A wide variety of mythical creatures are found in Burmese mythology. Many Burmese creatures are part human or creatures capable of assuming human form. Most mythical creatures are endowed with humanistic mentalities, ability to converse with humans and also supernatural powers. During the 20th century, the role and diversity of Burmese mythical creatures were diversified by Shwe Thway comics which depicted the life of the Buddha, the

Jataka tales The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to India which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is ...

and

Burmese history The history of Myanmar (also known as Burma; my, မြန်မာ့သမိုင်း) covers the period from the time of first-known human settlements 13,000 years ago to the present day. The earliest inhabitants of recorded history wer ...

. The most common mythological being is the Belu, an ogre. The popularity of the Belu is due to the

Yama Zatdaw Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. ...

, the Burmese version of the

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...

, a very popular play in Myanmar, and also their roles in the Jatakas. Bodleian Ms

List of beings and creatures

The following is a list of beings and creatures in Burmese mythology:

Creatures mentioned in stories, plays and Burmese literature

Deities, Demons & Spirits

* Athurakal - the lowest form of deities which have pleasure half the day and suffer the other half. Sworn enemies of the

Devas Devas may refer to: * Devas Club, a club in south London * Anthony Devas (1911–1958), British portrait painter * Charles Stanton Devas (1848–1906), political economist * Jocelyn Devas (died 1886), founder of the Devas Club * Devas (band), ...

(gods). (''Athurakal'' is an alternative synonym for ''

Asura Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated ...

'') * Belu - usually man-eating demons capable of shapeshifting. ** Pan-kike Belu - (lit ''flower biters'') Belu with straight fangs which eat humans. Generally malevolent. ** Panswé Belu - (lit ''flower danglers'') Belu with curved or hooked fangs which eat flowers and fruits. Generally benevolent. An example would be

Popa Medaw Popa Medaw ( my, ပုပ္ပားမယ်တော်; , also known as Me Wunna) is a nat of Myanmar. She is a flower-eating ogress and the mother of the Shwe Hpyin ('Inferior Gold') brothers Shwe Hpyin Naungdaw and Shwe Hpyin Nyidaw. Altho ...

. * Nat sein - ''ghods'', spirits of deceased humans (especially those who died violent deaths). They grant supernatural powers to those devoted to them, but are imperceptible in the mortal world. * Ottsa-saunk or Ottsar-saunk - beings cursed to roam the earth due to their strong attachment to objects or places. * Thaik nan shin - is synonymous with Otta-saunk, glossed by Spiro as “quasi-nat,” or “the spirits who, because of their greed for treasure when they were human, have been assigned to guard the treasures of the Buddha". * Peik-ta - ''ghouls'', beings punished with perpetual hunger or thirst. (derived from Sanskrit word ''Preta'') *

Sone The sone () is a unit of loudness, the subjective perception of sound pressure. The study of perceived loudness is included in the topic of psychoacoustics and employs methods of psychophysics. Doubling the perceived loudness doubles the sone v ...

- hags or witches * Thayé - ghosts * Yama Yazar - A saint, often claimed as death lord who rule the hell. (Derived from ''Yama-raj'', Hindu god of death, hell and afterlife judgement) * Yetkhat - benevolent guardians of buried treasures and those hidden in tree roots. (derived from ''Raksha'', Hindu mythical demons) * Zawgyi (alchemist) - a human

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim ...

with supernatural powers who is often seen with a stick and a red hat.

Beasts

;Birds * Galone - Garuda the archbird, nemesis of the serpents '' Nāgas''. * Hintha - Hamsa the Brahmin bird, famed as the bird with most pleasant voice; symbol of the

Mon people The Mon ( mnw, ဂကူမည်; my, မွန်လူမျိုး‌, ; th, wikt:มอญ, มอญ, ) are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy ...

Mon State Mon State ( my, မွန်ပြည်နယ်, ; mnw, တွဵုရးဍုင်မန်, italics=no) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It lies between Kayin State to the east, the Andaman Sea to the west, Bago Region to th ...

and

Bago Region Bago Region ( my, ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Pegu Division and Bago Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the southern central part of the country. It is bordered by Magway Region a ...

. * Karaweik - from the Pali "karavika", a bird with a melodious cry. ;Reptiles * Magan - Makara, a crocodile-like sea monster with prehensile snout. *

Nāga The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

- dragon-like serpents with great powers, enemies of the

Garuda Garuda ( Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garu ...

s, and who inhabit the sea. They are described as being able to swim through the earth as if it was water, and fly in the sky. According to the Bhuridatta Jataka the 6th of the 10 last lives of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

, the Buddha was a

prince. * Ngamoeyeik - a super giant crocodile and character of Min Nandar and Shin Hmwe Loon, the Burmese equivalent of

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

. ;Mammals * Kyut - malevolent

pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (, from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales"). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', ''Phataginus'', and '' Smuts ...

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, alo ...

like creatures which can assume human form and trick humans in the barren forests. * Sarmaree - vain long-haired yak which values its hair. * Thaman Kyah - the weretiger, somewhat equivalent to werewolf in European cultures. ;Spiders * Giant Spider of Pindaya - a giant spider which held 7 princesses captive in

Pindaya Pindaya ( my, ပင်းတယမြို့ ''Pìñṯáyá myoú'') is a town in the Shan State of Burma. It is located in the west of the state in Pindaya Township in Taunggyi District. Mainly famous for its limestone caves called Pindaya Ca ...

region. ;Hybrids * Byala - Rakhine version of the Nawa Rupa. A creature with nine hybrid features. * Kinnara, male and

Kinnari A kinnara is a celestial musician, part human and part bird, who are musically paradigmatic lovers, in Hinduism and Buddhism. In these traditions, the ''kinnaras'' (male) and ''kinnaris'' (female counterpart) are two of the most beloved mytho ...

, female - a hybrid of human and bird, often painted as humans with wings in clothing and headdresses; associated with the Shan and Kayah States. * Manotethiha (''Manussiha'' in Pali) - Sphinx-like Half-human, half-lion creatures. Their appearances are somewhat similar with sphinxes. What separates them from sphinxes is that they have two lion bodies connected to a single human head. *

Nawarupa Nawarupa ( my, နဝရူပ, also spelt nawa rupa; pi, navarūpa, ), also known as byala ( Arakanese: ဗျာလ or ဗျာလ္လ), is a chimeric creature found in Burmese and Rakhine (Arakanese) mythology. The beast is made of 9 anima ...

- (lit ''nine features''); a creature made from the amalgamation of parts of nine different animals. * Nāya/ Toe-nāya/ Toe-nāga - quite similar to chimera; hybrids of seven animals including

. No appearance of these creatures is found in mythology. They are artistic designs of a nāga developed by early Myanmar sculptor. *

Pyinsarupa Pyinsarupa ( my, ပဉ္စရူပ, , also spelt pyinsa rupa; pi, pañcarūpa, ), also known as phaya luang ( th, พญาลวง), is a chimeric animal made of an elephant, bullock, horse, white carp (ငါးကြင်း) and ''to ...

- (lit ''five features''); a creature made from the amalgamation of parts of five different animals, mascot of

Myanmar Airways International Myanmar Airways International Co., Ltd. ( my, အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ မြန်မာ့လေကြောင်းလိုင်း) is a privately owned airline headquartered in Yangon, Myanmar. It operates sch ...

References

Htin Aung, ''Maung'' ''Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism''. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1962.

External links