Gavampati
Mon · mortal · Mon traditional religion; continuing · mortal
In Mon tradition the arahant Gavampati is the tutelary apostle of Rāmaññadesa, the Mon country, held to have carried the Dhamma to Suvaṇṇabhūmi and to Thaton during the Buddha's own lifetime and to have brought or enshrined relics there. He is one of the great disciples of the Pali canon, remembered for his mastery over the tides, and in Lower Burma his cult attaches to major stupas as an abiding guardian. Sources differ sharply on the age of the legend: the Mon chronicles present it as ancient truth, while critical historians hold the Thaton-Suvaṇṇabhūmi identification to be a later scholastic construction.
Domains
- tutelary guardianship
- relic enshrinement
Powers
- establish the Dhamma in the Mon country
- intercede as guardian of the Mon land
Epithets
- Apostle of Rāmaññadesa
Sources
- Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma: Myth and Folklore in an Evolving Spiritual Realm (Bangkok: River Books, 2011)
- R. Halliday (trans.), 'Slapat Rajawan Datow Smim Ron', Journal of the Burma Research Society 13 (1923)
- Michael Aung-Thwin, The Mists of Rāmañña: The Legend That Was Lower Burma (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005)