The coronation (Rajabhiseka) of Mindon Min and Setkya Dewi as king and queen of the Konbaung Kingdom took place at Mandalay Palace on 14 May 1857.
During the reign of the king's half brother Pagan Min, the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 ended with the annexation of Lower Burma by the British Empire. Mindon Min and his younger brother Kanaung Min overthrew Pagan Min, and Mindon Min ascended the throne on 18 February 1853.
Similar to other southeast Asian traditions, the coronation ceremony was a mix of Hindu and Buddhist cultures in which Punna (Brahmins) played significant roles, as Hindu texts provide guidelines for such social rituals and political ceremonies, while Buddhist texts do not.
Following ancient customs similar to the coronations of the kings before him, during the service, Mindon Min bathed, took an oath, and was anointed with holy water, invested with regalia, and crowned King of Burma. The oath included instructions on what to do or not to do for the benefit of his people and warned him that if he failed to oblige, he might suffer certain punishments.
The coronation was private and attended by royal members and staff only, and Konbaung Set Yazawin shows no evidence survived to indicate attendance by foreign diplomats.
Preparation
Choosing regnal titles
A committee was formed to choose regnal titles for the King and his wife. It was chaired by the Prince of Mekkhaya and consisted of 14 ministers, including Khanpat Mingyi and Maigaing Myoza; five Punna; and eight accomplished and distinguished Rājaguru sayadaws (senior monks): Gwegyo Sayadaw, Seebanni Sayadaw, Mekkhaya Sayadaw, Thitseint Sayadaw, Hladwe Sayadaw, Bhamo Sayadaw, Wicittayama Sayadaw, and Bagan Sayadaw. The committee met at the three-tiered Zetawun Hall and announced on the following day that, in accordance with the Pāli and Vedic Sanskrit grammar and prosody, the regnal titles of the King and the Chief Queen would be Sīripavara Vijayānanta Yasapaṇḍita Tribhavanā Dityādhipati Mahādhammarājādhirājā (, ) and Sīripavara Atulatiloka Mahārājindādhipati Ratanādevī () respectively. A minister for decorations, Minhla Yaza Kyawhtin, was commissioned to inscribe the titles on the golden palm-leaf manuscripts, which were decorated with nawarat (nine esteemed gems) wound by nine ruby stripes, at an auspicious moment in the same month.
Making coronation costumes
Managed by the royal treasurers, 23 dressmakers and embroiders wearing nawarat rings made the diamond-decorated silver magaik (Imperial crown), flame-like epaulettes for the duyin, left-and-right sulya (shawls), three-layer shebon (aprons) and bwebyu (robes). The duyin, sulya and shebon, with silver jingle bells decorating the lining, were embroidered with silver silk in the shape of a star, a jackfruit tubercle and a gourd tendril. When the outfits were completed, they were put onto peacock frames, and Buddhist Parittas were chanted by eight monks.
Constructing mandats
A specially designated plot of land due east of the palace was harrowed by bankers' sons wearing yellow clothes, rich men's sons dressed in red, and farmland-lords' sons wearing green clothes with gold, silver and tin ploughs attached to bulls (not oxen as usual). This was followed by splashing milk, sprinkling cow dung powder and scattering barley, sesame, cotton, maize, rice, peas and beans thoroughly over the ground. The plot was fenced with a type of latticework called Daunggyan. Punna performed fire rituals and started chanting mantras from Rajamattan when carts carrying statues of Chandi, Parameshwara and Vishnu arrived. Then, representative monks of all nikayas and 12 court Brahmins recited parittas, such as Maṅgala Sutta and Ratana Sutta, and Kammavaca as Punna devoted to nat spirits blew Khayuthin (conch shells) and chanted the mantra Karanasrishanta.
After wood, bamboo, rattan and building materials were washed with lustral water, eight astrologers and four family members waited while the site was staked by sailors, paritta-chanting Punna and landowners; these were dressed in brown, red and green and held gold, silver and tin stakes respectively. The staking was scheduled to occur under the influence of auspicious constellations and signaled by firing seven flintlocks seven times. The athes (civilians) built three ceremonial mandats (pavilions): A Sihasana mandat (with Lion Throne), draped in white and attended by the paritta-reciting Punna. A Gajasana mandat (with Elephant Throne), decorated in red with sailors in attendance. A Morasana mandat (with Peacock Throne), decked in brown and presented by athes.