Abstract

• The image commonly called fat monk, which is typically different from any other Buddha images and is frequently found in the relics chamber of ancient religious monuments in Burma. It is always in cross-legged seated posture with the hands usually in Dhyāna Mudrā or supporting his large belly. Not like the ancient Buddha images found in Burma, he has no ūrņā or uşņīşa. He usually has long ear lobes, mostly touching to the shoulder, and has smooth bowl-like head with hair ending at the nape of the neck, but the head sometimes covers with snail curl or shaven head. The most prominent feature of the fat monk image is his protuberance belly, which looks like an obese man. He is normally with bare torso, but it is occasionally found with a robe. He generally seats on the double lotus throne, sometimes on a plain base. The images are usually small in order to enshrine them into relic chamber, and are made of stone, terracotta, bronze, silver or bronze-gilt, sometimes coated with lacquer and gilded with gold. Scholars have been controversial over who this fat monk was, and why Buddhists venerated him together with Buddha images in Myanmar. There have been considerable disputes over the definitions of fat monk image such as, Mi Lo Fo’ or Maitreya, Jambhala or Kubera, Gavampati, Moggallāna, and Saccakaparibajaka. Was it a Buddha or monk or divinity image, and what was his status in Buddhism of Myanmar?