Offering Bowl / Hsun-Ok

Among the many different types of vessel which were used for the offering of gifts in monasteries and temples, the most spectacular receptacles are the hsun-ok, tall pedestal-bowls used to offer food to monks. These bowls are often topped or, in this case, wholly molded in the shape of a hintha duck.

Hintha is the Burmanization of the Sanskrit word hamsa. Standard translations of the term as a goose first, and swans, other aquatic birds, or mythical birds as an alternative. The Indian model for the hintha is normally considered by ornithologists to be the bar-headed goose, which is commonly found in winter in the north of the subcontinent. In Burma, it is the ruddy shelduck rather than the goose that is the model for the hintha.

The hintha or hamsa represents perfect union, balance and life. A constant repetition of the word "hamso" changes it to "Soaham", which means "That I am," hence the hamsa is often identified with the Brahman, the Supreme Spirit. The flight of the hintha also symbolizes the escape from the cycle of samsara. The bird also has special connotations in the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta just as the duck lives on water but its feathers are not wetted, similarly an Advaitin must live in this material world, but is unsoiled by its illusionary nature. It is due to this significance as well as to the ubiquity of the ruddy shelduck on the Irrawaddy that the hintha is one of the most popular decorative motifs in Burmese art.

Image: Offering bowl in the form of a betel container. Wood, lacquer, metal, glass, gilding.