APPENDIX III.
LIST OF NATS, OR DEITIES, WORSHIPPED BY THE KAKHYENS; OBTAINED FROM NATIVE SOURCES BY COLONEL SLADEN.
- Ngka nat; Burmese, Me nat; Eng. God of Earth.—He is worshipped on the occasions of digging gold or other mines, founding a village, and sowing paddy. The offerings made are buffalo, hogs, fowls, dried fish, and liquor (sheroo). The worship must be celebrated by the entire population of a village, and for four days next ensuing no work nor journey must be undertaken.
- Mooshen or Mofitwa nat or nats. These are husband and wife, called respectively Sharoowa and Modai-pronga. Burmese, Thakya-meng; Eng. the King of Gods.—Worshipped on the occasion of clearing fields, cutting rice crop, and founding a village. The offerings made are a young male buffalo or bull, hog, cocks, eggs, rice, dried fish, and liquor, with gifts of a silk putzo and women’s ornaments. The worship is celebrated by the tsawbwa and the whole village, and cannot be offered by a private person.
- Numsyang or Noon-shan nat or nats; Burmese, Yuwa-saun; Eng. the Village Guardians.—These are male and female, the eastern portion of a village being under the custody of the former, and the western of the latter. They are worshipped twice a year; also on the occasion of any epidemic or of war, and at the foundation of a new village. The offerings are as already mentioned, but the victims must be male, and the worship is celebrated by the tsawbwa with all his people.
- Chan nat; Burmese, Me nat; Eng. the Sun.—Also two, husband and wife. Worshipped by chief and people at the time of clearing fields and harvesting. The offerings are red fowls, boiled rice, eggs, dried fish, bread, and liquor, with gifts of one gong, a red putzo, and masculine ornaments.
- Sada nat; Burmese, La nat; Eng. the Moon.—Worshipped as foregoing. Offerings, boiled rice, dried flesh and fish, eggs, and four bamboo flasks of liquor, with gifts of feminine clothes and ornaments and a silver pipe stem.
- Ning-foi, or Pomp-woi; Burmese, Le nat; Eng. the Air.—Worshipped in sickness, time of war, when going on a trading journey, clearing fields, or founding a village. Offerings, buffalo, cow, hog, fowls, &c., with gifts of putzo, gong, and silver.
- Ning-gon-wa nat; Burmese, Byama nat; the Hindoo Brahma.—Regarded as the “chief tsawbwa after death.” Offerings, bread; gifts, flowers, silk putzo, and eight bamboos of liquor.
- Boom nat; Burmese, Toung nat; Eng. the God of Mountains.—Worshipped in sickness, and when clearing fields or founding a village. Offerings, buffalo, cow, hog, &c.
- Mŭm Sŭn; Burmese, Soba nat; Eng. the Rice God.—Worshipped for growth of rice crop, and sometimes in sickness. Offerings the same as to the Moon.
- Chegah nat; Burmese, Lay-khyan-saun; the Field and Garden Keeper.—Invoked to protect them. Offerings of buffalo and cows, of which the skin is burned and the flesh boiled. Propitiated also with offerings of tobacco. Said to inflict disease in the skin and eyes.
- Waroom nat; Burmese, Ana nat; Eng. the God of Disease.—Worshipped during sickness, chiefly small-pox and cholera. Offerings, buffalo, &c.
- Khakhoo Kha-nam; Burmese, Yei nat; the God of Water.—Worshipped on the occasion of any one being drowned; sometimes in sickness. Offerings, two buffaloes, two hogs, two fowls, &c.
- Tsethoung nat; Burmese, Tou nat; Eng. the God of Forest.—Worshipped on the occasion of founding a village, clearing fields, war, and sickness. Offerings, a hog, a goat, &c.
- Ngkhoo nat; Burmese, Aing nat; the Home God, or God of Ancestors.—Worshipped in all cases of sickness. Any one wishing to migrate to another state hangs a bamboo of liquor on a post and invokes him. New rice is also offered him at harvest. Offerings, buffalo, cow, &c.
- Ndong nat; Burmese, Aing-peen nat; the God of the Outside of Home.—Believed to reside in the house, but worshipped outside if one of the family is killed in war, or by drowning, fall from a tree, or the bite of a tiger or snake. Offerings, buffalo, &c.
- Mo nat; Burmese, the same; the God of Heaven.—Four brothers, viz. Moung-lam, Khreenwan, Seen-lap, Mou-sheeing, and a sister, Boung-fwoy, the Thunder Goddess. A very high god of the Kakhyens, worshipped by those who desire profit in trade, victory in war, or children; also on occasion of founding a village and of sickness. Sacrifice, buffalo, cow, hog, and fowls—all which must be white—dried fish, eggs, and liquor.
- Lessa nat; Burmese, Tesey, or Tuhsai; the ghost of a person murdered by the dah, supposed to cause disease.—Offerings, buffalo, &c., and boiled rice, curry, liquor, exposed in baskets.
- Needang nat; Burmese, Meima Tesey; the compound spectre of mother and unborn child.
- Hau-saing nat; Burmese, Taroup nat; the Chinese god.
- Khokhamla; Burmese, Sing-buring; the last king.
- Phee Lomoon; Burmese, Soung; the witch, believed to be able to destroy life.
