Update: 2005-01-18 11:07 AM +0700

TIL

The Burmese Empire
a hundred years ago

As described by Father Vincenzo Sangermano
Edited and with notes by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.). Set in html by UKT and staff of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yangon, for students and staff of TIL. Not for sale.

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Burmese Cosmography

01. Of the measures and division of time commonly used in sacred Burmese books;
02. Of the world and its parts;
03. Of beings that live in this world, of their felicity or misery, and of the duration of their life;
04. Of the state of punishment;
05. Of the destruction and reproduction of the world;
06. Of the inhabitants of the Burmese Empire
Points worth noting: juzenà | life-span | Burmese Astronomy |

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CHAPTER XVII

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE BURMESE

Section 49

There perhaps is not an nation in the world so given to superstition as the Burmese. fn141-01 Not only do they practise judicial astrology, and divination, and put faith in dreams, but they have besides an infinity of foolish and superstitious customs. No sooner is an infant born, than they run to some Brahmin to learn what is the constellation that presided at its birth, and this is written upon a palm-leaf, together with the day and hour of the birth, to serve for the divinations of which  we shall just now speak. The Beden, which, as has been said, is a book of judicial astrology, distributes the stars into a number of asterisms or constellations, distinguished by the name of different men, animals, etc. They believe, or at least feign to believe, as did the ancient Greeks and Romans, that many men and women after their death were transformed into

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fn141-01 For existing superstitions see the chapter on Manners and Customs in Spearman's British Burma Gazetteer. Many are mentioned in the codes called Dhammathats, and though immemorial, are for the most part in Dr. Forchhammer's opinion, not indigenous, but derived from India through Brahmans; tattooing and a few other oddities excepted. 'The punnas (Skr. Punya, Pall Punna) are Brahmans, who at various periods settled in Burma, generally living in separate quarters in or near the capitals of Burmese kings. The royal astrologers and gurus were always punnas: from the capital they spread all over the country in the capacity of teachers, astrologers and physicians. The Sanskrit and Bengali works found with them belong to the Gantrasastras, Jyotisastras and Kamasastras of Gangetic India: they study chiefly the Samaveda.'--Forchhammer's Jardine Prize Essay, p. 21. Bishop Bigandet tells us how he learned from one of these Pounhas the mode of finding out by calculation the state of the heavens at any given hour whatever, a mode entirely based on the Hindu system. Bigandet, i. p.29. The presence of these Brahmans at the Royal Court is often mentioned by our Envoys: they may be seen any day, telling fortunes at the pagodas. The Indian Brahmans employed themselves in the same way many centuries ago. See the quotations from Strabo, Fah Hian and others in Sykes' Notes on India, London, 1841, pp. 33, 127.

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these constellations, and hence they give to them different influences, corresponding with the attributes of the person or thing whose name they bear. Thus the following history is told of the origin of the constellation, called in the Beden, Navè. A giantess who lived to the east of Pegù, having conceived the desire of taking a husband, transformed herself into a rich lady, and thus accomplished her desire. At her death, the body was placed upon a car, to be conveyed to the place of sepulture, but both the car and body disappeared in an instant, and was placed in heaven among the stars, in the figure Navè. Hence all who are born under this constellation are deformed and rude in manners, but rich; and the males are in general great merchants.

Of another constellation called the head of the stag it is related that a king, going out one day to hunt, met a doe big with young. It fled away at his approach, but through fright brought forth in its flight. The king caused the young one to be taken care of, and used to go every day to visit it. This offended the queen, and she caused the animal to be killed, upon which it was transformed into a constellation. The king afterwards died with grief for the death of his favourite. Wherefore those who are born when this constellation prevails generally die of grief. And of this kind are their stories concerning all the constellations.

Section 50

The Burmese possess a large volume containing a full account of all their superstitious observances, and of the different omens of good or evil fortune, to be drawn from an immense number of objects; as from the wood with which their houses are built, from their boats and carriages, from the aspects of the sun, moon, and planets, form the howling of dogs, and the singing of birds, etc., and also from the involuntary movements of the members of one's own body. We will here translate some portions of this book, as specimens of the superstitious which paganism conducts to.

Section 51

This book, which is called Deitton, in the treatise on the wood used in building, distinguishes various kinds. Such beams as are equally large at the top as at the bottom are called males: those which are thicker at the bottom than above are females: the neuters are those in which the middle

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is thickest; and when the greatest thickness is at the top, they are called giants; finally, when a piece of wood on being cut, and falling to the ground, rebounds from its place, it is called monkey-wood. Whoever lives in a house made of male wood, will be happy in all places, and at all times, and in all circumstances; but if the wood of any person's house be neuter, continual misery will be his lot, and if it be of the gigantic species he will die. By dividing the two pieces of wood which form the stairs into ten compartments, and observing in which the knots occur, we may also learn a man's fortune. If a knot be found in the first compartment, it is a sign that the master of the house will be honoured by princes; if in the second, that he will abound in rice and all kinds of provisions; but if there be one in the fourth division, then a son, or a nephew, or a salve, or an ox of the master will die; a knot in the sixth division is a sign of riches in oxen and buffalos; but one in the eighth portends the death of his wife; and finally one in the tenth is an augury of great possessions in gold and silver and such other valuables.

Section 52

From the wood used in the construction of the houses the Deitton passes to the holes in which the poles that support them are fixed: for if these be square, it is a sign of sickness: and divers other prognostics are drawn from the manner in which they are dug, and from the different substances that are met with in making them. Hence various rules are given for choosing a spot of ground for the foundation of houses.

Section 53

The next sources of superstition are the boats and carriages; for from the knots that are in them good or bad success is assigned to the possessors; as also from the different objects they meet with on their progresses, on different days of the week.

Section 54

All involuntary movements of the eyes, the head or the forehead are considered as indications of the lot of those in whom they are observed, as their happiness, or of the honours they will receive, or of a litigious disposition, etc.

Section 55

The sun and the planets afford numerous sings from prognostication. When any of them approaches the disk of the moon, and especially if any of them passes over it, great evils are apprehended; as the destruction of kingdoms, and the ruin

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of countries. If the sun rises with a terrible aspect, great murders will follow; but if it appear with extraordinary brightness, then there will be war. In those four months in which Venus is not seen, in any month when an eclipse or an earthquake happens, and in that in which the year commences, it is unlucky to marry or to build a house or to cut one's hair, as death by drowning or some such dreadful catastrophe will be the consequence.

If the planet Mercury approaches the moon, it is a sign that the embankments of the rice-grounds will be ruined and the waters dried up. If Saturn approaches it, there will be war upon the confines of the kingdom; and if Mars comes near, all things will be sold at high prices. If this planet passes to the left of the Pleiads, it is a sign of a great earthquake; and so of many other combinations of the planets, from which auguries are derived. The appearance of comets is also considered as ominous.

Section 56

In the time of war, or during a lawsuit there is a curious way of finding out the success to be expected. Three figures are made of cooked rice, one representing a loin, another an ox, and a third a elephant. These are exposed to the crows, and the augury is taken according to which is eaten. If they fall on the figure of the lion, it is a sign of victory, if they eat that of the ox, things will be made up by accommodation, but if they take the elephant, then bad success is to be looked for.

Section 57

When a dog carries any unclean thing to the top of a house, it is supposed that the master will become rich. If a hen lay her egg upon cotton, its master will become poor. If a person, who is going to conclude a lawsuit, meet on the road another carrying brooms or spades, the suit will be long, and in the end he will be deceived. If the wind should carry away any of the leaves of the betel, when, according to custom, it is being carried to the house of a newly married woman, it is a sign that the marriage will be unhappy, and that a separation will ensue.

If in going to war or to prosecute a lawsuit, a person meet with a fish, there will be no war, and the lawsuit will cease; if he see another catching a goat, the Mandarins will exact many presents, the client will be deceived, and the lawsuit a long

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one; if he meet any one carrying packages, then everything will succeed to his wishes; if he meet a serpent, the affair will be long; if a dog or a female elephant or a person playing on the instrument called Zaun, a species of cymbal, fn145-01 all things will go well.

Section 58

 In divers places this book also speaks of the prognostics to be taken from the cawing of crows, from the baying of dogs, from the different situations and forms in which bees make their combs, from the manner in which fowls lay their eggs, from various birds, such as the vulture and the crow, which light upon the trees or the roofs of houses, and from the shape of the holes made by mice in different substances. It treats also of dreams; and from the hour of their occurrence and the things represented in them shows what auguries are to be drawn. But we should never finish were we to extract all the follies of this book, for they are so numerous, and, at the same time, so inconsistent with common comfort, that, as one of our oldest missionaries has observed, if a man were to be entirely guided by it he would not have a house to live in nor a road to walk on nor clothes to cover him nor even rice for his food; and yet the blind and ignorant Burmese place the greatest faith in it, and endeavour to regulate all their actions according to its directions. And when they find that to a certainty some misfortune is hanging over them, they have recourse to the diviners and to other superstitions, by which the bad omens may be corrected.

Section 59

These superstitions are common to all the Burmese, but there are others that belong to particular persons, and to which they are beyond all measure attached. Of this kind are dreams, and the observance of lucky and unlucky days; for they believe that some days are peculiarly unlucky for beginning a journey either by land or water, and that others, on the contrary, are very lucky. But they have in particular an implicit confidence in their soothsayers, who are most commonly Brahmins. They are consulted on every affair of importance, and on every event, even though it depend entirely on the freewill of man. If a man thiks of undertaking a journey or instituting a lawsuit,

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fn145-01 The zaun is a stringed instrument. fn145-01b

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he runs to the soothsayer to learn what will be its success. If a person falls sick, or loses a slave or some animal, not only will he consult the diviner on the probable end of his malady, but he asks where he is to find a physician, or in what direction he is to go in search of what he has lost. In order to reply to these questions the Brahmin will first draw his horoscope in the manner of the following scheme:--

Rahù North-west Age Venus North Age 21 Sun North-east Age 6
Jupiter West Age 19   Moon East Age 15
Saturn South-west Age 10 Mercury South Age 17 Mars South-east Age 8

The Burmese, as has been before remarked, admit eight planets, from which the days of the week have their names. but since there are but seven days, Wednesday has two planets, Mercury, which presides from sunrise to mid-day, and Rahù, whose reign is from mid-day till night. To these eight planets, disposed in the order in which they stand in the scheme, different ages are assigned, the sun being the youngest, as it is only six years old. The ages of men are supposed to have some connection with the ages of the planets, and on this ground the calculation of a man's fortune proceeds; for some of these planets have a malignant and others a benign influence. The four placed in the cardinal points are good planets, the others evil ones, particularly Rahù. The passage of the age of men into that of the planets is always of bad augury; and the worst

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passage is that from the age of the moon to the age of Mars. For example, when a man enters upon the seventh year of his age, he passes from the age of the sun to that of the moon; and when he enters the twenty-second, he is said to pass into the age of Mars. Now if any one desires to know how he will succeed in an affair, as for example if he will meet with dangers in a journey he is going to undertake, the diviner will first ask him the day of his birth, and then his age. He next divides the latter by eight, since there are eight planets, and then counts the number that remains upon the horoscope, beginning with the planet that presided on the day of his birth, and passing round through the houses of the planets. The house where the number finishes will give the fate of the enterprise, according to the aspect of the planet that is in it. Thus, for example, suppose a person born on a Monday, whose ages is twenty-three; divide this by eight, and there will remain, after the division, seven. If now we begin from the house of the moon, as the person was born on a Monday, and count through those of Mars, Mercury, etc., we shall finish in Venus, and the good or bad success of the undertaking must be determined by the nature of this planet. If a person were born on a Wednesday after mid-day, we must begin to count from the house of Rahù, and go on through that of Venus, etc. If after dividing the age by eight there be no remainder, then the augury must be taken from the planet of the birth; so that for a person born on a Monday, and in his twenty-fourth year, the moon is the fatal planet; for eight divides twenty-four exactly, without leaving a remainder.

Section 60

The Burmese diviners, in the same manner as gypsies among us, read a person's fortune in the palm of his hand and the lines it exhibits. Thus if the palm be red, it is a sign of a large circle of friends; but if it be black it is a sign of misfortune. Black lines in the hand denote prudence, and if they reach the upper part of the palm, they promise happiness. A great number of lines is a sign of very great happiness, and of the possession of many friends and a numerous offspring. When there is but a single line in the thumb or little finger, the person so marked will live 110 years; if there are two lines his life will be of eighty or ninety years; if three, of seventy; and if

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four, of sixty. Long fingers show that a person has many daughters, short ones that he is lascivious. If the little lines on the top of the forefinger are disposed in circles, happiness is predicted; but if they merely describe the are of a circle, misery and great afflictions must be looked for. In all these auguries, the right hand of a man, and the left of a woman is to be consulted.

Section 61

Talismans are also much in use among the Burmese; and they are of several kinds. Some they wear round the neck, others round the wrist; and they think to be preserved by them from sickness and all kinds of witchcraft. There is one species much esteemed among the soldiers, consisting of a piece of lead or other metal, which is buried in the flesh. They imagine by these means to make themselves invulnerable. The figures of tigers, dogs, and other animals, which they paint upon their legs and thighs, may also be considered as so many talismans, for they believe that through them they will be safe, not only from these animals, but also from every kind of assault what soever.1

One of their most potent talismans is a handle of ivory or buffalo's born, upon which are carved several representations of a certain monstrous ape. The history of this creature is as follow: --- A Nat of the name of Mannat, being dead, passed into the womb of a female ape, who shortly after brought forth this famous monster. Its name is Hanuman, the compound of the word Hanu, signifying an ape, and its former appellation.2 The stature of this monster was enormous, being of four leagues and a half; it was possessed of the greatest agility, for at one bound it could leap up to heaven, or pass a sea of the breadth

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fn148-01 Mr. Eales, the compiler of the Burma Census Report of 1891, at p. 270, vol. i., states that credulity and quackery are still common. In 1881 a Shan 'doctor' was convicted before me as Judicial Commissioner at Rangoon of culpable homicide on the following facts: A Burman, desirous of protection against sudden death, allowed a picture of the paddy-bird of Pegù to be tattooed on his thigh by the Shan, and the, after his feet and hands had been tied together, to be pushed from a boat into the Irawadi river, when the current carried him away helpless, and he was drowned. The Shan had told him that the charm would save him from sinking; and several respectable witnesses for the defence swore save him from sinking; and several respectable witnesses for the defence swore that they had seen similar experiments result in the bound man floating unhurt.

fn148-02 Hanuman is the monkey-god of the Hindus, and this history is an altered version of an episode in the Râmayâna.

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of 100 leagues; and it had besides the property of transforming itself into an ape of the ordinary size. Its strength was prodigious, as it could break any mountain in pieces, or transport it from one place to another; finally, it was gifted with immortality, so that none but the great king Ramamen could destroy it. It could both understand and speak the language of men. One day it mistook the sun for a fruit, and having a great desire to eat it, jumped up to it, and seized it with its hands to bring it down. But the Nat of the sun cursed it for its boldness, and as a punishment sentenced it to be reduced to an ape of the usual dimensions, to lose all its strength, agility, and immortality, and to remain in this condition till the great king Aamamen should appear, who by stroking its back three times, would restore to it, together with its size, all its other great qualities. And in fact, after this malediction, Hanuman became a common ape, as powerless and as weak as any other of its kind; and so it remained till king Ramamen appeared. He, having been informed of the curse and the prediction, and being about to wage war with the king of the giants, sent for Hanuman, and having stroked its back three times, restored it to its former state, hoping now to derive great assistance from it in his enterprise. And indeed he afterwards employed it in the most arduous undertakings; and, through its means, obtained a complete victory over the giants, and recovered his wife from their hands. Wherefore the Mandarins and all the people believe, that by carving the figure of this monster upon the ivory or bone handles of their daggers or swords, they communicate to them the virtue of cutting through every obstacle, and of warding off the blows of any hostile weapon.

Section 62

Besides these, we may also reckon among the superstitions of the Burmese, the use of amatory philtres, and of numerous recipes for obtaining a return of love; a fear of witches, admitted in the greatest excess; and the medicines against incantations, much praised by their physicians. It is impossible to persuade the Burmese that there is no such thing in nature as witches, and that they are not extremely malicious and hurtful. They both believe in them, and have many superstitious practices for discovering them. The following is one among many. The suspected woman is placed upon a little

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bier, supported at each end by a boat, and a vessel full of ordure is emptied upon her. The boats are then slowly drawn from each other, till the woman falls into the water. If the sinks, she is dragged out by a rope of green herbs tied round her middle, and is declared innocent; but if she swims, she is convicted as a witch, and generally sent to some place where the air is unwholsome.1

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fn150-01 This ordeal by water is common to Hindu law and practice, and found among the nations of Europe. The last judicial conviction of a woman for witchcraft in England was in 1712, and is Scotland some years later; the last judicial execution in Europe was in Switzerland in 1782. But the practice of ducking witches survived far into this century. See the Encyclopedia Britannica, Articles Ordeal, Witchcraft, and the long discussion in Lecky's Rite of Rationalism in Europe, ch. i. According to Shway Yoe this superstition is still common in Burma. Mr. Taw Sein-Ko has supplied me with the following note on the book which Sangemano calls Deitton:---- 'Deitton in Pall would be derive this word from dishia, appointed or settled, and um=AUM, the mystic symbol which precedes every incantation. I have not met any Deitton either in Pall or Sanskrit, but have seen several in Burmese. I think this treatise deals with a subject simkilar to the geomancy of the Chinese, and was originally used in deciding on the position of the king's palace and other public buildings'.

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