My Trip to Burma: Bagan Part 3 - Palm Sugar, a Local Village, and the Nats of Mount Popa
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I was already stuffed from breakfast. Now I was super-stuffed after munching on this salad. We headed back to the car and hit the road. In 90 minutes, we'd be at Mount Popa.
While in the car, we told Myint that everything on the itinerary looked great, but as culturally curious travelers, we would love to see something off the beaten path, something that show the authentic way Burmese people live their lives.
Myint had his driver pull over. Before we knew it, we were walking down a dirt road and into a very small village. He told us this was a very poor farming area. Everything is done manually. Myint led the way, asking permission of the people he encountered if it was okay to show us around. No one objected, of course. The Burmese are the most open, friendliest people, and they actually seemed to revel in the attention.
Peanuts were a popular crop, and we came across several families harvesting peanuts. Here are a husband and wife, doing the labor intensive work of removing the peanuts from the plants by hand.
There were lots of farm animals being raised. Cows and pigs, mainly.
This was the "supermarket". Seriously. If you needed something, this little shop was the only store in the village. The few little items hanging up were the main inventory.
Indoor plumbing? No way. Running water? Nah... you send your daughter to the well to bring some back.
Everyone seemed pretty happy, though. Myint said he would show us the village schoolhouse. On the way, we encountered these kids who were on their way to the schoolhouse, too. They were fascinated by us. I don't think they'd ever seen a tourist before.
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Myint introduced us to the teacher. She said there was one teacher for 63 students.
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take their photos. They loved the idea. They ate it up. After taking the photo, I would show them the image on the camera display. They were enthralled.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Burmese religious life is the worship of nats. These are nature spirits who represent human flaws, weaknesses, or vices, and who died unnatural and often violent deaths. Nats may reside in trees, rocks, caves or summits, such as Mount Popa, the high altar of nat worship in Burma.
Veneration of nats is known to predate Buddhism in Burma which arrived in the 3rd century BC. Realizing that nats had quite a hold over his people, King Anawrahta of Bagan wisely incorporated nats into Theravada ritual in an attempt to encourage the Burmese to follow the new Theravada doctrines. This is why Burmese temples today nearly always also contain nat shrines. The King fixed the official number of nats at 36, adding a 37th, Thagyamin, king of the nats, derived from the ancient Hindu deity Indra. In this way, he established the nat pantheon as subordinate to the Buddha, which is the position they retain today.
Nat worship is still particularly prevalent in rural areas, although educated urban Burmese often dismiss the tradition and folk superstition. Burmese nats come from a variety of sources including local animist nature spirits, folk deities such as Mai Wunna (the flower-eating ogress of Mount Popa), Burmanized versions of major Hindu gods. Nats are also related to real-life historical figures, such as Min Situ, the nat spirit of Bagan’s King Alaungsitu. Basically, all of this merges in a bewildering historical and mythological mélange. Some have followers nationwide; others may be linked to a single area, or even a single village. Not all Buddhists subscribe to the practice of nat worship in contemporary times, but it does remain very popular in rural areas.
Except for Thagyamin, the king of the nats, every one of the 37 nats died a violent death, lending them something of a character of Christian martyrs. At the same time, however, they’re also an engagingly humanized bunch, in stark contrast to the exalted qualities of the Buddha himself. Popular nats include some definitely unsavory characters with very recognizable personal flaws and earthly failings, like Min Kyawzwa, the Drunken Nat, whose image at Mt. Popa is draped with offerings of whisky bottles and cigarettes in homage to his life spend boozing, cockfighting, and hunting.
Nats are completely integrated into Burmese Buddhism now, and nat shrines and images are usually found in most temples. All pagodas have a resident guardian nat spirit, Bo Bo Gyi, typically shown as a man dressed in pink robes with a white turban. You’ll also see many shrines dedicated to Shin Upagot (aka Upagutta), a much venerated figure believed to protect worshippers against watery perils like flood and storms. He’s easy to spot because of his distinctive pose, seated with one hand dipping into an alms bowl on his lap, his head tilted upwards, scanning the sky in search of rain.
Mount Popa is Burma’s main center of nat worship, but other pagodas feature nats prominently. Historically, the Shwezigon is interesting for its role in the development of Burmese Buddhism. King Anawrahta decided to encourage interest in the new Theravada Buddhist faith by placing images of the 37 most revered nats on the lower terraces of the stupa, believing that the people would be won over to this new Buddhist faith more easily if it incorporated aspects of their traditional beliefs, setting a precedent for the combined nat and Buddhist shrines that are found throughout Burma to this day. Unfortunately on this trip, we didn't get to visit the Shwezigon.
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Further along is an image of the elephant-headed Ganesh, one of several Hindu gods admitted into the Burmese nat membership (where he is known as Maha Peinne).
Locals pray to Shwe Na Be (Lady with Golden Sides) when a snake enters their house. Yes, she’s the one grimly holding a serpent.
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Because Mount Popa is famous throughout Burma as the home of the nat spirits, thousands of pilgrims to come and pay their respects to (and sometimes ask a favor of) the resident nats. Mount Popa’s name is derived from the Sanskrit word for flower. This rocky crag contains it all… monasteries, shrines, and pagodas, at the summit. There is a bit of a debate as to when the volcano last erupted. Some say it was 250,000 years ago, while others say 40 million years ago. Either way, both estimates are far away enough to be sure that the volcano is truly safe and quiescent.
Tradition demands that you not wear red, black or green when visiting the mountain, so forget your favorite football jersey. Nor should you bring meat, especially pork (possibly in deference to the Muslim sensibilities of Byatta, one of the nats said to reside upon the mountain. This was frustrating, as I make it my habit to always carry a pork chop in my pocket to gnaw on in case I get hungry. Oh well, today I’ll have to do without. Violate these rules and risk the wrath of one of the 37 extremely powerful nats, who may retaliate by inflicting dramatic bad luck upon you. You don’t mess with the nats. They have a reputation for being much less forgiving than Lord Buddha, possibly because almost all of them met a violent death during their lives as humans.
Entry to the shrines is free. It takes about 15 minutes to climb to the summit.
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The lower third is lined with numerous souvenir shops, and people selling food.
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Up and up we went. All 777 steps.
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The gold stupa at the top was nice, but after seeing the stupa at the Shwedagon, this one pales in comparison. The view from the terrace up here was pretty impressive, I must say.
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I saw a cute orange kitty at the top. I wonder how long it took her to get to the top. Does she make the 777 step climb daily, or does she just live at the top permanently? I guess I'll never know.
I like how our guide gave every step-cleaner a little tip.
We grabbed a quick lunch at the not-too-memorable Yangon Restaurant, and then we were off to the town of Salay.
Salay is about 50 km south of Bagan, on the banks of the Ayeyarwady. It developed as a satellite of Bagan in the 12th and 13th century and remains an important religious center. There are about 50 active monasteries, many monuments, and some interesting colonial buildings. It's not visited by many tourists.
The main attraction is the well-maintained 19th century wooden gem, the Yoke Sone Kyaung (Monastery).
It’s an unusual wooden structure consisting of a large platform raised on pillars, with a cluster of intricately carved wooden shrines on top. It was built from 1882 to 1892.
There are intricate woodcarvings on the outer walls displaying 19th-century court life and scenes from the Jataka (stories from the Buddha’s past lives) and Ramayana (one of India’s best known legends).
The teak carvings are amazing, and very well-preserved.
It's an active monastery. We saw a monk strolling around the premises.
The monastery is also home to the small U Pone Nya Museum. It is named after the celebrated 19th century Burmese writer. It contains assorted exhibits from other sites in Salay, including more fine wood carvings.
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It was a cool looking pagoda
I know this Buddha looks like gold, but trust me, it really is made of lacquer. When you knock on it with your knuckles, you can hear that it's hollow. Kinda freaked me out, but in a cool way.
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Then he took one out and asked us to sign it. It was some kind of guest book for visitors to the monastery. We signed at the bottom, as you can see.
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As we drove back to our hotel, it started to get dark. The cars had headlights, but most of the motorbikes on the road did not have any headlights and were difficult for drivers to see. There were no street lights or road lights. Mark commented how dangerous this must be. “That’s Myanmar”, said Myint, with a chuckle. For all the changes the country is going through, the basics, like headlights and street lamps, are unlikely to change any time soon.
We got closer to the hotel, with dusk heavily descending upon us. Our driver was about to leisurely turn left onto the road that led to our hotel, when he suddenly he hit the brakes and swerved hard, narrowly missing a horse cart that seemingly came out of nowhere. There was no sound from any motor, obviously, and no lights of any kind. We just missed nicking the wheel of the cart. A woman on the cart yelled out something in our direction. “I don’t speak Burmese”, said Mark. “But I'm pretty sure I know what she just yelled.”
And so ends our three days in Bagan. Tomorrow: an early flight, and then new adventures in Inle Lake!
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