Burma: Census of India 1901 Vol. I - Khamkoo

38 REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF BURMA.
minded him of his mission, which was to teach them religion and bring them to God. The
latter thereupon assembled the Karens in a hall and taught them religion. As they were
simple as the fowls of the air, not being able to worship elaborately or expensively as other
races, they were enjoined to pray with leaves. On this coming to the ear of a Siamese
official, that functionary paid him a visit and attempted to capture him on the ground that
he was planning a rebellion, when he declared his innocence, informing him that what he
was doing was merely to bring the Karens from ignorance to light and religion, with the
result that the official was persuaded to return with a present of Rs. 50. Some years after,
when he had converted many to his faith, another Siamese official came to him and, accusing
him of trying to subvert the Government, attempted also to secure him. Saw Yor gave him
the same account of what he was doing and induced him to return with a present of Rs.
ioo, begging him not to take him away, as, if that was done, the Karens, whom he had taught,
would sink again to their former condition. Later on, when his converts grew in number
and strength,, having arrived at a great age, he was on the point of paying the debt of
nature. He then called his two disciples, a Sgaw-Karen lad and a Pwo-Karen lad, to his
bedside and asked them to procure wood to make a fire as he wanted to warm himself.
They complied with his request. The Pwo-Karen lad being the smaller and younger of the
two brought a smaller wood. When the woods were set fire to one after the other, that
brought by the Sgaw-Karen lad'being bigger and producing greater heat was more satisfactory
to Saw Yor. He again requested them to light candles. When they were lit the Sgaw
lad's being larger and brighter he was pleased with it and nominating him his successor,
passed away. The Pwo lad was wroth at this and vowed that he would not enter the monastery
occupied by him, declaring that he was not his superior intellectually or in accomplishments.
Here the Sgaw-Talakus and Pwo-Talakus separated, the former adhering to
the Sgaw lad, who was afterwards known as Pukyaik, which means 'grandfather god' and
the latter to the Pwo lad who became their leader. On the death of Pukyaik, Thaukkyaik,
also a Sgaw, succeeded him. On the. latter's death Saw Pwo, another Sgaw, became
' Talaku ' and stationed himself at Kyondo within Myapudaing circle. When he died
Pukso, who is also a Sgaw, succeeded him and is at present at Kyondo.
" This sect is called Talaku, because the founder was a Talaku/ a hermit. ' It is also
known as Bapaw,' because ' the members were enjoined to worship with leaves, which in
their estimation are flowers. According to their belief parents may pray for their children.
When this is done children are exempted from that religious duty. Before a nat-worshipper
is received into this sect he has to bring pebbles, one for himself, one for his wife, and
one for each of his children, wash them properly, place them at the foot of a tree set apart
for the purpose, and pray. From that time he and his family are recognized as Talakus or
Bapaws and nat-worship with all its sacrifices has to be forsaken. In this they are different
from other Karens who, although professing Buddhism, are not prohibited from worshipping
nats. They are unlike the nat-worshipping Karens in another respect also. Breeding
fowls, ducks or pigs is prohibited, but they may eat them. There is no such prohibition
with the latter, who may breed and eat them at pleasure. The greatest religious
festival observed by the Talakus is known as the feast of a heap ' of fire,' which takes place
yearly on the full-moon of Tabodwe, when, after three days' worship, a heap of wood about
15 cubits high, brought in by those who attend it, is set fire to until it is reduced to ashes.
1 his, it is said, has its origin in the warming of the first hermit, Saw Yor, by the fires lit
by his two disciples. Members of this sect are returned as Buddhists because they profess
Buddhism also, but they appear to be a distinct sect, whose reliance is much more on
Talaku, the founder, and his successors. The leaves used by them at worship are, it may
be noted, eugenia (cocfy) leaves."
* * # * $
The sect professes to be dissociated from Animism, but the Animistic adjuncts
to worship, the pebbles, the tree and the fire, and the reliance placed on the
founder, mark it out as a cult which is more allied to ancestor or spirit-worship
than to Buddhism in its purest form. The narrative of its origin is picturesque,
but it is hard even for the most ingenuous to avoid suspecting the hand of the
plagiarist. The earlier portion dealing with the heavenly offspring sent on a
mission of regeneration and the fear of rebellion that his teaching arouses finds
an obvious parallel in New Testament History; while the episode of the two lads
and the firewood might well, one thinks, have been suggested by the stories not
only of Cain and Abel but also of Esau and Jacob. Even the douceurs presented
to the Siamese officials seem a distorted reminiscence of the payment of Caesar's
tribute. On the whole 1 should not be disposed to regard the traditions of the
Bapaw sect as at all typical of indigenous thought.
53- It would be out of place to examine critically here the non-indigenous reli-
., , , . eions of the province. The principal of these is
Muhammadansim, which has doubtless been system-