Nawarupa

A Bya La statue (the Rakhine version of the Nawarupa) at the Sittwe Viewpoint park in Myanmar.

Nawarupa (Burmese: နဝရူပ, also spelt nawa rupa; Pali: navarūpa, lit. 'nine forms'), also known as byala (Arakanese: ဗျာလ or ဗျာလ္လ), is a chimeric creature found in Burmese and Rakhine (Arakanese) mythology.

Description

The beast is made of 9 animals, possessing the head of an elephant, the eyes of a deer, the horns of a rhinoceros, the tongue and wings of a parrot, the body and legs of a lion, and the tail of a peafowl. In the Konbaung dynasty, the nawarupa decorated one of the ceremonial royal barges.

See also

• Mythical creatures in Burmese folklore
• List of hybrid creatures in folklore
• Hatsadiling
• Pyinsarupa