FEATURE
In order to be effective, some of the fi gures
made by the saya himself had to be manufactured
120
within the course of a single night (U Than
Tun, 2016). This means that the creator must get
straight to essentials without dwelling on details.
This fact may account for two major characteristics
that, aside from their real or imagined therapeutic
value, Burmese medicine fi gures display:
a simplicity that sometimes borders on geometric
stylization (fi gs. 21 and 32) and a stark expressive
power that can be the product of effi ciency.
The bilu and the terrifying guardian fi gures
perhaps best embody the genius of the Shan and
Burmese saya and craftsmen. Does not the fi gure
of the cannibal ogre devouring his victim (fi g. 42),
to name just one example, deserve to be ranked
alongside the most striking creations of the magical
arts of Africa and Oceania in the museum of
our imagination?
An unusual quality relates to the ogre fi gures,
guardians, and Zawgyi that are so eroded away
by repeated use that only their heads remain (fi gs.
27, 36, and 37). Legend holds that Vishnu was
able to convince the ogres of ancient times that
they would do better to devour themselves when
they were hungry rather than to eat the ordinary
people around them. In their profound naiveté,
they followed this advice, until nothing was left of
them but their heads and their sharp teeth. From
that day onward, they became vegetarians and ate
only fl owers, and the former cannibals found employment
as temple guardians. The village pharmacy
effectively mirrors this myth, as its fi erce
bilu serve a just cause. But at the same time, if
these fi gures also have the power to make demons
fl ee, is it not because they have remained cannibals
at heart? This in turn may be a refl ection of
the peoples whose roots extend into ancient Asia
and who remain unconsciously marked by the animism
of their distant ancestors and the shamanism
of olden times that is now covered—at least in
part—by the veneer of imported religions.
Warmest thanks to U Than Tun and Mimi, as well as to Philippe
Fatin, and to Frédéric Rond, Jacques Lebrat, Virgile Wahl-Boyer,
Murielle Clément, and many other dealers of Yangon, Myinkaba,
Nyaungshwe, and other places who remain anonymous, without
all of whom this article could never have seen the light of day.
FIG. 35 (left): Praying fi gure
with offerings in the Buddhist
tradition.
Compressed powder, lacquer.
H: 7.2 cm.
FIG. 36 (above):
Vestige of a fi gure of Zawgyi.
Compressed powder, lacquer.
H: 8.6 cm.
FIG. 37 (below):
Vestige of a fi gure of Zawgyi.
Compressed powder, lacquer.
H: 4.5 cm.
FIGS. 33a and b (above):
Two views of a fi gure of
Garuda (Galon).
Compressed powder. H: 5.4 cm.
FIG. 32 (left): Figure
riding a feline,
probably the nat Min
Kyawzwa.
Compressed powder, old
lacquer. H: 3.6 cm.
FIG. 31 (left): Figure riding
a feline, probably the nat
Maung Po Tu.
Compressed powder, old lacquer.
REFERENCES
Bruns, Axel R. H., Burmese Puppetry, White Lotus Press, Bangkok,
2006.
“Chamane au coeur des corps: tatouage birman, médecine et
chamanisme,” internet document, www.ethnikan.com.
Conway, Susan, Tai Magic. Arts of the Supernatural in the Shan States
and Lan Na, River Books, Bangkok, 2014.
Journal of Burma Studies, vol. 16, no. 2, 2012, Northern Illinois
University. Contains articles by B. Brac de la Perrière, C. Coderey, G.
Rozenberg, and J. Schober, among others, on the immortal weikza
(or weizza) of Burma.
Maung Htin Aung, Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism, Greenwood
Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1959/1978.
Rodrigue, Yves, Nat-pwe: Burma’s Supernatural Sub-culture, Kiscadale,
Gartmore, Scotland, 1992.
Rozenberg, Guillaume, Les Immortels, visages de l’incroyable en
Birmanie bouddhiste, Éditions Sully, 2010.
Shway Yoe (Sir George Scott), The Burman, His Life and Notions,
Macmillan, London, 1882/1910. Reprint, The Norton Library, New
York, 1963.
Spiro, Melford E., Burmese Supernaturalism, Philadelphia, 1967/1978.
Temple, Richard Carnac, The Thirty-Seven Nats, London, 1906,
reprint Kiscadale, London, 1991.
FIG. 34 (above): Figurine of
a bear holding two staffs,
attributes of a guardian.
Compressed powder, lacquer.
H: 2.5 cm.
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