Nawarupa

Nawarupa (Burmese: နဝရူပ, also spelt nawa rupa; Pali: navarūpa, lit.

'nine forms'), also known as byala (Arakanese: ဗျာလ or ဗျာလ္လ), is a chimeric creature found in Burmese and Rakhine (Arakanese) mythology.

The beast is made of 9 animals, possessing the head of an elephant, the eyes of a deer, the horns of a rhinoceros, the tongue and wings of a parrot, the body and legs of a lion, and the tail of a peafowl.

In the Konbaung dynasty, the nawarupa decorated one of the ceremonial royal barges.

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