Heo Hwang-ok (; 32–189AD) also known as Empress Boju (), was a legendary queen mentioned in the Samguk yusa, a 13th-century Korean chronicle.
According to the Samguk yusa, she became the wife of King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya (part of the Kaya confederacy) at the age of 16, after having arrived by boat from a distant kingdom called "Ayuta (阿踰陁)" with many theorizing it to be located in India, Thailand or Central Asia (i.e. Tibet).
There is a tomb in Gimhae, South Korea, that is believed to be hers, and a memorial in Ayodhya, India, built in 2020.
Origins
The legend of Heo is found in Garakguk-gi (the Record of Garak Kingdom) which is currently lost, but referenced within the Samguk yusa. According to the legend, Heo was a princess of the kingdom of "Ayuta". The extant records do not identify "Ayuta" except as a "distant country". Popular culture often associate "Ayuta" with India, but there are no records of the legend in India itself.
Northern India Byung-mo Kim, a professor and anthropologist at Hanyang University, linked "Ayuta" with Ayodhya in India based on phonetic similarity.
However, the location of Ayodhya is considered too inland for the queen to have allegedly traveled to Kaya, therefore, the claim is often scrutinized.
Southern India A book called Beautiful Korea published in 1968 alludes to her coming from "Ayuta in the south of India". Recently, non-academics commonly interpret this as the Ay Kingdom based on regional approximation (southern India) and phonetic similarity: Ayuta and Ay. However, this is considered as retrospective pseudohistory that actively attempts to create a common ground without providing hard evidence, relying only on shallow speculations.
Also, unlike the Ayodhya theory, the idea is not widespread nor supported by any mainstream Korean historians. The claim that she came from the "south of India" is only found in the 1968 book which also does not specify any kingdom, only discussing vague estimations. It is likely based on an old fringe theory that posits that she sailed from India to Kaya by sea; which naturally points to the coastal regions of southern India, hence the vagueness of the claim.
Southeast Asia Scholars such as Grafton K. Mintz and Tae-hung Ha theorized that "Ayuta" was the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Thailand due to phonetic similarity, similar to Kim with Ayodhya.
Mitz and Ha took note of the phonetic similarity between "Ayuta" and the Ayutthaya Kingdom, but leaned more towards the name having an Indian origin. In addition, according to George Cœdès, the kingdom of Ayutthaya was not founded until the year 1350, which was after the publication of Samguk yusa.
Central Asia More recent theories suggest that the queen's origin was in fact closer to Western China or Central Asia. Hwa-seob Song, a professor at Chung-Ang University, claims that "Ayuta" was within central parts of Asia; that Queen Heo's home kingdom was either Tibet or an Uyghur nation, and not India (South Asia) or Thailand (Southeast Asia). Song points out the differences in the labelling of the kingdoms in native Korean and states that "Ayuta" cannot be an Indian nation.
Despite numerous theories and claims, Queen Heo's true origin is yet to be discovered. In recent years, her origin is believed to be a religious symbol rather than a historical fact due to numerous inconsistencies (see Controversy surrounding her existence).
Names Her official name in Korea is "황옥 (Hwang-ok)" as was mentioned in the Samguk yusa. Her family name "허 (Heo)" was given to her by King Suro when she naturalized, according to the legend. After becoming the queen, she was known as "허황후 (Empress Heo)" or "보주태후 (Empress Boju)".
Recently, she is commonly known as "Suriratna" or "Sembavalam" in India. However contrary to popular belief, the names do not appear in the Samguk yusa and are likely created recently.
The name "Suriratna" is in fact from a comic book called Sri Ratna Kim Suro - The Legend of an Indian Princess in Korea (2015) by Indian author N. Parthasarathi. The name is based on the author's educated guess on the name "Hwang-ok" meaning Yellow Jade, making it "Suriratna", meaning Precious Stone in Hindi. In reality, there is no historical evidence that backs this claim, but regardless of its authenticity, the name was popularized in several news articles within Korea and India despite its contemporary origins and lack of mention in Samguk yusa.
The name "Sembavalam" is often mentioned when postulating that Queen Heo was from Tamil Nadu. However, similar to "Suriratna", the name is not found anywhere in the Samguk yusa and is most likely a modern interpretation.
Marriage to Suro
After their marriage, Heo told King Suro that she was 16 years old.No. 2039《三國遺事》CBETA 電子佛典 V1.21 普及版 , Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 49, CBETA Chinese Electronic Tripitaka V1.21, Normalized Version, T49n2039_p0983b14(07) She stated her given name as "Hwang-ok" ("Yellow Jade", 황옥, 黃玉) and her family name as "Heo" (허, or "Hurh" 許). She described how she came to Kaya as follows: the Heavenly Lord (Sange Je) appeared in her parents' dreams. He told them to send Heo to Suro, who had been chosen as the king of Kaya. The dream showed that the king had not yet found a queen. Heo's father then told her to go to Suro. After two months of a sea journey, she found Beondo, a peach which fruited only every 3.000 years.
According to the legend, the courtiers of King Suro had requested him to select a wife from among the maidens they would bring to the court. However, Suro stated that his selection of a wife will be commanded by the Heavens. He commanded Yuch'ŏn-gan to take a horse and a boat to Mangsan-do, an island to the south of the capital. At Mangsan, Yuch'ŏn saw a vessel with a red sail and a red flag. He sailed to the vessel, and escorted it to the shores of Kaya (present-day Gimhae). Another officer, Sin'gwigan went to the palace, and informed the King of the vessel's arrival. The King sent nine clan chiefs, asking them to escort the ship's passengers to the royal palace.
Princess Heo stated that she wouldn't accompany the strangers. Accordingly, the King ordered a tent to be pitched on the slopes of a hill near the palace. The princess then arrived at the tent with her courtiers and slaves. The courtiers included Sin Po (or Sin Bo, 신보, 申輔) and Cho Kwang (or Jo Gwang, 조광, 趙匡). Their wives were Mojong (모정, 慕貞) and Moryang (모량, 慕良) respectively. The twenty slaves carried gold, silver, jewels, silk brocade, and tableware and gems. Before marrying the king, the princess took off her silk trousers (mentioned as a skirt in a different section of Samguk yusa) and offered them to the mountain spirit. King Suro tells her that he also knew about Heo's arrival in advance, and therefore, did not marry the maidens recommended by his courtiers.
When some of the Queen's escorts decided to return home, King Suro gave each of them thirty rolls of hempen cloth (one roll was of 40 yards). He also gave each person ten bags of rice for the return voyage. A part of the Queen's original convoy, including the two courtiers and their wives, stayed back with her. The queen was given a residence in the inner palace, while the two courtiers and their wives were given separate residences. The rest of her convoy were given a guest house of twenty rooms.
Descendants Allegedly, more than six million present-day Koreans, especially from Gimhae Kim, Gimhae Heo and Incheon Yi clans, trace their lineage to the legendary queen as the direct descendants of her 12 children with King Suro.Legacy of Queen Suriratn, The Korea Times, 16 April 2017.
She requested Suro to let two of the children bear her maiden surname. Legendary genealogical records trace the origins of the Gimhae Heo to these two children. The Gimhae Kims trace their origin to the other eight sons, and so does the Yi clan of Incheon. The remaining two children were daughters who were married respectively to a son of Talhae and a noble from Silla.
According to the Jilburam, the remaining sons are said to have followed in their maternal uncle Po-ok's footsteps and devoted themselves to Buddhist meditation. They were named Hyejin, Gakcho, Jigam, Deonggyeon, Dumu, Jeongheong and Gyejang.Kim Choong Soon, 2011, Voices of Foreign Brides: The Roots and Development of Multiculturalism in Korea, AltairaPress, USA, Page 30-35.
Kim Yoon-ok, wife of former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak who is from the Gimhae Kim clan, stated that she traces her ancestry to the royal family.
Remains at Gimhae tomb
The tombs believed to be that of Heo Hwang-ok and Suro are located in Gimhae, South Korea. A pagoda traditionally held to have been brought to Korea on her ship is located near her grave. The Samguk yusa reports that the pagoda was erected on her ship in order to calm the god of the ocean and allow the ship to pass. The unusual and rough form of this pagoda, unlike any other in Korea, may lend some credence to the account.
A passage in the Samguk yusa indicates that King Jilji built a Buddhist temple for the ancestral Queen Heo on the spot where she and King Suro were married. He called the temple Wanghusa ("the Queen's temple") and provided it with ten gyeol of stipend land.Ilyeon, 1972, Samguk Yusa, tr. by Ha, Tae-Hung and Mintz, Grafton K., Yonsei University Press, Seoul, , p. 168. A gyeol or kyŏl (결 or 結), varied in size from 2.2 acres to 9 acres (8,903–36,422 m2) depending upon the fertility of the land., p. 363 The Samguk yusa also records that the temple was built in 452. Since there is no other record of Buddhism having been adopted in 5th-century Kaya, modern scholars have interpreted this as an ancestral shrine rather than a Buddhist temple.
Memorial in Ayodhya
In 2001, a Memorial of Heo Hwang-ok was inaugurated by a Korean delegation, which included over a hundred historians and government representatives. In 2016, a Korean delegation proposed to develop the memorial. The proposal was accepted by then-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav.UP CM announces grand memorial of Queen Huh Wang-Ock , 1 March 2016, WebIndia123 On November 6, 2018, on the eve of Diwali celebration, South Korea's First Lady Kim Jung-sook, laid the foundation stone for the expansion and beautification of the existing memorial. She offered tribute at the Queen Heo Memorial, attended a ceremony for the upgrade and beautification of the memorial and attended an elaborate Diwali celebration at Ayodhya along with the present Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, that included cultural shows and lighting of 300,000+ lights on the banks of Sarayu River.South Korean first lady Kim Jung-sook celebrates Diwali in Ayodhya, revives links of Queen Heo , Hindustan Times, 10 July 2018
Reportedly, hundreds of South Koreans visit Ayodhya every year to pay homage to their legendary Queen Heo Hwang-ok.
Controversy surrounding her existence
Heo Hwang-ok's rather unique background had been a subject of much discussion in South Korea among many historians. Despite her legendary status and numerous theories, most academics reject the story of Queen Heo due to historical, archaeological, and genetical inconsistencies.
Historical evidence