Thonbanhla is the fifth of nats in the official Burmese pantheon of nat

Nat (spirit)

The nats are spirits worshipped in Burma in conjunction with Buddhism. They are divided between the 37 Great Nats and all the rest . Almost all of the 37 Great Nats were human beings who met violent deaths . They may thus also be called nat sein...

s. She was a native of a Mon

Mon people

The Mon are an ethnic group from Burma , living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, the Irrawaddy Delta, and along the southern Thai–Burmese border. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in Burma and Thailand...

 village called Takunnwan. She was (sic) "beautiful in three ways within one day." She was given to King Duttabaung of Pyay

Pyay

Pyay is a town in the Bago Division in Burma. It has an estimated population of 123,800 . Pyay is positioned on the Ayeyarwady River and is northwest of Yangon....

, but the queen was jealous of her beauty and told the king that she was actually very ugly and so fat that she could not fit through the city gate. Hearing this, the king refused to marry Thonbanhla who then died in despair. Another story says that she was the younger sister of Maung Tint De

Mahagiri

Min Mahagiri , son of a famous blacksmith, U Tint Daw. His given name was Maung Tint De or Mr Handsome. He was extremely strong, able to break the tusks of an elephant. The King of Tagaung was worried, least he attempt to usurp his throne, so Maung Tint De hid himself in a village...

. She married King Smim Htaw

Smim Htaw

Smim Htaw was a pretender to the Hanthawaddy throne, and the last king in the line of the Hanthawaddy dynasty. An ex-Buddhist monk, and a son of King Binnya Ran II by a minor queen, Htaw first raised a rebellion in 1549 during the reign of King Tabinshwehti of Toungoo, who had conquered the...

 Yama of Utthala and gave birth to a daughter, Shin Mi-hnè

Shin Nemi

Shin Nemi , also known as Ma Hne Galay or Shin Mihne , is the 37th Burmese nat in the official pantheon of nats. She is the daughter of Thonbanhla and died of grief from her mother's death....

, but then died of a sudden illness. She is portrayed standing on an ogre

Ogre

An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...

bending over a dais supported by an elephant. She wears a topknot, her right hand on her chest and her left hand by her side.