By Andrew Marshall

Posted Monday, June 27, 2005; 20:00 HKT
Rising from the heat haze of Burma's central plains is Asia's answer to Mount Olympus and a nation's mystical hot spot: Mount Popa, home to Burma's nats, which are the spirits—potentially malevolent—of dead nobles and folk heroes, worshipped there since pre-Buddhist times. More than 1,500 m tall and the product of an ancient volcanic eruption, Popa is a place of pilgrimage for Burmese from all walks of life. They climb the mountain to make offerings to the nats, and risk offending them if they ignore rules governing the ascent: don't curse, don't wear red or black, don't carry meat. Beyond an entrance that's guarded by statues of auspicious white elephants is a covered stairway that climbs Popa's flanks at improbably steep angles, its steps worn smooth by the faithful. Among these you might spot a yathe, or Burmese hermit, once famed for practicing the doomed art of alchemy and still instantly recognizable by their curious, peaked caps. Beneath the tabletop summit, which bristles with golden stupas, is the main shrine, named after Min Mahagiri, or "Lord of the Great Mountain," worshipped in many Burmese households. It is crowded with figurines representing the 37 nats, each cloaked in silk or taffeta, garlanded with jasmine, and surrounded by offerings of coconuts and bananas. In days of old, animals were sacrificed there. Today, transvestite mediums gather twice a year to be possessed by the spirits in a sometimes wild and drunken ritual. For most visitors, however, the meditative climb is mystical enough. And the view from the peak? Divine.

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