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{{short description|Queen of Gaya}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

[[file:Suriratna_2019_stamp_of_India.jpg|thumb|right|A commemorative [[Indian rupee|Rs.]] 25.00 postage stamp on Princess Suriratna (Queen Heo Hwang-ok ) was issued by India in 2019.]]
[[file:Queen_Heo_2019_stamp_of_India.jpg|thumb|right|A commemorative [[Indian rupee|Rs.]] 5.00 postage stamp on Queen Heo Hwang-ok (Princess Suriratna) was issued by India in 2019.]]

'''Heo Hwang-ok''', also known as '''Suriratna''',<ref>{{Cite news|date=2018-11-04|title=The Indian princess who became a South Korean queen|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46055285|access-date=2021-01-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-09-08|title=Princess Suriratna of India marries King Suro of the Gaya Kingdom nearly 2,000 years ago|url=http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=21413|access-date=2021-01-21|website=The Korea Post|language=ko}}</ref> is a legendary queen mentioned in ''[[Samguk Yusa]]'', a 13th-century Korean chronicle. According to ''Samguk Yusa'' she became the wife of King [[Suro of Geumgwan Gaya]] at the age of 16, after having arrived by boat from a distant kingdom called ''"Ayuta"'' <ref>{{Cite news|date=2018-11-04|title=The Indian princess who became a South Korean queen|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46055285|access-date=2021-07-06}}</ref>, making her the first queen of [[Geumgwan Gaya]]. More than six million present day Koreans, especially from [[Gimhae Gim clan|Gimhae Kim]], [[Gimhae Heo clan|Heo]] and [[Incheon Lee clan|Lee]] (Yi) clans, trace their lineage to the legendary queen as the direct descendants of Queen Heo Hwang-ok's 12 children with King Kim Suro.<ref name=ancest1>[http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2017/04/162_219704.html Legacy of Queen Suriratn], [[The Korea Times]], 16 April 2017.</ref><ref name="WonMoo2011"/><ref name="BBC_memorial_2001"/> Her native kingdom is believed to be located in [[Ayodhya]] <ref>{{Cite news|date=2018-11-04|title=The Indian princess who became a South Korean queen|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46055285|access-date=2021-07-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Krishnan|first=Revathi|date=4 Aug 2020|title=Ayodhya has ‘important relations’ with South Korea|url=https://theprint.in/diplomacy/ayodhya-has-important-relations-with-south-korea-envoy-refers-to-indian-princess-link/474279/|url-status=live|access-date=6 Jul 2021|website=ThePrint}}</ref>. There is a tomb in [[Gimhae]], Korea, that is believed to be hers,<ref name="Kwon_2003"/> and a [[Memorial of Heo Hwang-ok, Ayodhya|memorial]] in [[Ayodhya]] in India<ref>{{Cite web|last=PTI|first=PTI|date=4 April 2020|title=Work on Queen Heo Memorial in Ayodhya|url=https://www.theweek.in/content/archival/wire-updates/national/2018/12/16/des6-korea-ayodhya%20memorial.html|url-status=live|access-date=6 Jul 2021|website=TheWeek}}</ref>.

== Origins ==

The legend of Heo is found in ''Garakgukgi'' (the Record of Garak Kingdom) which is currently lost, but referenced within the ''Samguk Yusa''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Samguk Yusa |author=[[Il-yeon]] (tr. by Ha Tae-Hung & Grafton K. Mintz) |publisher=Yonsei University Press |location=Seoul |isbn=89-7141-017-5 |year=1972}}</ref> According to the legend, Heo was a princess of the "Ayuta Kingdom". The extant records do not identify Ayuta except as a distant country. Written sources and popular culture often associate Ayuta with India but there are no records of the legend in India itself.<ref name="BBC_memorial_2001">{{cite news | url = http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1205728.stm| title = Korean memorial to Indian princess | date = 3 May 2001 | publisher = BBC News }}</ref> Kim Byung-Mo, an anthropologist from [[Hanyang University]], identified Ayuta with [[Ayodhya]] in India based on phonetic similarity.<ref>{{cite book |author=Choong Soon Kim |title=Voices of Foreign Brides: The Roots and Development of Multiculturalism in Korea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b43pR3Z8zTcC&pg=PA34 |year=2011 |publisher=AltaMira |isbn=978-0-7591-2037-2 |page=34 }}</ref> [[Grafton K. Mintz]] and Ha Tae-Hung implied that the Korean reference was actually to the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] of Thailand.<ref name="REB_1991">{{cite book |author=Robert E. Buswell |title=Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EazRC28tdIIC&pg=PA74 |year=1991 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1427-4 |page=74 }}</ref> However, according to [[George Cœdès]], the Thai city was not founded until the year 1350, after the composition of ''Samguk Yusa''.<ref name="REB_1991"/><ref name="Skand_2015">{{cite book |author=Skand R. Tayal |title=India and the Republic of Korea: Engaged Democracies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGwwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT23 |year=2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-34156-7 |page=23 |quote=Historians, however, believe that the Princess of Ayodhya is only a myth.}}</ref>

== Marriage to Suro ==
After their marriage, Heo told King Suro that she was 16 years old.<ref name=Descendants5>''[http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T49/2039_002.htm No. 2039《三國遺事》CBETA 電子佛典 V1.21 普及版] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230845/http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T49/2039_002.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}'', Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 49, CBETA Chinese Electronic Tripitaka V1.21, Normalized Version, T49n2039_p0983b14(07)</ref><ref name=Descendants/> She stated her [[given name]] as "Hwang-ok" ("Yellow Jade", 황옥, 黃玉) and her [[Surname|family name]] as "Heo" (허, or "Hurh" 許). She described how she came to Gaya 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 Gaya. 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 3000 years.<ref name="WonMoo2011">{{cite book | author=Won Moo Hurh | title="I Will Shoot Them from My Loving Heart": Memoir of a South Korean Officer in the Korean War | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PGxtRrQn9WUC&pg=PA15 | year=2011 | publisher=McFarland | isbn=978-0-7864-8798-1 | pages=15–16}}</ref>

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 (or Gaya, present-day [[Kimhae]]/[[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.<ref name="James2001">{{cite book |author=James Huntley Grayson |title=Myths and Legends from Korea: An Annotated Compendium of Ancient and Modern Materials |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZO49KfGLiMC&pg=PA110 |year=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7007-1241-0 |pages=110–116}}</ref>

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 Kuang]] (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.<ref name="Choong2011">{{cite book |author=Choong Soon Kim |title=Voices of Foreign Brides: The Roots and Development of Multiculturalism in Korea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b43pR3Z8zTcC&pg=PA32 |date=16 October 2011 |publisher=AltaMira Press |isbn=978-0-7591-2037-2 |pages=31–33}}</ref> 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.<ref name="WonMoo2011"/>

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.<ref name="Choong2011"/>

== Descendants ==
Heo and Suro had 12 children, the eldest son was [[Geodeung of Geumgwan Gaya|Geodeung]]. 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.<ref name="WonMoo2011"/> The Gimhae [[Kim (Korean name)|Kim]]s trace their origin to the other eight sons, and so do the 이 of Incheon. According to the Jilburam, the remaining seven sons are said to have followed their maternal uncle Po-Ok's footsteps and devoted themselves to Buddhist meditation. They were named Hyejin, Gakcho, Jigam, Deonggyeon, Dumu, Jeongheong and Gyejang.<ref name=Descendants>Kim Choong Soon, 2011, Voices of Foreign Brides: The Roots and Development of Multiculturalism in Korea, AltairaPress, USA, Page 30-35.</ref> Overall, more than six million Koreans trace their lineage to Queen Heo.<ref name="BBC_memorial_2001"/> The other two were female and were married respectively to a son of Talhae and a noble of Silla.

The legend states that the queen died at the age of 157.<ref name="James2001"/>

==Remains at Gimhae tomb==
[[File:Queen_Suro_Tomb.jpg|thumb|right|Queen Suro's Tomb (Queen Heo Hwang-ok) at Gimhae in Korea.]]

The tombs believed to be that of Heo 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.<ref name="Kwon_2003">{{cite book|title=가야인의 삶과 문화 (Gayain-ui salm-gwa munhwa, The culture and life of the Gaya people) | author=Kwon Ju-hyeon (권주현) | year=2003 | publisher=Hyean | location=Seoul | isbn=89-8494-221-9 | pages = 212–214}}</ref>

A passage in the ''Samguk Yusa'' indicates that [[Jilji of Geumgwan Gaya|King Jilji]] built a [[Korean Buddhism|Buddhist]] temple for the ancestral queen Heo Hwang-ok on the spot where she and King Suro were married.<ref name=rani/> He called the temple Wanghusa ("the Queen's temple") and provided it with ten ''[[Korean units of measurement#Notes|gyeol]]'' of stipend land.<ref name=rani>Ilyeon, 1972, [[Samguk Yusa]], tr. by Ha, Tae-Hung and Mintz, Grafton K., Yonsei University Press, Seoul, {{ISBN|89-7141-017-5}}, p. 168.</ref> 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.<ref>{{citation |last=Palais |first=James B. |title=Confucian Statecraft & Korean Institutions: Yu Hyŏngwŏn and the Late Chosŏn Dynasty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7k3CgAAQBAJ |location=Seattle |publisher=University of Washington Press |date=1996 |isbn=9780295805115 }}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=t7k3CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA363&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 363]</ref> The ''Samguk Yusa'' also records that the temple was built in 452. The temple was called [[Wanghusa]], or "the Queen's temple." Since there is no other record of Buddhism having been adopted in 5th-century Gaya, modern scholars have interpreted this as an ancestral shrine rather than a Buddhist temple.<ref name="Kwon_2003"/>

== Memorial in Ayodhya ==
{{Further information|Memorial of Heo Hwang-ok, Ayodhya}}
In 2001, a [[Memorial of Heo Hwang-ok, Ayodhya|Memorial of Heo Hwang-ok]] was inaugurated by a Korean delegation, which included over a hundred historians and government representatives.<ref name=kor4>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1205728.stm |title=Korean memorial to Indian princess |date=6 March 2001 |publisher=BBC News }}</ref> In 2016, a Korean delegation proposed to develop the memorial. The proposal was accepted by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister [[Akhilesh Yadav]].<ref name=kor5>[https://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20160301/2806883.html UP CM announces grand memorial of Queen Huh Wang-Ock], 1 March 2016, WebIndia123</ref> On 6 November 2018 on the eve of [[Deepavali]] celebration, South Korean first lady [[Kim Jung-sook]] laid the foundation stone for the expansion and beautification of the existing memorial.<ref name=kor6>{{cite news |title=UP's Faizabad district to be known as Ayodhya, says Yogi Adityanath |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/up-s-faizabad-district-to-be-known-as-ayodhya-says-yogi-adityanath/story-YRLCIJwk8FUSN0X6a1jjjN.html |access-date=7 November 2018 |date=6 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=kor8>{{cite news |title=Site for Heo Hwang-ok memorial in Ayodhya finalised |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/site-for-heo-hwang-ok-memorial-in-ayodhya-finalised/story-CqKFu8zTTjBNrL6O02o8JO.html |access-date=7 November 2018 |date=2 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref> She offered tribute at the Queen Heo Memorial, attended a ground-breaking ceremony for the upgrade and beautification of the memorial, attended an elaborate [[Diwali]] celebration at Ayodhya along with the present Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh [[Yogi Adityanath]] that included cultural shows and lighting of 300,000+ lights on the banks of [[Saryu River]].<ref name=kor40>[https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/south-korean-first-lady-kim-jung-sook-celebrates-diwali-in-ayodhya-revives-links-of-queen-heo/story-WGSAKC0xKAI9fVbhSiue6N.html South Korean first lady Kim Jung-sook celebrates Diwali in Ayodhya, revives links of Queen Heo], [[Hindustan Times]], 10 July 2018</ref>

As per reports, every year, hundreds of South Koreans visit Ayodhya for paying homage to their legendary queen Heo Hwang-ok.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-07-10|title=This is why hundreds of South Koreans visit Ayodhya every year|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/research/narendra-modi-moon-jae-south-korea-india-5253825/|access-date=2021-01-06|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
* Portrayed by [[Seo Ji-hye]] in the 2010 [[Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation|MBC]] TV series ''[[Kim Su-ro, The Iron King]]''
* In February 2019, India and Korea signed an agreement on releasing a joint stamp, commemorating Queen Heo Hwang-ok.<ref>[http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/68108448.cms India, South Korea sign 6 pacts; to step-up cooperation in infrastructure, combating global crime]. ''The Economic Times''. 22 February 2019</ref>
* [[Indian Council for Cultural Relations]] is releasing book that includes contact between foreign cultures and India which mentions story of Queen Huh Hwang-ok.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ahuja |first1=Sanjeev K |title=Korean Queen Huh Hwang-ok story to appear in ICCR's book on International love stories |url=https://www.asiancommunitynews.com/korean-queen-huh-hwang-ok-story-to-appear-in-iccrs-book-on-international-love-stories/ |access-date=23 November 2020 |publisher=Asian Community News |date=20 November 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
{{col div|colwidth=30em}}
*[[History of Korea]]
*[[Three Kingdoms of Korea]]
*[[Buddhist temples in South Korea]]
*[[Garakguk]]
*[[Indians in Korea]]
*[[Koreans in India]]
*[[India–South Korea relations]]
*[[India – North Korea relations]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Heo Hwang-ok}}
*[http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/skyongsang/338 Tomb of Queen Suro]

{{Queens and Consorts of Geumgwan Gaya}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Korean royalty]]
[[Category:Gaya confederacy]]
[[Category:Korean mythology]]
[[Category:History of Korea]]
[[Category:Heo clan of Gimhae]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Royal consorts of Gaya]]
[[Category:Ancient queens]]

Heo Hwang-ok - Revision history

Dwatson32 at 04:57, 17 March 2026

UpdateBot: robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

>InterestGather: Reverted edits by 2402:8100:288F:4E28:9915:A0B2:5407:93D2 (talk): using Wikipedia for advertising/promotion (HG) (3.4.10)