The Burmese Hour

Abstract:This paper utilizes the concept of the "Burmese hour" to approach astrological practices in Burma as being not only distinctive but also historically related to Brahmanical astral sciences. First, the "Burmese hour" is examined as a unit of time: the hour (nārī) of twenty-four minutes, prevalent before the colonial-era introduction of the sexagesimal horometrical system. Focusing on the water clock used at the Burmese court (c. 18th–19th), I investigate the connection between this system of time-reckoning and Brahmanical horometrical techniques in India. Next, the "Burmese hour" is addressed through an opposition to the "Moghul hour" and the "British hour." I examine the different working conditions that Brahmin astrologers from Banaras had at the Burmese court compared with those experienced under other "foreign" rulers in early modern and colonial India. Finally, I argue for a closer dialogue between specialists of Burma and South Asia, beyond area studies divisions. Through this dialogue, I propound that the "Burmese hour" has come. It is time to study Burmese astrological practices as being socially diverse and locally distinctive.