essay

Respected grandfather, bless this Nissan: benevolent and politically neutral Bo Bo Gyi

Burma at the turn of the twenty-first centuryHonoluluPublished In 2005 • Pages: 90-111

By: Sadan, Mandy.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a study of a particular deity in Burmese Buddhist pantheon, Bo Bo Gyi, 'Respected Grandfather.' The author is particularly interested in the Bo Bo Gyi statues in the different temples and shrines in the vicinity of Rangoon. He is curious why some statues are more venerated than others. While the state has built new temples for Bo Bo Gyi with impressive statues in an attempt to control and appropriate the cult, these are not the places that are well attended. Rather it is those statues and temples, the author concludes, with a deeper history, or mythology associated with them and located in specific place. The author also notes that although Bo Bo Gyi is not a nat, there is a pull to make him more nat-like.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Visual arts
Miscellaneous government activities
Spirits and gods
Prayers and sacrifices
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Burmans
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2012
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southeast Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Historian
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard;2011
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1996-1997
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1997
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Rangoon, Burma
NotesAdditional notes
Mandy Sadan
for bibliographical references see document 39:Skidmore
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
2005003440
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Burma--Social life and customs