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The Burmese Nats

Between Sovereignty and Autochthony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Bénédictine Brac de la Perrière
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In Burma, the rituals connected with the earth concern the relationship between the local communities of rice-growers and the political whole that encompasses them. The structure of this totality is a result of the history of the Burmese Buddhist monarchy which was, from the tenth century to the end of the nineteenth, the dominant political institution of the Irrawaddy valley. The Buddhist kings were viewed as the masters of the earth, a role symbolized by the ritual of the first furrow, which they “traced” in the soil in order to inaugurate the work season. Moreover, the native Burmese religious system does not include a deity exclusively associated with the earth and who could, by this right, be the object of a systematic cult. This complex religious system, dominated by Buddhism, includes another cult, that of the thirty-seven nats, whose history is linked both to the Burmese monarchical system and the adoption of Theravada Buddhism as the state religion. The fall of the monarchy in 1886 did not bring about its disappearance. On the contrary, this cult is still quite alive and touches all levels of Burmese society. It is especially vibrant in those local communities that worship the thirty-seven nats of the national pantheon, viewed as the protector of their land.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 44 , Issue 174 , January 1996 , pp. 45 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

Notes

1. This legend is well-known to the mediums. It also told by the Burmese folk lorist A. Htin in: Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism, Rangoon, 1975, p. 74. What is interesting about it is the link it establishes between the origin of the cult and the establishment of the Burmese monarchy. However, the actual attribution of the foundation of this cult to Anawratha must be approached with caution: it corresponds to the "necessity" of portraying the first Burmese king to have conquered the Irrawaddy valley as the founder par excellence.

2. See E.M. Mendelson, "L'utilisation du scepticisme religieux dans la Birmanie d'aujourdhui," Diogenes, No. 41 (1963); see also H.L. Shorto, "The Dewatau Sotapan: a Mon Prototype of the 37 Nats," in: B.S.O.A.S., Vol. 30, No. 1(1967), pp. 127-41.

3. This is the case, for instance, with the Lord of the 90,000, the protector of the irrigated district of Kyaukse. Prince Shan, who is ashamed to have to pay homage to Anawratha, prefers to commit suicide, throwing himself into the waters of the Zawgyi river, which is located at the border separating the terri tories from those of the Burmese king. The latter, infuriated by the disobedi ence of the prince, rushes to the site of the suicide. Striking the surface of the water with his scepter, he causes the prince to rise to the surface in a position of homage. See also the history of Grandfather Alon that I recounted in Les Rituels de possession en birmanie, Paris, 1989.

4. Anawratha was killed on the horns of a wild buffalo which was the incarna tion of a spirit whom Anawratha had castrated using Thi'dja's scepter.

5. Quoted in S.J. Tambiah, World Conqueror and World Renouncer. A Study of Bud dhism and Polity against a Historical Background, Cambridge 1976, p. 73.

6. Ibid., pp. 91-101. See also F.E. Reynolds, "The Holy Emerald Jewel: Some Aspects of Buddhist Symbolism and Political Legitimation in Thailand," in: B.L. Smith (ed.), Religion and Legitimation of Power in Thailand, Laos, and Burma, Chambersburg, 1978, pp. 175-93.

7. G. Coedes presents a version of this legend in his "Documents sur l'histoire politique et religieuse du Laos occidental," in: BEFEO, Vol. 25 (1925), pp. 287- 96. According to this version, which is based on an excerpt from the Thai chronicle called the Jinkalami, the Emerald Buddha (of Sinhalese origin), along with the group of texts comprising the canon of Thervadan Buddhism, was given to Anawratha in the eleventh century. On the return voyage, the ship carrying the statue, along with some of the texts, lost its way in a storm and finally reached land not far from Angkor. Later, Anawratha is reported to have come to Angkor in search of the missing texts but supposedly "forgot" the jewel. The Burmese Chronicle does not mention this incident, asserting instead that these were obtained by the Pagan from the Mon people of Lower Burma, rivals of the Pagan.

8. H. Maspéro, Le taoïsme et les religions chinoises, Paris, 1971, pp. 244-53.

9. See B. Formoso in this issue; also Ch. Archaimbault, Le Sacrifice du buffle à S'iang Khwang (Laos), Paris, 1991.

10. As H. Shorto (note 2 above, p. 136) has shown, the double orientation of ritu ality was also present in another form in the Mon kingdom of Lower Burma.

11. The most celebrated example of this phenomenon is that of the Lord of the Great Mountain and his sister, Golden Face, wife of the Pyu king of Tagaung; but there is also the Lord of the Nine Cities and his sister, Puleyin, wife of Anawratha; and the Great Father of Alon and his sister, the Mother of Run ning Waters, also a wife of Anawratha. Finally, in the case of serial incarna tions, there are brother-sister pairs of minority ethnic origin who follow one after another. Although I am unacquainted with the details of these legends, it is probably fair to assume that they closely follow the above schema.

12. E. M. Mendelson (note 2 above), p. 788.