Chinthe
The Chinthe (Burmese: ခြင်္သေ့; MLCTS: hkrang se., pronounced [tɕʰìɴðe̯]; Mon: ဇါဒိသိုၚ်, /cɛ̀atìˀsaŋ/; Shan: သၢင်ႇသီႈ, /sʰaaŋ2 sʰi3/) is a leogryph (lion-like creature) that is often seen at the entrances of pagodas and temples in Burma and other Southeast Asian countries. The chinthe is featured prominently on the kyat, the currency of Burma. Chinthes almost always in pairs, and serve to protect the pagoda. They typically appear as animals, but are sometimes found with human faces.[1]
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The story of the Chinthe goes something like this: A princess had a son through her marriage to a lion, but later abandoned the lion who then became enraged and set out on a road of terror throughout the lands. The son then went out to slay this terrorizing lion. The son came back home to his mother stating he slew the lion, and then found out that he killed his own father. The son later constructed a statue of the lion as a guardian of a temple to atone for his sin.[2]
The Chinthe is revered and loved by the Burmese people and is used symbolically on the royal thrones of Burma. Predating the use of coins for money, brass weights cast in the shape of mythical beasts like the Chinthe were commonly used to measure standard quantities of staple items.[3]
Manussiha
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The manussiha (Burmese: မနုဿီဟ manothiha, Shan: မၼုၵ်ႉသီႇႁႃႉ manuk siha), a combination of Pali manussa (man) and siha (lion) is a half-lion half-man mythical creature that is symbolic of a guardian, usually found guarding the four corners of a pagoda. It has a human head and torso and lion hindquarters.[4] It is comparable to the sphinx.