Burmese story dha restored by Battara

Mark · 17th June 2005, 11:26 PM

I found the story of the Burmese "patron saint" of smiths. I had a few details wrong (the king married into the smith's family, not the other way around), but here it is.

“Maung Tin De, the legendary hero of the Popa myth, is represented as a blacksmith of prodigious strength. His date by the chronicles is the fourth century A.D. The son of a blacksmith, Maung Tin De could wield in his right hand a twenty-five viss hammer, and a twenty-viss hammer in his left: and under his blows the anvil roared like thunder and all the people around were struck with panic. His great power was a source of fear to the King of Tagaung where he lived, who to secure himself married his beautiful sister Saw Me Ya, and afterwards seized by treachery the smith, whose funeral pyre was shared by his sister: the pair of them thereafter became the most powerful Nats, the Mahagiri Maung Hnama Daw of Popa.” Bell, E.N., A Monograph on Iron and Steel Work in Burma, Superintendent of Printing, Rangoon (1907), p. 2.

Mt. Popa is an extinct volcano closeby the old Burmese capital Pagan, and is the legendary birthplace of smithing (as an early source of iron ore). A viss is a unit of measure used throughout SEA, but I can't remember its equivalent in grams or ounces. Tagoung was a pre-Pagan Burmese kingdom, and Nats are guardian spirits pre-dating Buddhism in Burma, and still greatly revered.

I am willing to wager that it is the story of Maung Tin De that is on your dha, Andrew.

17th June 2005, 11:26 PM	#14
Mark Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 987	I found the story of the Burmese "patron saint" of smiths. I had a few details wrong (the king married into the smith's family, not the other way around), but here it is. “Maung Tin De, the legendary hero of the Popa myth, is represented as a blacksmith of prodigious strength. His date by the chronicles is the fourth century A.D. The son of a blacksmith, Maung Tin De could wield in his right hand a twenty-five viss hammer, and a twenty-viss hammer in his left: and under his blows the anvil roared like thunder and all the people around were struck with panic. His great power was a source of fear to the King of Tagaung where he lived, who to secure himself married his beautiful sister Saw Me Ya, and afterwards seized by treachery the smith, whose funeral pyre was shared by his sister: the pair of them thereafter became the most powerful Nats, the Mahagiri Maung Hnama Daw of Popa.” Bell, E.N., A Monograph on Iron and Steel Work in Burma, Superintendent of Printing, Rangoon (1907), p. 2. Mt. Popa is an extinct volcano closeby the old Burmese capital Pagan, and is the legendary birthplace of smithing (as an early source of iron ore). A viss is a unit of measure used throughout SEA, but I can't remember its equivalent in grams or ounces. Tagoung was a pre-Pagan Burmese kingdom, and Nats are guardian spirits pre-dating Buddhism in Burma, and still greatly revered. I am willing to wager that it is the story of Maung Tin De that is on your dha, Andrew.