Popa Medaw

Popa Medaw, meaning Queen Mother of Popa and also known as Me Wunna, is a nat, or spirit, of Myanmar associated with Mount Popa, an extinct volcano near Bagan, and is widely regarded as the Mother of the Nats even though she is not formally one of the official thirty seven nat pantheon. Tradition describes her origin as a flower eating ogress of Mount Popa who fell in love with Byatta, a man whose royal duty was gathering flowers from the mountain for King Anawrahta of Bagan, and she is remembered as the mother of the Shwe Hpyin brothers, Shwe Hpyin Naungdaw and Shwe Hpyin Nyidaw. She is venerated as a guardian spirit of fertility and protection tied to the mountain itself, and is often portrayed wearing a buffalo headdress recalling her ogress origins.