the 37 Nats of Burma

[Toby Stimpson]

I'm taking a class about south east asian religions and orientalism, and we're now in the middle of studying Buddhism. The professor did extensive field work in Burma studying Burmese religion and Buddhism and the other day handed out flash cards of Burmese protector 'Gods' called Nats. I havn't been able to find a lot on them online, except their wikipedia page but I'm definitly interested. My professor was saying how some are Hindu derived Buddhist gods (like the Burmese form of Indra) and others are local personalities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_(spirit)

Does anyone know anything else about them ?

[haute]

I know a lot about these nats......they have very interesting stories behind them....
out of 37 nats, there are only about 10 who are still well known and commonly well known and worshiped.

here is one interesting thing about No 2,3,4,5, 13, 14, 37. You Should NEVER NEVER offer candles (or anything that has fire) and champac flowers to these 7 nats. cos No 2 and No 3 are burned to death under a champac tree and became the "nats". these 7 nats are 1 big family and related to each other.