“Some donors have made it be known that when they died, they wanted their bones to be ground into powder, moulded into kamawa plates and donated to a monastery. We have such a set in our monastery.”
What can I add to this? I imagine the physical process, and find it profound, yet enjoyably morbid. Thank you, Myanmar monks, thank you.
We all have bones. Lurking inside us. Especially mice.
See below for more details, thanks to Zon Pann Pwint for your journalistic labors.
Religious texts preserved on bone
By Zon Pann Pwint
July 25 - 31, 2011
July 25 - 31, 2011
A monk holds a ‘kamawa’ made from human bone at Thatamayanthi Monastery in Mayangone township, Yangon.
These plates, called kamawa, can be made from a wide range of materials, including metal, ivory, fabric and even bone.
Older samples are becoming increasingly difficult to find: The Universities’ Central Library has not received any donations of kamawa to add to its collection since 1990.
“The library is proud of its collection of 33 bundles of kamawa,” said Daw Phyu Phyu, a librarian in the manuscript section.
“Each bundle [which normally consists of 16 plates] is stored in a drawer in the manuscript section, with the earliest one dating back 300 years to the Nyaung Yan dynasty.”
“Many of these plates are surprisingly intact, considering their age. However, some of these bundles are not complete sets of plates,” she added.
The library has kamawa of six different materials in its collection: copper, ivory, palm leaf, zinc, lacquered palm leaf and fabric. The latter type were made from the old clothes of deceased devotees, according to the wishes of the families.
Dr Ye Myint is recruiting skilled weavers to revive the art of making sar-si-gyo, which are ribbons sewn with the names of donors and used to tie palm-leaf manuscript and kamawa.
“Some kamawa completed during the 1800s are made from thin copper plates that have been lacquered and bound in wooden covers decorated with red and yellow figures and designs. The text contains square-shaped script in Pali language,” he said. However, these exotic materials have become increasingly rare.
The Venerable Sayadaw U Wilarthetga said that some kamawa had even been fashioned from human bones, according to the wishes of the deceased.
“Some donors have made it be known that when they died, they wanted their bones to be ground into powder, moulded into kamawa plates and donated to a monastery. We have such a set in our monastery,” he said.
The Venerable Sayadaw U Thawbita added that such instructions are usually carried out by the children of the deceased.
The texts inscribed on kamawa, called kamawa-sa, are recited in precise tones by the head monk of a monastery at nine types of ceremonies, including at the ordination of monks and during Kahtein, a month-long religious festival during which robes and other necessities are offered to monks.
“The recitations were also done to exorcise abhorrent influences from the Buddhist religion, at a time when the Buddha was protecting the doctrine from bad scholars,” said the Venerable Sayadaw U Thuriya, from a monastery in Aung San township.
“He allowed senior monks to exorcise those monks by reciting the text from kamawa and driving them away.”
He said recitations also occur on Myanmar New Year’s Day, when Buddhists flock to common areas to her monks say prayers to drive away evil spirits.
