Isovanasi, Eadien Empress

Isovanasi (9 March 1022 - 16 April 1048), was the Eadien empress consort as the first wife of Thusuaye I, who was in a state of long-term confrontation with the emperor's mother, the empress dowager Kalidha Min Gasi. However, her power was difficult to confront the powerful Kalidha, so she was declared marriage annulled and sent to a temple in 1048. However, she always insisted that her marriage with the emperor was legal, and tried to take the matter to the Pharaja. Shortly after, she died in the temple and was believed to have been murdered by the empress dowager.

Background
Isovanasi Sisowalashamia is the full name of her. Her name "Isovanasi" is the combination of Isovana, name of the goddess of rivers in Eadien myths, and Si, which means "the great goddess Isovana". She comes from a traditional priestly family in Nanwa. Her father, Dhammadhipati, is a high priest in the eastern district of Nanwa, and her mother, Madhri Morkin, is the daughter of the 6th Duke of Danthi. Elanche Manice Morkin, the great-great-great-grandmother of Thusuaye I, is from the Morkin family, so Thusuaye I and Isovanasi have a weak blood relationship.

Empress of Eadien
On 7 August 1044, Thusuaye I married Isovanasi. This marriage was concluded by Min Gasi, Thusuaye I's uncle. The main purpose of choosing Isovanasi as the empress was to save the precarious relationship between Eadien and the Pharaja at that time. This is the first time for the Hafra dynasty to choose a girl from a priestly family rather than a noble family as its empress, which makes the empress dowager Kalidha dissatisfied. However, the nobles all hope to achieve reconciliation with the Pharaja, and Kalidha can only compromise. After the wedding, Eadien sent a special envoy to visit Indra VI, the current Pharaja, in the hope that he would bless the couple's union. Indra VI agreed. It is said that in order to get the blessing of the Pharaja, Min Gasi secretly gave a crown of her sister Kalidha to Anne Betempsi, the Holy Mother.

There was no formal coronation for Isovanasi. Because of her birth relationship, Kalidha opposed her to be crowned, which caused some controversy. Before, many humble-origin empresses, including Kalidha herself, were crowned shortly after becoming empress. Isovanasi was born in a priestess family and there was no reason not to coronate her. Her father protested against the royal family, and Thusuaye I finally announced that the empress would be crowned, but that would be after she gave birth to an heir. From this time on, Isovanasi and her powerful mother-in-law Kalidha started a feud. Isovanasi had no children in her life, so she was not crowned. She was the first empress not crowned in the Hafra dynasty.

Struggle against Kalidha
Isovanasi's power is very limited, almost all of which is controlled by her mother-in-law, dowager empress Kalidha. As an empress, she becomes a shadow. Isovanasi has repeatedly expressed her dissatisfaction with this situation. She thinks that as an empress, she should get the corresponding power. The empress mother oppresses her in order to monopolize the power, which is too much to bear. In her letter to her father, she complained that people in the palace did not respect her as an empress, especially Ramakya Holinga, the first maid of honor of Kalidha. The relationship between Isovanasi and the empress dowager is becoming more and more tense. They once quarreled in public in the palace, refused to give in to each other, and also niggled each other in all aspects. According to the rules, in public, the empress dowager should be one step behind the empress. But Kalidha often ignores this rule. Sometimes she is half a step behind Isovanasi, sometimes she is in parallel with her. At this time, Isovanasi would scold the empress dowager as a person of humble origin, and no wonder she doesn't understand the rules. Kalidha has many restrictions on Isovanasi. Even if the empress wants to go out for walk, Kalidha will block it and claim that Isovanasi is too casual and is not a qualified empress.

In front of emperor Thusuaye I, they did their best to stir up trouble. Kalidha used her mother's identity to exert influence on her son, while Isovanasi was good at pillow talk. She repeatedly stressed to the emperor that the empress mother should have left the palace long ago. She also tried to increase the contradiction between the emperor and his mother, claiming that the empress mother not only usurped her power and status, but also eroded the emperor's power and status. She linked the interests of herself and the emperor and warned that the empress mother was already the uncrowned empress of the Empire. If the emperor allowed Kalidha to go on, sooner or later she would covet the throne. In fact, Thusuaye I was also dissatisfied with his mother's unwillingness to give up power, so he would often agree with the empress's words. In order to prevent Isovanasi from continuing to provoke, Kalidha tried to prevent Thusuaye from seeing the his wife. However, it was not only Isovanasi who was dissatisfied with the empress dowager. Many careerists and political opponents of Kalidha faction all day long urged the emperor to expel Kalidha and take power. The emperor himself became more and more alienated from his mother. With the help of his cousin Rogathu and others, he began to cultivate his own power and prepare to deprive the empress dowager of her power.

Downfall and death
As Thusuaye's hostility to her became more and more serious, Kalidha also felt that her situation was becoming dangerous. In order to shake the emperor's power, frighten those careerists around the emperor, and also to warn the emperor, she decided to fight against her political opponents. Isovanasi, who has no power and political force, had become a victim in this struggle. The empress dowager had long been disgusted with her, and she did not have the army and influence like Rogathu, so it was easy to deal with her. At the same time, she was honored as the empress, and her defeat would also be a great warning signal to the political opponents. Therefore, on 9 January 1048, the marriage of Isovanasi and Thusuaye I was declared annulled, because they had a common ancestor within seven generations, which was obviously not tenable. They did have a weak blood relationship, but this relationship did not prevent them from becoming a legal couple, and the Pharaja also expressed his blessing on the marriage, so this declaration of marriage annulled was illegal. Isovanasi was then sent to a temple under her father's jurisdiction in the Eastern District of Nanwa. Of course, she did not accept the result and protested against it. However, Kalidha strongly abolished the marriage and allowed the emperor to marry Mayadevi of Kuwenphrak five days later. Isovanasi refused to admit the result. She always insisted that she was the emperor's legitimate wife, and publicly announced that she would take the case to the Pharaja. In April of the same year, perhaps in order to make the abolition of marriage seem more reasonable, Kalidha and her partisans made up that Isovanasi used witchcraft to charm the emperor, and told this lie to other Mahaism countries. Exasperated, Isovanasi immediately began to organize a delegation to Indakali to meet with Pharaja Indra VI. Kalidha first sent people to visit Indra VI, and sent a big gift, hoping that the Pharaja could annull the marriage between Isovanasi and the emperor. But for some reasons, Indra VI did not agree. Instead, he said that he would wait for Isovanasi's delegation to come and make a decision after hearing their statement. Some people think that the reason why Indra VI said so is that he did not want to overturn the decision he had made; others speculate that Thusuaye I played a role in it, and wanted to use this case and the Pharaja to overthrow his mother.

On 16 April, Isovanasi's delegation had set out, and she was almost going to win in the struggle, however, she died suddenly at the age of 26. There were many different opinions about her death. Many people suspected that her death was not simple. It was very likely that the empress mother killed her in order to prevent her from getting the help of the Pharaja. This view had appeared at that time, and spread more and more widely. For a time, Isovanasi became the object of public sympathy, while Kalidha and Min Gasi were reviled. However, there are also many people who are skeptical of this statement. They think it is just Thusuaye I who took advantage of his ex-wife's death in order to seize power. There were many mysteries in the whole process of the struggle between Isovanasi and Kalidha, especially the role played by the emperor in this matter, and there are many conjectures many years later. No matter what kind of argument, Isovanasi is regarded as an innocent victim in the power struggle. Originally, she just wanted the dignity as an empress, but she was finally involved in a greater dispute of interests and lost everything.

Isovanasi was buried in the temple where she died on 18 June of that year. The funeral was very simple, and few people attended. Nevertheless, the presence of Rogathu was regarded as a signal of political turn at that time. After the fall of Kalidha in 1051, the marriage of Isovanasi and Thusuaye was declared valid, and she was reburied in Yanimen on 7 March 1052.