I gatti sacri e saltellanti in Myanmar - Sacred and jumping cats in Myanmar
Da un breve documentario ho scoperto il monastero dei
gatti saltellanti, così ho raccolto informazioni e 3 video sul tempio, sul gatto
sacro in Myanmar e il mio vecchio blog dedicato al gatto con citazioni, proverbio hindu, dea egizia, leggende, storie, oroscopo, tarocchi…
By a
short documentary I found the Monastery of jumping cats, so I collected news and 3 videos about the
temple, the sacred cat in Myanmar and my old blog dedicated to the cat with quotes,
hindu proverb, egyptian goddess, legends, stories, horoscope, tarots…
Il monastero dei gatti saltanti
www.terrediitinerari.it
Attraversato tutto il lago nel senso della lunghezza
raggiungiamo l’isolata meta del nostro primo scalo: il famoso Monastero Nga Phe
Kyaung, o dei gatti saltanti; una splendida costruzione del XVIII secolo che
poggia su ben 650 pali di tek. Al suo interno, il monastero ospita numerose e
pregevoli statue di Buddha in legno intarsiato e dorato, donate dagli abitanti
del villaggio e tutte raggruppate al centro di un grande salone rettangolare
interamente finestrato da tre lati. In un angolo in fondo al salone, alcuni
turisti osservano un monaco che invita un gatto a saltare attraverso un cerchietto
di legno; in cambio di un modesto pesciolino secco. Il tutto al fine di
giustificare il nome popolare del monastero risalente agli anni ’60, quando qui
viveva un monaco solo con un unico gatto, abituato a saltargli spontaneamente
sul braccio. Ora i gatti sono più numerosi e si muovono lenti e sornioni sul
pavimento di legno, forti della loro fama di saltatori che gli assicura ogni
giorno un buon pasto caldo.
Gatto sacro di Birmania
www.miramarbirmans.it
In Birmania, prima della venuta del Buddha, vivevano gli
Khmer, un popolo molto religioso che venerava le sue divinità in splendidi
templi. In uno di questi, dedicato a Tsun-Kian- Kse, dea che presiedeva alla
reincarnazione delle anime, si ergeva una sua preziosissima statua d'oro
massiccio dai grandi occhi in cui brillavano due splendidi zaffiri blu. Il tempio era vigilato da monaci Kittahs che
accudivano cento gatti, bianchi dalle zampe colore della terra, poiché
ritenevano che dopo la morte si sarebbero incarnati nei gatti sacri. Il più
vecchio e saggio dei sacerdoti era Mun-Ha e accanto a lui vi era sempre il
gatto Sinh. Un giorno il tempio fu
invaso da predoni che lo saccheggiarono e che uccisero il Gran Sacerdote
mentre, con a fianco il suo gatto bianco, stava in meditazione davanti alla
statua della dea. Non appena Sinh vide il suo amato padrone steso al suolo,
saltò sul corpo del maestro guardando intensamente la dea come a chiedere
vendetta. Allora avvenne una magica trasformazione: il suo mantello divenne
dorato come la statua della dea, gli occhi blu come gli zaffiri di lei , i suoi
piccoli piedi che toccavano il corpo del sacerdote divennero candidi in segno
di purezza e solo le zampe, il muso, le orecchie e la coda assunsero il colore
scuro della terra. La tradizione
tacconta che Poupée de Madalpour, una femmina, fu il primo Gatto Sacro di
Birmania presentato in una mostra felina. Era il 1920 e la bella gatta dai
guanti bianchi conquistò subito il pubblico francese per la sua bellezza e per
l'alone leggendario che l'accompagnava. Su giornali e testi dell'epoca troviamo
varie notizie che riguardano Poupée e i gatti birmani, ma nessuna dà la certezza
dell'origine di questa razza. Si disse che era nata da una coppia di gatti
birmani donati dai monaci Kittas a due turisti francesi mentre un'altra
versione parla di gatti sacri trafugati da un inserviente infedele dal tempio
indocinese di Lau-Tsun ed acquistati a caro prezzo dal miliardario americano
Vanderbilt. Un'altra versione ancora racconta che il Birmano discenderebbe dai
gatti dei templi birmani, in particolare dalla gatta Sita, portata gravida in
Francia nel 1919 da August Pavie. La
versione meno romantica, invece, sostiene che la razza sia imparentata con il
Siamese, se pur probabilmente originaria della Birmania, e che sia stata
selezionata da allevatori francesi negli anni venti, contemporaneamente al
Persiano Colourpoint, da gatti Kmer, una razza in voga in Europa fino agli anni
cinquanta. C'è poi la "versione americana" che vuole che ad ottenere
il primo successo con la nascita di Debuttante, non furono degli allevatori ma
un'equipe di ricercatori della Harvard Medical School interessati ad ampliare
le loro conoscenze genetiche e non a creare una nuova razza. Della gatta
americana si persero le tracce ma in molti paesi continuarono le selezioni con
diverse ibridazioni e cominciarono a vedersi alle mostre diversi soggetti tra i
quali i famosi gatti birmani della principessa Ratibor.In ogni caso, qualsiasi
versione si voglia prendere per buona, alla fine della tragedia della seconda
guerra mondiale, una sola coppia di Birmani risultava nel libro delle Origini
francese e da quella coppia si è ricostituita la razza.
Jumping
Cats Monastery
www.terrediitinerari.it
Crossing
the lake along the length of the isolated reach the goal of our first stop: the
famous Monastery Nga Phe Kyaung, or cats jumping, a beautiful building of the
eighteenth century, which is based on well 650 poles of teak. Inside, the
monastery houses many precious statues of Buddha carved wood and gold, donated
by the villagers and all grouped in the center of a large rectangular room with
windows on three sides entirely. In a corner at the end of the hall, some
tourists watching a monaco inviting a cat to jump through a hoop of wood in
exchange for a modest fish dry. All this in order to justify the popular name
of the monastery dating back to the '60s, when he lived here a monaco only a
single cat, used to jump spontaneously on his arm. Now cats are more numerous
and slow moving and sly on the wooden floor, proud of their reputation for
jumpers that provides a daily hot meal.
The
Legend of the Sacred Cat of Burma
www.birman.net
The
Following was Taken from a Passage in the book Cat in the Mysteries of Religion
and Magic and was not altered with the exception of the added (Birman) to
clarify. There have been a lot of
questions as to how authentic any of this information is. Also it was the opinion of Russell Gordon
that the Siamese was possibly descended from the Birman, which due to the total
lack of evidence astounds us. The Sacred Cat of Burmah (Birman) is yet more
veiled in obscurity than its supposed descendant the Siamese, and we are
indebted to Russell Gordon for the only authentic account of this species that
has reached our shores. He gained his information during the Burmese War of 1885
whilst serving as an officer in the English Army occupying Burmah. His position
enabled him to protect certain kittahs, or priests, whose lives were in danger,
and in return they bestowed on him unprecedented privileges of entry into their
secret and sacred places. From his account we learn that the Indian Brahmins
were the bitter enemies of the people of Khmer and their beloved kittahs. From
the commencement of the eighteenth century they had mercilessly pursued and
massacred these priests, who, to escape from their persecuting zeal, fled to
North Burmah, where the mountains afforded security from pursuit. There, amid
chaotic labyrinths and dizzy precipices, the indomitable kittahs founded the
marvelous subterranean Temple of Lao-Tsun (the Abode of the Gods), and
practiced the secret rites that were closed to all but the higher castes among
their own people.
Gordon
describes the Temple of Lao-Tsun, as " one of the greatest marvels of the
East—situated to the East of Lake Incaougji, between Magaoung and Sembo, in an
almost desert region of immense peaks and chaotic labyrinths, it offers a
barrier of insurmountable walls. Here there still existed in 1898 the last
kittahs (priests), and as a most extraordinary favour I was permitted to see
and observe them and their sacred animals. Following the rebellion and the
English occupation, at the base of Bhamo (a base very isolated and distant from
Mandalay), we had to protect the kittahs against a Brahmin invasion, and we
saved them from certain massacre and pillage. Their Lama-kittah received me,
and presented me with a plaque representing the Sacred Cat at the feet of a
bizarre deity, whose eyes are made of two long sapphires (specimen "No.
4108 in my collection at Mildenhall), and after having shown me the sacred
cats, in number about a hundred, explained their origin to me." This he
did by relating the following beautiful legend : " When, with the
malevolent moon, the barbarian Siamese Thais came to the mountains of the Sun,
Mun-Ha was living in the Temple of Lao-Tsun. Mun-Ha, the most precious among
the most precious, for whom the god Song-Hio had woven the beard of gold. This
venerable priest had ever lived in rapt contemplation of Tsun-Kyankse, the
goddess with eyes of sapphire who presided over the transmutation of souls
about to receive their dues, whose searching gaze none could evade. Mun-Ha had
an oracle who dictated his decisions, and this was his cat Sinh, whom the
kittahs fervently revered. " Seated close to his dread master, Sinh lived
in the contemplation of the goddess. The beautiful animal His eyes were yellow
like gold from the reflection of the metallic beard of Mun-Ha, yellow like the
amber body of the goddess with the sapphire eyes.
"
One night, at the rising of the moon, the Thais menacingly approached the
sacred Temple. Then, invoking destiny, Mun-Ha died, weighed down by years and
anguish. He died in the presence of his goddess ; close beside him was his
divine cat, and the kittahs lamented their cruel loss. But suddenly, the
miracle of immediate transmutation took place. Sinh bounded on to the holy
Throne. Supported on the head of his stricken master he faced the goddess. And
the hair along his spine blanched to a golden hue. His eyes, golden of the gold
of the beard woven by the god Song-Hio—his eyes changed to blue—immense,
abysmal, sapphire—like to the eyes of the goddess. His four feet, brown as the
earth, his four feet which contacted the venerable skull, whitened to the
claws, to the toe-tips, thus purified by the touch of the puissant dead.
"
Sinh turned towards the South Door, his imperious gaze, in which could be read
an imperative order, possessed of an invincible force the kittahs obeyed. Then
they closed on the ancestral enemy the bronze doors of the holy Temple, and
passing by their subterranean tunnel they routed the profane invaders. "
Sinh refused all nourishment, and would not quit his Throne. He continued
standing erect and facing the goddess—mysterious priest—fixing his steadfast
gaze on her eyes of sapphire, partaking' of their fire and sweetness. "
Seven days after the death of Mun-Ha, erect on his purified feet of white,
without lowering an eyelash, he died. Thus was borne away towards Tsun-Kyankse
the soul of Mun-Ha, which was too perfect for earth. But, for the last time,
his look turned slowly towards the South Door " Seven days after the death
of Sinh the kittahs assembled before Tsun-Kyankse to choose the successor of
Mun-Ha. Then —Oh wonder !—There came in slow procession the hundred cats of the
Temple. Their feet were gloved in white ; their snowy hair emitted the
reflection of gold, and the topazes of their eyes had changed to sapphires.
"
The kittahs fell prostrate in an attitude of devout fear, and waited. Did they
not know that the souls of their masters inhabited the harmonious forms of the
sacred animals ? And these, solemn and grave, surrounded Legoa—the most
youthful of the priests—and so revealed the will of Heaven. When a sacred cat
dies in the temple of Lao-Tsun, the soul of a kittah re-enters—to quit no
more—the mysterious paradise of Song-Hio, the god of gold. Unhappy are those
who even involuntarily hasten the end of these formidable and venerable cats :
the most dreadful torments are reserved for them, that the soul in pain may be
appeased." (From the French of Marcelle Adam.)Gordon, who does not relate
this legend, in the remarks from which I have quoted, says of it, that "
The legend is pretty but explains nothing scientifically. . . . One may feel
assured that the Burmese (Birman) Cat is a very ancient race, but it will, I
think, be impossible ever to obtain documentary evidence about a race so rare
that no breeder or author in the two continents with whom I have corresponded
within the last thirty years, has anything more than a sketch of them, and only
knows them by the writings of Auguste Pavie and of myself." Gordon
describes the Burmese (Birman) cats as being much like the Siamese in
colouring, but says they had white toes on all four feet, long hair, and
magnificent bushy tails which they usually carried over their backs in squirrel
fashion. Their eyes were intensely blue, deep and melancholy—gentle when at
rest, but wild and fiery if angered.
...continua...
