Elder Golden Brother of Taungbyon
Burmese · demigod · reign of King Anawrahta of Pagan (11th c.) · Recorded classification
Demigod / culture-hero (deified human son of a divine ogress mother), classed as demigod. English title leads; native Shwe Hpyin Naungdaw given in alt. Brother of the figure below; together the 'Taungbyon brothers'.
Domains
- war and soldiery
- local tutelary guardianship
Powers
- Slips unseen into a hostile king's palace as a royal agent
Relations
- sibling: Younger Golden Brother of TaungbyonThe Taungbyon Brother Lords, sons of Byatta and the ogress Me Wunna, executed under Anawrahta and enshrined together at Taungbyon.Temple, The Thirty-Seven Nats: A Phase of Spirit-Worship Prevailing in Burma (1906) (secondary)
Sources
- Shwe Hpyin Naungdaw (the elder Taungbyon brother), son of Byatta and Me Wunna, served Anawrahta as a warrior and was executed for failing to lay bricks at the Taungbyon pagoda, becoming a nat enshrined at Taungbyon.: R. C. Temple, The Thirty-Seven Nats, London, 1906 (secondary); Melford E. Spiro, Burmese Supernaturalism, expanded ed. 1978 (secondary)
- He and his brother are the focus of Myanmar's largest spirit festival, the six-day Taungbyon nat pwe near Mandalay.: Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière, Les rituels de possession en Birmanie: du culte d'État aux cérémonies privées, Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1989 (secondary)