This Collectors Journal entry presents additional information and a front view photograph of my Two Tical Burmese Beast Weight. This photo gives a clearer view of some of the important symbolic facial features, such as the lion face, horns, antlers, and all-seeing third eye.

Please see my previous Collectors Journal entry "Royal Burmese Animal Weights (1044 - 1885)" for background information on this specimen and an additional photograph.

http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/JournalDetail.aspx?JournalEntryID=11340

The symbolism and mythology attached to the lion in Burma is mainly Buddhistic. As in India, Gautama Buddha is referred to as Sakyasimha, "the lion of the Sakya" and Burma's kings sat on lion thrones.

"The protuberance on the forehead between the weight-beast horns represents a third eye, the all-seeing eye, the eye which sees all things in their entirety, the eye of transcendent wisdom. All Buddhas and bodhisattas have a usually lens-shaped mark on their forehead, symbolising the third eye. ... It was because the kings of Burma were potential Buddhas that their representations on the weights bore them." (Grear, 1992, page 172)

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