe U. It did not have a nor- mal happy ending but when the bea
utiful country girl becomes a revered patroness of weavers, it is to be consider
ed an honourable status. She lives on in the hearts of the people and her story
is endlessly immortalised in carvings or paintings or in marionette plays.
She is believed to have lived nearly a thousand years ago. As it is still the tr
adition in some parts of the country she wove at her loom when she is free of ho
use or farm work. She was engaged to a forester named Ko Yin Maung.
Just before the story began two brothers, who were serving at the court of Baga
n under King Anawrahta, had been executed for some misdemeanours and they had be
come Spirits. The younger brother before his death has been unsuccessfully court
ing Ma Shwe U and he continued to do so as a spirit. Ma Shwe U still spurned his
advances and in fury, he sent out his spirit tiger to kill her. It dragged her
away with his jaws around her slim waist as she sat at her loom. She became a Sp
irit as did her lover Ko Yin Maung who died of heart- break on her death.



People believe that her gentle an gracious spirit lives on to look after weavel
or those working in garment industrie' Unlike some other spirits, Ma Shwe U is
nevE cruel or demanding, through the medium of expensive food or gifts.
The scene of her being dragged away b the tiger has been portrayed a great man t
imes all through the centuries. One can see carved wood, or on the feet of round
ston mortars used to grind the Thanakha makeu paste, featured in the painted fo
lding boo~ called yoke sone parabeik, or on wall pain' ings. Her tale is often t
old on the classical stag but the most popular was when it was pel formed in mar
ionette theatre in the old day
Nowadays no puppeteer can matc the skill of the masters of the past, for the wou
ld set up a small loom on stage wit a pretty puppet actually making the loor wor
k. As she sang while she wove, the loor clacking in rhythm with her moving hand
the tiger puppet, handled by another maste would slowly appear from behind the c
urtain It would first stalk his prey from the drur circle of the orchestra leade
r which is alwa} set out in front of the stage on the ground.
Right: papier mache tiger carrying Ma Shwe U at Manuha Temple festival, Bagan
Bottom: Ivory dagger hilt
The tiger would walk along the rim of the circular frame, balancing on the top o
f the narrow wooden slats.
After a few turns, while the orchestra played a heart-pounding crescendo and th
e audience became roused to near- hysteria, the tiger would jump onto the stage
and stalk its prey. By now, the more excitable members of the audience would be
screaming warnings at the wooden Ma Shwe U placidly sitting at her loom. The tig
er would finally pounce on the Ma Shwe U marionette and by means of strings mani
pulated by its handler, carry her off in its jaws and disappear behind the curta
ins.
It is said that for this play the drum circle had to be placed far enough from t
he reach of the audience for if not, people sympathetic to Ma Shwe U's fate ofte
n grabbed the tiger puppet and tore it to pieces.
What a tragic story but what a beautiful one. Whether she really existed or not,
no one could say, but she lives on in the hearts of the Myanmar and her story i
s told time and again and handed from one generation to the next. D