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Hti
Hti (Burmese: ထီး, MLCTS: hti:, IPA: [tʰí]; Mon: ဍိုၚ် [daŋ]; Shan: ထီး [tʰi˦]), a Burmese language word meaning umbrella, is the name of the finial ornament that tops almost all Burmese pagodas. The chatra umbrella or parasol is an auspicious symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism.
In pre-colonial Burma, the hti was an indicator of social status and used exclusively by those who were granted express permission to do so. The royal white umbrella or hti phyu taw (ထီးဖြူတော်) was one of the five articles of coronation regalia (မင်းမြောက်တန်ဆာ, Min Mhyauk Tanza).
Use and possession of a royal white umbrella was limited exclusively to the Burmese king and his chief queen, while the highest officials (wun, ဝန်) and royal princes (including the Crown Prince or Uparaja) possessed golden umbrellas and lower-level officials possessed red umbrellas, if any.
The royal white umbrella was a sign of sovereignty. Indeed, use of a white umbrella by any persons other than the king and his chief queen was regarded as a declaration of rebellion, punishable with immediate execution. At the death of the king, the royal white umbrellas in his possession were broken. The white umbrella was also permitted for religious usage. For instance, The Mahamuni Buddha was formerly shaded by a white umbrella.
The umbrellas were embellished inside and out with pictures of sylphs and fairies in gold, thin gold plates shaped like banyan leaves fastened to the top, and handles of gold adorned with pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, corals and with spangles. The umbrella used by the king when riding an elephant or travelling by carriage was called a yin hti.
The number of umbrellas in one's possession was also an indication of social status, as they were showcased during public processions and put up in prominent places at home. The king was allotted nine white umbrellas, the crown prince eight golden ones, distinguished statesmen and military generals several golden ones, and the other royal personages had numbers corresponding to achievements or the king's regard to them. The royal white elephants (hsinphyudaw, ဆင်ဖြူတော်) were also granted six umbrellas, 2 white and 4 golden.
The Shwepon Nidan, a treatise on palace matters, describes 11 types of royal umbrellas and corresponding spirit maidens (nat thami, နတ်သ္မီး) who guarded them:
The Irrawaddy delta town of Pathein (formerly Bassein) in Lower Myanmar is renowned for its colorful cotton umbrellas, which are dubbed "Pathein umbrellas" or "Pathein parasols" (ပုသိမ်ထီး), which are traditionally made in home workshops.
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Hti
Hti (Burmese: ထီး, MLCTS: hti:, IPA: [tʰí]; Mon: ဍိုၚ် [daŋ]; Shan: ထီး [tʰi˦]), a Burmese language word meaning umbrella, is the name of the finial ornament that tops almost all Burmese pagodas. The chatra umbrella or parasol is an auspicious symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism.
In pre-colonial Burma, the hti was an indicator of social status and used exclusively by those who were granted express permission to do so. The royal white umbrella or hti phyu taw (ထီးဖြူတော်) was one of the five articles of coronation regalia (မင်းမြောက်တန်ဆာ, Min Mhyauk Tanza).
Use and possession of a royal white umbrella was limited exclusively to the Burmese king and his chief queen, while the highest officials (wun, ဝန်) and royal princes (including the Crown Prince or Uparaja) possessed golden umbrellas and lower-level officials possessed red umbrellas, if any.
The royal white umbrella was a sign of sovereignty. Indeed, use of a white umbrella by any persons other than the king and his chief queen was regarded as a declaration of rebellion, punishable with immediate execution. At the death of the king, the royal white umbrellas in his possession were broken. The white umbrella was also permitted for religious usage. For instance, The Mahamuni Buddha was formerly shaded by a white umbrella.
The umbrellas were embellished inside and out with pictures of sylphs and fairies in gold, thin gold plates shaped like banyan leaves fastened to the top, and handles of gold adorned with pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, corals and with spangles. The umbrella used by the king when riding an elephant or travelling by carriage was called a yin hti.
The number of umbrellas in one's possession was also an indication of social status, as they were showcased during public processions and put up in prominent places at home. The king was allotted nine white umbrellas, the crown prince eight golden ones, distinguished statesmen and military generals several golden ones, and the other royal personages had numbers corresponding to achievements or the king's regard to them. The royal white elephants (hsinphyudaw, ဆင်ဖြူတော်) were also granted six umbrellas, 2 white and 4 golden.
The Shwepon Nidan, a treatise on palace matters, describes 11 types of royal umbrellas and corresponding spirit maidens (nat thami, နတ်သ္မီး) who guarded them:
The Irrawaddy delta town of Pathein (formerly Bassein) in Lower Myanmar is renowned for its colorful cotton umbrellas, which are dubbed "Pathein umbrellas" or "Pathein parasols" (ပုသိမ်ထီး), which are traditionally made in home workshops.
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