Burmese SPDC members greet Abhisit Vejjajiva

Yadaya ( my, ယတြာ, ; from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

; variously spelt yadayar and yedaya) refers to magical rituals done to delay, neutralize or prevent misfortune, widely practiced in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(Burma). These rituals, which originate from

Brahmanism The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedicism, Vedism or ancient Hinduism and subsequently Brahmanism (also spelled as Brahminism)), constituted the religious ideas and practices among some Indo-Aryan peoples of northwest Indian Subco ...

, are guided and prescribed by soothsayers and astrologers, who use a combination of mathematical equations and astrology to formulate a "prescription" to avert misfortune. Modern Burmese leaders, including

U Nu Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

and

Than Shwe Than Shwe ( my, သန်းရွှေ, ; born 2 February 1933 or 3 May 1935) is a Burmese strongman politician who was the head of state of Myanmar from 1992 to 2011 as Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). During this ...

and many government policy decisions are widely understood to have been influenced by yadaya rituals. Among

Burmese Buddhists Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (hors ...

, yadaya is often linked to merit-making, as some prescriptive rituals involve seemingly "Buddhist" acts, although they are done to bypass karmic fate, which cannot be altered by ritual in Buddhist doctrine. Yadaya is closely associated to

numerology Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...

, particularly the number nine, which is widely believed to be an auspicious number. Some scholars contend that yadaya originates to the Pagan period, first practiced by monks of the Ari sect, a form of Buddhism that predates the introduction of

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

in Burma. One notable form of yadaya is the construction of pagodas, as seen in the construction of 60,000 pagodas by

in 1961. The government's unexplained decision to change the road traffic in 1970 to

right-hand traffic Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes referred to ...

(even though the overwhelming majority of Burmese cars are made for left-hand traffic) is one such incident believed to be the result of yadaya, to avert the threat of a political attack from the right and insurgency. More recently, the unusual clothing choices, namely the wearing of traditional female ''

acheik ''Acheik'' (; ) or ''luntaya acheik'' (လွန်းတစ်ရာအချိတ်; ), is the name of the indigenous Burmese textile pattern. It features intricate waves interwoven with bands of horizontal stripes, embellished with arabesque ...

''-patterned

longyi A longyi (; ) is a sheet of cloth widely worn in Burma (Myanmar). It is approximately long and wide. The cloth is often sewn into a cylindrical shape. It is worn around the waist, running to the feet, and held in place by folding fabric over wi ...

(sarongs) by

and other military generals at recent public appearances, including Union Day celebrations in February 2011 and at the reception of the Lao Prime Minister

Bouasone Bouphavanh Bouasone Bouphavanh ( Lao: ບົວສອນ ບູບຜາວັນ; born 3 June 1954) is a Laotian politician who was Prime Minister of Laos from 2006 to 2010. He was officially appointed to the office by the National Assembly of Laos on 8 J ...

in June 2011 have also been attributed to yadaya, as a way to divert power to neutralize

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from ...

's power.

References

{{reflist Burmese culture Burmese words and phrases

See also

References