Chapter XXI: Appendix: III

LIST OF NATS, OR DEITIES, WORSHIPPED BY THE KAKHYENS; OBTAINED FROM NATIVE SOURCES BY COLONEL SLADEN.

1. _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.

2. _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.

3. _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.

4. _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.

5. _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.

6. _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.

7. _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.

8. _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.

9. _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.

10. _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.

11. _Waroom_ nat; Burmese, _Ana_ nat; Eng. the God of Disease.--Worshipped during sickness, chiefly small-pox and cholera. Offerings, buffalo, &c.

12. _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.

13. _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.

14. _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.

15. _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.

16. _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.

17. _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.

18. _Needang_ nat; Burmese, _Meima Tesey_; the compound spectre of mother and unborn child.

19. _Hau-saing_ nat; Burmese, _Taroup_ nat; the Chinese god.

20. _Khokhamla_; Burmese, _Sing-buring_; the last king.

21. _Phee Lomoon_; Burmese, _Soung_; the witch, believed to be able to destroy life.