Buddhist Religious Texts Preserved on Human Bone

MAYANMAR TIMES
By Zon Pann Pwint

A monk holds a ‘kamawa’ made from human bone at
Thatamayanthi Monastery in Mayangone township, Yangon.

MAYANMAR - IT is a long-standing tradition in Myanmar for Buddhists to offer rectangular cards or plates inscribed with religious textas to monks in order to gain merit. The Venerable Sayadaw U Wilarthetga said that some kamawa had even been fashioned from human bones, according to the wishes of the deceased. “Some donors have made it be known that when they died, they wanted their bones to be ground into powder, moulded into kamawa plates and donated to a monastery. We have such a set in our monastery,” he said. [link]