Visitors to Myanmar immediately notice the golden pagodas and the monks in saffron robes: the country is deeply Buddhist. But beside the temples, under a tree, on a household altar or atop a volcanic mountain, one also finds small shrines with colourful figures and offerings of fruit, flowers and drinks. They are dedicated to the nats, the spirits that for centuries have inhabited Burmese religious life alongside the teaching of the Buddha.
What the nats are
The word nat broadly denotes superhuman beings. It includes nature spirits, guardians of villages, trees and rivers, deities of Indian origin and above all a very particular group of spirits: people who once lived, often nobles or figures connected with the court, and who died a violent or premature death.
According to belief, those who die this way, in Burmese a "green death", meaning one that came before ripeness, can become powerful and restless spirits. Venerating them means appeasing them and turning their power into protection.
The thirty-seven nats
Tradition attributes to King Anawrahta, who reigned at Bagan in the eleventh century, the establishment of an official pantheon of thirty-seven nats. The king, a promoter of Theravada Buddhism, could not eliminate the cult of spirits, so widespread among his people: he decided instead to order it, placing at its head Thagyamin, the king of the gods identified with the Indian Indra-Sakka, who had become a devotee of the Buddha.
In this way the nats were placed under the authority of Buddhism: protectors, not rivals, of the doctrine. The list of the thirty-seven has changed over time and varies between sources, but the number has remained a symbolic reference.
Stories of death and cult
Many of the thirty-seven nats have tragic stories, preserved in legends and songs. Some of the best known examples:
- Min Mahagiri, "lord of the great mountain", a blacksmith of extraordinary strength burned by a jealous king, whose sister threw herself into the fire to follow him. The two became protective spirits, and Min Mahagiri is the nat of the house: in many homes a coconut hung from a pillar is dedicated to him.
- The Shwe Hpyin brothers, executed for failing in a duty to the king, venerated at a great annual festival at Taungbyon, near Mandalay.
- Mae Wunna, a woman linked to Mount Popa, whose love story ended in tragedy.
These tales share a recurring structure: unjust human power or cruel fate, a premature death, a transformation into a spirit, a cult that repairs the injustice.
Mount Popa
The most famous centre of the cult is Mount Popa, an extinct volcano in central Burma, not far from Bagan. Beside the main mountain rises a rocky peak, Taung Kalat, crowned by a complex of shrines reached by a long stairway. At its foot a shrine houses statues of the thirty-seven nats, dressed in sumptuous clothing.
Popa is considered the dwelling of many spirits and has always been a destination for pilgrimage, especially during full-moon festivals.
The nat kadaw and the nat pwe festivals
The relationship with the nats often passes through the nat kadaw, literally "wives of the nats": mediums who consider themselves bound to a spirit by a bond similar to marriage. During the festivals called nat pwe, with orchestras and dancing, the mediums are "possessed" in turn by different nats, take on their dress, voice and gestures, receive offerings and speak to the faithful.
Many nat kadaw are women, but for a long time the role has also been taken by men living a gender-nonconforming identity, who have found in the world of the nats a space of social recognition.
Buddhism and nats: two levels of one life
For most Burmese there is no contradiction between following the Buddha and honouring the nats. Buddhism concerns liberation and ultimate destiny; the nats concern everyday protection, the success of a journey, the health of a harvest. Anthropologists often speak of a multi-layered religion, in which each sphere has its own interlocutors.
In short
- Nats are Burmese spirits, many of them born of violent or premature deaths.
- Tradition credits King Anawrahta with establishing a pantheon of thirty-seven nats headed by Thagyamin.
- Min Mahagiri is the nat of the house, honoured with a hanging coconut.
- Mount Popa and Taung Kalat are the centre of the cult.
- Nat kadaw mediums embody the spirits during nat pwe festivals.
