The Spirit Worship in Myanmar

MYANMAR is a country with a population of more than 50 million people, and the majority of them are Buddhists. Whoever visits this country will stare in surprise at its numerous pagodas and Buddha statues covered in gold leaf and glittering in the light – for which the country is known as the Golden Land.

With Theravada school of Buddhism as its principal religion and world’s other major religions recognised as well, the country is also home to a vast number of people who, whatever their religious affiliation may be, believe in and worship spirits known as nats. Who or what are these spirits and why do people worship them? And how long has this tradition existed?

In essence, Myanmar’s nat beliefs may not be much different from any other sort of animism in the world, and may have existed long before Buddhism was accepted. But while animist religions in many other cultures focus on the worship of nature spirits, Myanmar’s nats are historical or legendary figures who had suffered exceedingly tragic or violent deaths and who are now believed to exist as ghosts in places such as forests, mountains, big trees and lakes.

The worship of nats reached its peak during the reigns of ancient kings who patronised them. But since the time of King Anawrahta (1044-1077AD), a devout Buddhist king of the Bagan dynasty, the popularity of spirit worship has been in decline. However, it continues to play a significant role in the lives of local people, particularly in upcountry areas.

Though widely worshipped as powerful beings, the nats were those who were killed in bloody accidents, by severe disease or as the result of tragic events, such as execution. But the fact that they were celebrities in their time and that their stories captured the public imagination likely contributed to the belief among ordinary people that these tragic figures – even in death – live on in another form and are worthy of worship. 

Believers in nats usually keep small shrines or pictures of one or more nats in their homes, to which they direct their prayers for success in business, a happy married life and sound health. Believers who have extra money sometimes organise nat pwè (ceremonies to propitiate the spirits) in their homes, at shrines or in temporary tents.

At nat pwè, the nats are believed to communicate with people through mediums known as nat kadaws (wives of nats), who during the pwè dance in a whirlwind that is a mixture of performance art and ritual worship. The dances are accompanied by very boisterous nat music played by a traditional Myanmar orchestra. These musical ensembles feature plenty of percussion instruments, including drums and gongs, and can sound quite noisy to Western ears.

The ceremonies are led by spirit mediums, usually women or transvestites, and feature ritual offerings of incense sticks, coconuts and bananas to the nats. Mediums often fall into trance-like states during which they dance and mimic the behaviour of the nat who has possessed them.

For example, a medium will act like a drunkard while possessed by the nat Ko Gyi Kyaw, who was famed as a gambler and heavy drinker before he died. Similarly, mediums will curse and dance violently when they are said to be possessed by Mother Gyann, remembered as a very ferocious lady. Or they will speak in the pleasing tone of an oboe under the influence of Ma Hnè Lay, known in life for her melodious voice.

The offerings to the mediums also differ as the preferences of the nats differ, ranging from cheroots and toddy wine, to fried chicken and eggs. Based on the story of a nat and their natural bent, the purpose of worshipping him or her also differs. Ko Gyi Kyaw, for example, is often propitiated in hopes of winning in gambling or finding success in the business of selling liquor.

Of the many spirits worshipped in Myanmar, the most important and most popular are the Thirty Seven nats who are worshipped nationwide. Although no one can say for certain why there are thirty seven nats in this inner circle, the number is recurrent in Myanmar culture, which also espouses the Thirty Seven Types of Music, the Thirty Seven Songs and the Thirty Seven Martial Arts.

One of the most frequently worshipped of the Thirty Seven nats is Min Maha Giri. The story goes that a powerful blacksmith named Maung Tint Tè who lived in Dagaung, about 205 kilometres by river north of Mandalay, was captured and burnt to death by a king who was afraid of his strength. The king’s queen, who was also Maung Tint Tè’s own sister, committed suicide by jumping into the flames out of grief for her brother.

The brother and sister became nats, living in the tree at which they were burnt to death and cursing all passers-by. The king ordered that the tree be uprooted and tossed into the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River. The tree floated down to Bagan, where the king of that realm ordered that the wood of the tree be sculpted into statues of the two nats and placed in a shrine at Mt Popa, as he had been instructed in a dream.

Maung Tint Tè was given the title Maha Giri (Lord of the Great Mountain) in connection with Mt Popa, which, as the centre of spirit worship, is said to be Myanmar’s equivalent of Mt Olympus. The king organised a feast for Maha Giri at Mt Popa every year around the full moon of the lunar month of Nayon (May/June).

This practice continued until the reign of King Anawrahta, who tried to suppress the worship of nats after he introduced Theravada Buddhism to Bagan. He later relented and allowed the worship of spirits to continue within the context of Buddhism, but with public shrines abandoned, many people resorted to hanging coconuts inside their houses as a sign of fealty to Maung Tint Tè (coconut juice being recognised as good medicine for healing burn wounds). This tradition is still practiced today.

The most important nat festival of the year is held in the village of Taungbyone just north of Mandalay over the course of a week during the lunar month of Wagaung (July/August). Many people come from across Myanmar to worship two nats called the Brothers Shwe Phyin, who are believed to guard the region.

During their lifetimes the two brothers were favoured knights of King Anawrahta, until they failed to complete their task of contributing a brick each to the construction of a pagoda near Taungbyone – a project to which everyone in the region was expected to contribute. The king ordered that the two be punished, and without asking what sort of punishment, the king’s followers drowned the brothers to death. Anawrahta, regretting the severity of the punishment, granted the bothers, who had become nats, dominion over Taungbyone. Because the brothers were Muslims, to this day their followers abstain from eating pork.

Apart from well-known Thirty Seven nats, there are also many spirits worshipped by specific social classes or in particular regions of the country. Pon Ma Kyi, an ogress tamed by the Buddha, is asked by farmers to supply a successful harvest because during her lifetime she gave good advice to local farmers on the best time and place to grow their crops.

Another local nat is Kyaw Zwa, who is said to cause droughts in upper Myanmar. A Bagan native, he was taken hostage and killed by a king who wanted a magic stone belonging to an alchemist and monk whom Kyaw Zwa had befriended. To this day when there is drought in upper Myanmar, people play tug-of-war to propitiate Kyaw Zwa. It is believed that he sits on the rope during the contest, halfway between the two sides, and allows rain to fall when he is happy and satisfied with their performance.

Many people in lower Myanmar worship a nat named U Shin Gyi, also known as Lord of the Sea. A harpist from Bago, U Shin Gyi once joined a group of boatmen on an expedition to the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) delta. His harp music was so pleasant that the nymphs who lived on an island near where the boat had stopped fell in love with him. When the boat tried to leave, the nymphs prevented it from moving from the spot. The boatmen threw U Shin Gyi overboard and sailed away. The hapless harpist drowned and became a nat, who is believed to protect his worshippers from coming to harm from water.

There are countless other nat stories and recounting them all would fill a volume bigger than One Thousand and One Nights. Although nat stories are considered by most people today to be no more than fairytales, they have such a great influence on the population of Myanmar that the centuries-long existence of Buddhism in the country has never been able to completely replace spirit worship. 

Over time, nat worship has maintained its place in traditional culture as a mix of faith and commerce. Nat ceremonies and festivals not only are the domain of believers but also provide livelihoods for networks of mediums, organisers, musicians, transportation personnel and local arts and crafts industries. They are like country fairs with a unique Myanmar twist that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

If you ever visit Myanmar, you should not miss them!

 

Reference

၁။ ဦးဖိုးကျား (၁၉၉၉)။ “၃၇ မင်း”။ ဒုတိယအကြိမ်။ ပါရမီစာပေ၊ ရန်ကုန်။
၂။ Temple, Sir R.C (1906). The Thirty Seven Nats.