Burma: Census of India 1901 Vol. I - Khamkoo

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146 REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF BURMA.
230. The artistic professions are comprised in sub-orders 70 and 71. The
.
ic profession
stage was the means of support of 17,981 persons in all,
^e eX press ;on COVering not only actors themselves, but
the members of the orchestras which accompany the strolling troupes through the
country. The total of these bandsmen remains at practically the same level as in
•1
89 1. That of actors has risen from 5,259 workers and dependents to 8,582, but
the 1 89 1 figures comprise the totals for exhibitors of puppets who were shown to
the extent of 4,517 under a separate head in 1891. Painters with their dependents
have fallen in number from 5,701 to 4,637 and sculptors, i.e., the makers of stone
and marble images of Gaudama, from 1,940 to 792.
231. Professional tattooers numbered 986 actual male workers. In the ori-
„, ginal list of occupations circulated by the Census Com-
Tattooers.
b r
• •
, j f , «
tattooers.
missioner no special provision was made tor
The professors of this branch of the pictorial art are, however, so numerous in
Burma that I recommended their being specifically shown, and in his revised list
the Census Commissioner arranged for their entry under a separate number. Nearly
every Burman male is tattooed from the knee to waist. The practice is undoubtedly
one of long standing. It is possibly of Polynesian origin. Both the Samoans
and the Kyans, a tribe closely allied to the Dyaks of Borneo, are said to decorate
this portion of the body. An account of the River Barram given in the Journal
of the Indian Archipelago (Singapore, 185 1), describe the women of the Kyans as
being so adorned. In Burma the ornamentation is effected by means of a black
pigment. The pattern, which is continuous, consists of animals, cats, monkeys,
chinthes, and the like, each figure being separated from the surrounding figures by
dotted tracery. This tattooing of the waist and adjoining members may be said
to be considered indispensable as a sign of manhood among the Burmans and is
usually effected shortly before or after the temporary assumption of the yellow robe.
In other portions of the body the colour employed is ordinarily red, the designs
(single figures enclosed within a dotted border) are isolated and ordinarily have
a particular significance. Thus a quail, a parrot, or a cat tattooed in red on one
side of the neck below the chin is reputed to act as a love charm ; a galon on the
back of the hand renders, or should render, the bite of a poisonous snake innocuous
a quail on the ankle is believed to have the same desirable effect. A cat on the
forearm will protect the person decorated from hurt from sword, spear or gun,
while the proper design on the biceps brings with it the convenient power of disappearing
at will. Other charms are referred to in Chapter X of Part I of the
Upper Burma Gazetteer. Under the Burmese regime tattoo marks were among the
insignia of office. I have procured copies of a few of the designs so employed. A
to or dragon on the knuckles of the right hand was the ordinary mark of the privates
of the various infantry regiments ;
cavalry troopers had cantering horses tattooed
on their stomachs above the navel. The name of the regiment appears to
have also been tattooed on to the body. Burmese women are not, as a rule, tattooed,
though occasionally an eligible spinster will have a parrot done in red on
her lower jaw if amorously inclined. The Aarkanese do not tattoo. Tattooing is
common among several of the non-Burman races. With theShans the portion of
the body covered with black tattooing is even larger than with the Burmans. The
Karens do not, as a rule, tattoo their thighs, but among the Red Karens every male
had up till recent years a rising sun tattooed in red on the small of his back, while
the Loilong Karen men ornament their chins with two black squares. The Chins
of the Chin Hills proper do not tattoo. In the country of the Southern Chins,
however, all the women have their faces tattooed, and in many cases a female's
personal charms are gauged by her tattooing. Among the Chinboks the women's
Ibreasts are surrounded by a circle of dots. The men in these regions are not tattooed
at all. The Chins of Northern Arakan also tattoo their women's faces and
the same custom orevailed up to a recent date among the Kadus of the Katha
district, who have otner points of similarity with the Southern Chins. It has been
generally believed in the past that this tattooing of the fair sex was originally designed
to make the women less attractive to raiders who might otherwise feel inclined
to take them away from their homes for purposes of concubinage. Major
Hughes does not, however, in his Hill Tracts of Arakan favour this theory.