တောင်ပြုန်းပွဲတော်

The tradition & historical record

The Taungbyone Festival (Burmese: တောင်ပြုန်းပွဲတော်; also spelt Taungbyon) is one of the most well-known festivals among the people of Myanmar, held annually in honour of the Taungbyon nat brothers or the two brothers of Taungbyone village. Actually it is the festival of the two pagodas, by the name of Sutaungpyae built by King Anawrahta and the later-built Sutaungya. The pagodas' festival is designated to be celebrated for two days, from the eighth waxing day to the tenth of the Burmese month of Wagaung. At the same time, the nat festival is held alongside that of the pagodas. Taungbyone festival is very crowded with people coming from various parts of the country during the festival days in August. A special ritual program is carried out each day. More popularly, the spirit-mediums' dance is a major aspect of the festival and occurs throughout the days. The festival is not only a place for those who take the cult of nat within the sphere of Burmese Theravada Buddhism but a place for those who seek fun. One can watch folk dramas, ceremonial dance and find opportunities to gamble, socialize and drink. ¹

The festival takes place every year honouring the spirits of two brothers of Taungbyone belonging to the Burmese pantheon of '37' nats. Taungbyone village is located about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of Mandalay, the last royal capital of the Burmese monarchy. As the village is situated in central Myanmar, it is usually hot, dry and dusty, with a population of over three thousand according to the 2019 governmental report. ¹

During the festival, all free space of the village are occupied with the temporary infrastructure, or massive temporary bazaar comprising stalls of every kind that sell food, fruit, flowers, toys, clothing, tools, craft, trinkets as well as restaurants, sideshow, theatres for Burmese traditional drama and/or anyeint. There are a large crowd of people shopping, eating, dancing, carousing and gambling on the grounds. As it draws many thousands, security and emergency services like the police, the Red Cross, and the firefighters are put on standby because fights occasionally occur. ¹

The two pagodas, Sutaungpyae and Sutaungya, are situated north of the main nat shrine or the nat palace of the brothers, which is composed of two pavilions. In the first pavilion lie several statues of the nats, such as the two brothers (Shwe Hpyin Nyidaw and Shwe Hpyin Naungdaw), Ma Hne Lay and Mandalay Bodaw. Nowadays the second pavilion is for holding the ritual shower. These nat palaces and domains are owned by a family whose members are 'palace guardians'. There are also many secondary nat palaces, which started to be built in the mid-1980s to house some spirit-mediums having no traditional place. ¹

A brief account of the two Taungbyone brothers, who served in the army of King Anawrahta and their death, is given in Glass Palace Chronicle, which is the translated work covering only several portions of Hmannan Yazawin. Their compelling story is, with mythological motifs, dramatized and expressed in folklore, nat thamaing (legendary biographies of the nat) in particular. Consequently, it could animate and give life to a myth so that it can draw people's attention to the scenes in their myth and reenact their dramas in the ritual being performed. ¹

The Muslim traders were shipwrecked off Thaton and two brothers among them reached the city riding a plank, which drifted ashore near Thaton. They were known as Byatwi and Byatta. Upon reaching the shore, they took refuge in the monastery, in which an abbot resided, venerated by King Manuha of Thaton Kingdom. The monk took care of and kept them near him. One day, in the absence of the monk, the two brothers cooked and ate the body of the dead Zawgyi, a hermit-like being with supernatural power and alchemist that had been found by chance in the forest, preserved by the monk for medicine, which could serve both the elixir of life and magical power. They gained extraordinary powers. Such news spread out across the kingdom and finally reached into the ear of the king, who got worried sick. He thus ordered his men to capture them. The king's men seized and killed the elder brother, then dismembered his body and buried those parts around the city wall as a protective charm against the enemies who might attack and seize the city. The younger brother, nevertheless, escaped and could flee to Bagan, where he served King Anawrahta, who later appointed him as his 'flower officer' for his superhuman strength. He rode his steed daily to get to Mount Popa over 30 miles south of Bagan, gather and offer flowers to the king when returned. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Taungbyone Festival”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Taungbyone Festival is Religious festival in Myanmar, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²