Pau Cin Hau
{{Short description|Burmese religious leader}}
Pau Cin Hau was the founder and the name of a religion followed by some Tedim, Hakha in Chin state and Kale in Sagaing division in the north-western part of Myanmar.
Pau Cin Hau was born in the Tedim (Tiddim) in 1859; and lived until 1948.
Religion
He claimed to have a series of dreams in 1900 in which an elderly saintly man instructed, later identified as the creator god, handled him a book with symbols and taught him certain shapes. He started a religious movement based on the worship of a god known as {{lang|ctd|Pasian}}, {{lang|ctd|Patyen}} or {{lang|ctd|Pathian}} (the word for "god" in the Tedim language).{{cite web |last1=Bhattacharya |first1=Bikash K |title=The Indigenous faith that reveres its own alphabet as sacred {{!}} Aeon Essays |url=https://aeon.co/essays/the-indigenous-faith-that-reveres-its-own-alphabet-as-sacred |website=Aeon |access-date=23 October 2024 |language=en |date=17 October 2024}}
While earlier traditional Chin religion sacrificed to the tribal god {{lang|ctd|Khozing}}/{{lang|ctd|Khuazing}} and other {{lang|ctd|dawi}} spirits (similar to the Burmese {{transl|my|nat}}), from 1902 Pau Cin Hau reserved the sacrifices to one creator god.
Initially the Chin accepted neither Pau Cin Hau's religion nor Christianity, which arrived in 1899.
The first Christian conversion is from 1904 and Pau Cin Hau got his first follower in 1906.
By the 1930s, all the Chin followed either Christianity or Pau Cin Hau's monotheism.
The missionaries rejected the traditional alcoholic drink {{lang|ctd|zu}} contrasting with its permission by Pau Cin Hau.
It can be said that Pau Cin Hau's preaching opened the Chin to Christianity in spite of the differences among religions.
{{lang|ctd|Pathian}} became the name for the Christian god.
Missionaries did not agree whether Pau Cin Hau's preach was an introduction or an obstacle to Christianization.
Some scholars have considered it a local version of Christianity, but others have noted the differences and Pau Cin Hau's opposition.
The religion is outlined in six books {{lang|ctd|Bu}} written in Pau Cin Hau script.
It is framed as healing in a physical and spiritual way.
It entails faith in {{lang|ctd|Pathian}} and practicing "justice, harmony, discipline, peace and hygiene".
It has passed from 37,500 followers in 1931 to around 5,000 in 2024.
Christianity and the Latin script have been taken by the majority of the Chin.
Pau Cin Hau's religion is also known as {{lang|ctd|Laipian}} ('script religion') and Laipianism,{{cite web | url=https://aeon.co/essays/the-indigenous-faith-that-reveres-its-own-alphabet-as-sacred | title=The Indigenous faith that reveres its own alphabet as sacred | Aeon Essays }} and Pau Cin Hau is also known as {{lang|ctd|Laipianpa}} ('script religion creator').
He also invented two scripts based on the revealed shapes, known as {{lang|ctd|Tual lai}} ('local script') or {{lang|ctd|Zotuallai}},{{cite web | url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11104r-paucinhau-alphabet.pdf | title=N4017: Proposal to Encode the Pau Cin Hau Alphabet in ISO/IEC 10646 | first1=Anshuman | last1=Pandey | publisher=Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 | date=2011-04-27 }} now called "Zotuallai".
The initial 1902 version was logographic and a later version is an alphabet.
The script is not only a vehicle for the message but also an icon of the religion.
See also
References
- {{cite book|author=Aung San Suu Kyi|title=Let's Visit Burma|publisher=Burke Publishing Company|place=London|date=1985}}
External links
- [http://scriptsource.org/scr/Pauc ScriptSource page on the Pau Cin Hau alphabet]
{{list of writing systems}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pau Chin Hau}}
Category:Burmese religious leaders
Category:Founders of new religious movements
Category:Creators of writing systems
{{Burma-bio-stub}}
{{Asia-reli-bio-stub}}