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Manussiha

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Manussiha(Burmese:မနုဿီဟ[a],Shan:မၼုၵ်ႉသီႇႁႃႉ[b],Pali:manussīha,lit. 'man-lion'), is a Burmese half-man half-lion mythical creature believed to be created by Buddhist missionary monks to protect a new-born royal baby from being devoured byrakshasis(ogresses) from the sea. Its statues are usually found guarding the four corners of a pagoda. It has a human head and torso and lion hindquarters.[1]Thus, it can be called a Burmesesphinx.[2][3] Notably, Manussiha is the symbol in the seal ofShwedagon Pagoda[4]and the patch badge of Shwe Dagon Pagoda Security.[5]

Etymology

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Side view of a Manussiha in a dictionary

Manussīha(မနုဿီဟ) is a combination of twoPaliwords;Manussa(မနုဿ) meaning "human" andSīha(သီဟ) meaning "lion". Thus, it can be literally translated as "Man-lion".

The Myanmar-English Dictionary, published by theMyanmar Language Commission,defined မနုဿီဟ as:

မနုဿီဟ


fabulous creature with a man's torso and a lion's hindquarters, depicted in a squatting posture on forked haunches


[Pali မနုဿ + သီဟ]

[6]

History

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The most famous version of history of Manussīha is fromSāsanālaṅkāyaTreatises (သာသနာလင်္ကာရစာတမ်း).[c]According to that treatises, Manussīha, first appeared in 235BE(309BCE), is not a real creature, but a statue in order to frighten the ogres, demons and evil spirits.

In 235th year afterParinibbānaof LordBuddha,theBuddhist missionary of five mathērs (senior monks) led by Soṇa and Uttaraarrived atSadhuimofSuvaṇṇabhūmiwhere the king Sirīmāsoka was reigning at that time. As the city is near the sea, thebīlūḥmas(belumas or ogresses) living in the sea had been coming to eat the babies from the royal households. On the same day when the missionaries arrived, the queen had just born a baby and the 500 bīlūḥmas were coming. The people were seriously frightened by seeing these. The missionary monks then used theirAbhiññāIddhipower to create 1000 frightening images, with a human head and two hindquarters of lions (thus called as Manussīha (Man-lion)), to surround the bīlūḥmas who frightened and ran away after that. The monks then recite theParittaprotections to prevent returning of bīlūḥs and other bad creatures. All the people converted to Buddhism, and 3500 men including 1500 princes were willingly ordained as monks. After that, Manussīha figures drawn on palm leaves were put as amulets on children's head to protect them from bad creatures. A rock Mannusīha statue was erected on the mountain northeast of Sadhuim (modern dayThaton).[d][7]

There are different versions of that history, only different in stating the name and location of the capital city of Suvaṇṇabhūmi. Sadhuim is the short form of Suddhammapura. Some sources say the capital city isSuddhammavati.Some other authoritative sources say that its name wasTaikkala(from Golamatti in Pali, through Mon-Tuik gala). The authoritative sources states that half of the city was located on top of Mount Kelasa while the rest was on the adjoining plain.[1]

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  • Manussiha sculpture at Myat Saw Nyi Naung Pagoda
    Manussiha sculpture at Myat Saw Nyi Naung Pagoda
  • Manussiha in a book about Nats
    Manussiha in a book aboutNats
  • The planetary post for Tuesday, associated with the lion, at the Shwedagon Pagoda. A Burmese sphinx[8] (Manussiha) statue stands in the background.
    The planetary post for Tuesday, associated with the lion, at theShwedagon Pagoda.A Burmesesphinx[8](Manussiha) statue stands in the background.
  • A Manussiha statue in Sambuddhe Pagoda
    A Manussiha statue inSambuddhe Pagoda

Notes

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Wikimedia Commons has media related toManussiha.
  1. ^
    • MLCTS:ma.nu.ssiha.
    • ALA-LC:manussīha
    • BGN/PCGN:manuthiha / manokthiha / manotthiha / ma note thiha
  2. ^manuk siha
  3. ^In 1193ME(1831CE), by the order of theKing Mindon,the interior minister and governor of HsawThiri Maha Nanda Thingyan(Sīrimahānandasaṅkran) asked questions and the king's counselor ministerMaha Dhamma Thingyan(Mahādhammasaṅkran) answered them, referencing on various canons and scriptures, then the questions and answers were written as the treatises and read out in the royal court. The treatises was clarified and published by Rangoon Hanthawadyy Pitakat Press in 1956.
  4. ^The Sāsanālaṅkāya Treatises, clarified and first published in 1956, states that this rock Manussīha statue still existing there. Someone should prove whether the statue is still existing.

References

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  1. ^ab"Manussiha, the Man-lion - Myanmar Religion and Beliefs".Archived fromthe originalon 2009-02-27.Retrieved2010-06-19.
  2. ^Hunter, A.J (2016).Claw of the Sphinx: Book 2.London, England: Hachette UK. p. 28.ISBN9780349124339.
  3. ^Dr., Uta Gärtnar (1994).Tradition and Modernity in Myanmar: Volume 1.Berlin, Germany: LIT Verlag Münster. p. 437.ISBN9783825821869.
  4. ^"The Board of Trustees of Shwedagon Pagoda".shwedagonpagoda.com.
  5. ^"SECURITY OFFICER CARRIES ANTI-DRONE GUN DURING".shutterstock.com.
  6. ^Myanmar-English Official Dictionary.Department of theMyanmar Language Commission.
  7. ^မဟာဓမ္မသင်္ကြန် [Maha Dhamma Thingyan] (1956).သာသနာလင်္ကာရစာတမ်း [Sāsanālaṅkāya Treatises].Rangoon (Yangon): Hanthawadyy Pitakat Press. pp. 57–58.
  8. ^Dr., Ramesh Babu.Deluge: Agastya Secrets.India: Notion Press. p. 35.ISBN9789352062782.
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