Burma / Myanmar: The Tabinshweti Nat as represented in a 19th century Burmese parabaik, or folding palm leaf book manuscript

Tabinshwehti ( 16 April 1516 – 30 April 1550) was king of Toungoo Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1530 to 1550, and the founder of the Toungoo Empire. His military campaigns (1534–1549) created the largest kingdom in Burma since the fall of Pagan Empire in 1287. His administratively fragile kingdom proved to be the impetus for the eventual reunification of the entire country by his successor and brother-in-law Bayinnaung. He is remembered as a popular nat.

Nats are spirits worshipped in Burma in conjunction with Buddhism. They are divided between the 37 Great Nats and all the rest (i.e., spirits of trees, water, etc). Almost all of the 37 Great Nats were human beings who met violent deaths.

According to Sir Richard Carnac Temple, who wrote the definitive English language study on The Thirty-Seven Nats in 1906, all Burmese nat—with two exceptions, including Thagya Nat—are the spirits either of former royalty, or of persons connected with royalty. Most lived between the 13th and 17th centuries, and nowadays each is associated with a special cult, that is a specific ceremony or festival, together with an appropriate place and time for performing it.

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