Home › The Sea-Serpent › The Sea-Serpent: Burmah

The Sea-Serpent: Burmah

It is with great pleasure that I add the following testimony of a belief in the existence of the sea-serpent, from a country which has not hitherto been supposed to have any traditions relating to it. My inquiries in Burmah, as to a belief among its inhabitants in sundry so-called mythical beings, led me unexpectedly on the track of the following information, for which I am indebted to the scholarship and courtesy of F. Ripley, Esq., Government Translator in the Secretariat Department, Rangoon.

EXTRACT from the Kavilakhana dépané, pp. 132-133. [Author-Mingyi Thiri Mahazeyathu, the Myaunghla Myoza, Nanigngan-gya Wundauk, or Sub-Minister for Foreign Affairs to His Majesty the late King of Burmah.] "The creature Nyan is called in the Magadha language Tanti-gáha, in the Bengáli Gara; in the Sakkata, Gráha or Avagráh; and in the Burmese, Nyan. "Hence are to be found the following passages, viz. :- "Tanti-gáha The creature Nyan, of the immense length of one or two hundred fathoms,' in the Shri Sariputtara Apadan. ""Graho or Avagraho-a predatory monster, in shape like an earthworm,' in the Amarakosha Abhidhan; and ""Dvagar samudda maha nady sanga mela táká yazantu vigera itichate,' in the commentary of the Amarakosha Abhidhan. "From these works, which contain definitions of two words designative of the creature Nyan, it will be gathered that there does exist a predatory monster in the form of an earthworm, which inhabits estuaries and the mouths of great rivers. "Regarding the predatory instincts of this creature, it should be understood that it attacks even such animals as elephants. Hence the Dhammathats, in dealing with the decision of cases of hire of live-stock, wishing to point out that no fault lies through losses owing to natural accidents, make the following remarks :- ""There shall be no fault held if oxen die by reason of a snake gliding under them.' ""There shall be no fault held, if buffaloes die by reason of a dove resting on their horns.' ""There shall be no fault held if oxen and buffaloes die of their having eaten a grasshopper.' ""There shall be no fault held if elephants die by reason of their having been encoiled in the folds of a Nyan.' ""There shall be no fault held if horses die by reason of their having been sucked by bilas.' "The Poetical Version of the Pokinnaka Dhammathat, which is a compilation of several Dhammathats, in the same strain, says:- [Here follows a verse, the same in effect as the above.] "From such passages it will be seen that there is a frightful monster of extraordinary strength, which is capable of capturing even such animals as elephants." "In the form of oath of fealty administered by successive kings to their feudatories and vassals, the following imprecation is to be found :- “ ، May I die through being seized by alligators and Nyans." [Here follows an explanatory note respecting the four species of danger to be found in the ocean.] "In the reign of King Alaung-mindara-gyé, the founder of the city of Ratana Singha-when he went on an expedition against Ayudhara or Yodhaya (Siam) and was crossing the Martaban river, he lost some two or three elephants, which were destroyed as soon as they had entered the water. The King ascertained from the lower country inhabitants that they had been captured and bitten by the creature Nyan. Two or three elephants were similarly lost in Ava, when it was also ascertained that they had been captured by the Nyan. There goes a saying that the Nyan is some one to two hundred fathoms long. The form of oath of fealty contains an imprecation in which the Nyan is to fulfil a part. And there are writings which make mention of its existence."