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Introduction chapter of the book "Earth to Heaven, The Royal Animal-Shaped Weights Of The Burmese Empires" by Donald qand Joan Gear, Twinstar Ed., England, 1992.
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From about the 15th century A.D. the animal-shaped weights of the Burmese empires were made in different shapes of 3 (possibly 4) different kinds. One is somewhat feline-like beast. Another is elephant-like and used only in north Siam (Lanna) and Laos. A third is a bird, usually clearly duck-like. They all stand on plinths or bases of different shapes. The weights are usually of cuprifereous alloy. They range in mass from about 2 to 4000 grams, rarely more, on an essentially decimal scale. Originally they were used to weight relatively high-valued products such as the silver ingots which were used as currencies. Dome-shaped marble weights were used for the commoner products. The weights were intended not only for trading purposes but also for religious and political purposes conveying as part of their message the powers of the divine spirit in heaven and the earthly god-king. They were also intended to imply the Buddhist disapprobation of stealing through the use of incorrect weights. Because of the monarchical symbolism and for other reasons mentioned elsewhere in the text, the 'official' weighs are 'royal' weights.
Although production of the royal weights ceased over 100 years ago, they are used ocasionally to this day. In 1917 people from Yunnan and Kiangsu in China and other distant regions visited the markets on the Inle lake in easten Burma where sets of animal weights were still in use. In 1970 some conservative traders and monks practising traditional medecin still used sets of animal weights in Upper Burma. Elsewhere in Burma the occasional animal weight maybe found in use along with car-piston heads and stone in village market places. Some villager even in Thailand and Laos keep them as mementoes of the past. Copies of ancient weights are still made in the Shan Staes. Otherwise they are to be found on the traders' stalls of those towns commonly visited by tourists. There are also small private collections. Outside of Burma the weights were still in use (1970) along remote routes that pass from north-east Burma into Yunnan, north Thailand, north Laos and the Tai cantons of Vietnam. The trade in the weights has resulted in the export of relatively considerable numbers from Burma and northern Thailand mainly to Bangkok and Singapore.
The study of the weighs was made first to ascertain their physical charasteristics and provide a rational classificassion. This forms the first part of the work and deals with the mass units, mass scales, dimensions, frequencies, materials and shapes. Included are comments concerning the usage and manufacture of the weights. The second objective was to disover the symbolic meanings. So the identification, origins and symbolic meanings of the creatures, their parts and the chonological sequence of the weihts form the second part. The third part was to ascertain why creatures which are found on the ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Persian weights should reappear on the Burmese weights perhaps two thousands years later. So the last part of the work deals with the transference of the lion-duck motif to Burma. It considers the populations centres, the means of transport and travel times, the movements of people, trades and routes. Appendices refer to the dome-shaped marble weights of Burma and animal-shaped weight-like objects from Burma and neighbouring countries. Chronologically, the study goes back to long before the present peoples entered Burma. Geographically it ranges to India, the rest of south-east Asia, China, Central Asia, Persia and Mesopotamia. Therefore, where relevant, information concerning the weights, the religions, the assiocated animal representations and symbolisms of these religions is included.
The field work upon which the study is based was done during the writers' residence in Burma during 1957 to 1960 and 1970 to 1972. It was recorded but not published in 1976. Further studies were made subsequently by the writers and are incorporated here.
Concerning the previous information assembled and published, special acknowledgment of the value of the works of Temple and Decourdemanche is due. Any serious study of the Burmese mass scales and currencies must start with the work of the former. These works and Temple's studies of the Indian mass scales and their relations to those of China and South-east Asia are outstanding. Just as admirable in its field is Decourdemanche's work on tracing the connections between the ancient mass scales of the Mesopotamian region and eastern Asia. In addition there are brief articles by Noertling, 1982; Sale, 1910; Gardner, 1962 and 1968; Fraser-Lu, 1982 and a few articles in Burmese newspapers and magazines. The Brauns published a comprehensive series of photographs and masses in 1983, rather more of figurines than weights, and Mollar made a style and chronological classification in 1984. Some writers concluded that the different styles of the three animal shapes represented several different kinds of animals and related them to one or another of the various assocations of oriental mythological animals. Their problem was compounded by the existence, mostly in Siam, of sers of animal figurines used by astrologers and for household shrines. Probably they were used as weights when nothing else was available, a common practice with many weighty objects, including pebbles. Other short references to the physical properties of the weights lies scattered mostly in the older European litterature. In Burma itself, the few references obtained from the chronicles and manuscripts proved of uncertain value. Extensive inquiry of otherwise knowledgeable people yielded little factual information but much valuable help and direction.
The royal weights are defined here as those which bear genuine signs and which, by their frequency of occurence in Burma, may reasonably be assumed to be Burmese. They are also those which, though not bearing signs, are of shape-style and mass very similar to those that do. This defnition results in the exclusion of most unofficial copies with the exception of some excellent ones perhaps 150 years ago.
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