Princess Agai was a princess of the Yuan Dynasty. She was the daughter of Prince Basalawarmi (also known as Bajara Ormi, who was given the title of Prince of Liang). Princess Agai was also the wife of Duan Gong. However, her father feared her husband was becoming too powerful.[1] Tensions would arise between her husband and her father that would lead to tragedy.[2] Princess Agai is most famous for being a poet, and her poems have continued to be praised to this day.[3]
The birthdate of Princess Agai is unknown. She was a descendant of Kublai Khan.[4] Her father was Prince Basalawarmi, who was a loyalist of the Yuan Dynasty.[5] He is most well-known for fighting against the Ming Dynasty.[6] Princess Agai’s mother is unknown.[7] Princess Agai’s early life is also unknown.[8]
Princess Agai eventually married Duan Gong.[9] She bore him a daughter named Princess Duan Sengnu and a son named Prince Duan Bao.[10] It was said that Princess Agai was very pleased with her husband. She penned a poem for him called “The Gold Ring” on her wedding day.[11] It goes:
“The star general offered himself in support of the palace,
He has been coupled with a branch of a noble tree.
Brilliant is the light from the moon in the center of the sky.
A jade-inlaid golden seal big as a fist,
Cannot compare to a match with a princess.
May my father live as long as Mount Biji,
May my brave husband forever be his stalwart support.”[12]
In 1363, Ming Yuzhen’s forces attempted to invade Dali in Yunnan. Prince Basalawarmi, as well as several court officials and generals in Dali, fled to Shanchan before the invasion.[13] Only Duan Gong stayed behind and successfully defended the city.[14] As a reward, he was made the Hereditary Route Commander and Manager of Provincial Government Affairs.
Duan Gong stayed in the provincial capital of Shanchan with Princess Agai.[15] However, tensions were rising between him and Prince Basalawarmi, who feared Duan Gong’s growing power.[16] At the urging of his wife, Duan Gong decided to go back to Dali.[17] Once he arrived in Dali, he quickly missed Princess Agai and returned to Shanchan to be with her.[18] However, tensions between Duan Gong and Prince Basalawarmi only increased.[19] Prince Basalawarmi saw Duan Gong as a threat and feared that Duan Gong would seize control of Yunnan.[20]
Prince Basalawarmi asked Princess Agai to kill Duan Gong.[21] He gave her a peacock’s gallbladder, which was speculated to be poisonous and ordered her to give it to him.[22] Princess Agai told Duan Gong of her father’s intentions to murder him.[23] She begged for them to flee to Dali.[24] However, Duan Gong refused to believe that his father-in-law could commit a heinous act against him.[25] Therefore, he decided to stay in Shanchan.[26]
One day, Prince Basalaswarmi invited Duan Gong to a Buddhist event.[27] However, it was a trap to kill Duan Gong.[28] While Duan Gong was on his way to the event, Prince Basalawarmi caused a commotion to frighten Duan Gong’s horses.[29] He then hired an assassin who killed Duan Gong.[30] Princess Agai was devastated by her husband’s murder.[31] She tried to commit suicide, but her father stopped her.[32] Instead, he ordered her to be locked in her rooms under strict surveillance.[33] Princess Agai wrote a poem expressing her grief over the loss of Duan Gong.[34] It is titled “Grief and Anger.”[35] An excerpt goes:
“I look across the rippled water, but cannot see you,
The yabulu flower has changed its hue.
Alone on the camel’s back I think of you.
Frost covers the pine forests of the western mountains.”[36]
Princess Agai’s fate after she wrote the poem, “Grief and Anger”,[37] is unknown. There is no more mention of her in historical texts.[38] We do not know how or when she died.[39]
Princess Agai was a very tragic figure.[40] She seemed to have a very happy marriage with her husband.[41] However, her husband was murdered by her own father because he feared his growing power.[42] Princess Agai’s lasting legacy is her poetry, which has been admired for many centuries.[43] Literary scholars have praised Princess Agai’s poetry and have described it as “unique”[44] because she incorporated Mongolian words with Chinese words. Ming scholar, Zhong Xing (1574-1625), has praised Princess Agai’s poetry by writing: “Extraordinary! When I read it, I feel like drinking wine with it!”[45] Another Ming scholar, Lu Chang, also praised her poetry, writing, “Like ancient Buddhist writing, [her poems] have the appearance of bronze vessels from antiquity.”[46] Princess Agai also continues to be beloved in Yunnan.[47] There is a temple built in her honour named Aunt A Temple, which is beside the West Temple Tower.[48] There is also a play about her called Peacock’s Gall written by Guo Moro (1892-1978).[49] Through her poetry, Princess Agai will never be forgotten.
Sources:
Bryson, M. (2016). Goddess on the Frontier: Religion, Ethnicity, and Gender in Southwest China. Redwood City, CaA: Stanford University Press.
Parker, E. H. (1893). “The Old Thai or Shan Empire of Western Yunnan”. [PDF]. The China Review. 20(6): 345.
Xu, S. & Lee, L. X. H. (trans.). (2014). “Agai, Princess.” Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II: Tang Through Ming 618 – 1644. (Xiao, H. Lee, L., Ed. & Wiles, S. Ed.) NY: Routledge. pp. 5-7.
[1] Xu, 2014
[2] Xu, 2014
[3] Xu, 2014
[4] Xu, 2014; Parker, 1893
[5] Parker, 1893
[6] Parker, 1893
[7] Xu, 2014
[8] Xu, 2014
[9] Xu, 2014; Bryson, 2016
[10] Xu, 2014; Bryson, 2016
[11] Xu, 2014
[12] Xu, 2014; p. 5
[13] Xu, 2014
[14] Xu, 2014
[15] Xu, 2014
[16] Xu, 2014
[17] Xu, 2014
[18] Xu, 2014
[19] Xu, 2014
[20] Xu, 2014
[21] Xu, 2014
[22] Xu, 2014
[23] Xu, 2014
[24] Xu, 2014
[25] Xu, 2014
[26] Xu, 2014
[27] Xu, 2014
[28] Xu, 2014
[29] Xu, 2014
[30] Xu, 2014
[31] Xu, 2014
[32] Xu, 2014
[33] Xu, 2014
[34] Xu, 2014
[35] Xu, 2014, p. 5
[36] Xu, 2014, p. 6
[37] Xu, 2014, p. 5
[38] Xu, 2014
[39] Xu, 2014
[40] Xu, 2014; Bryson, 2016
[41] Xu, 2014; Bryson, 2016
[42] Xu, 2014
[43] Xu, 2014
[44] Xu, 2014, p. 6
[45] Xu, 2014, p. 6
[46] Xu, 2014, p. 6
[47] Xu, 2014
[48] Xu, 2014
[49] Xu, 2014
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