{
  "country_code": "MM",
  "id": "mahagiri-house-spirit",
  "title": "Min Mahagiri: a household spirit remembered through objects",
  "category": "apparition",
  "date": "1991-01-01",
  "date_label": "1991 museum-object anchor; the spirit’s biography is a traditional account",
  "location": "Myanmar nat tradition; Tagaung regional orientation",
  "lat": 23.5,
  "lng": 96.01,
  "summary": "The blacksmith who becomes Min Mahagiri is remembered as a household nat. Museum imagery and anthropology let investigators trace the spirit’s changing place in religious and political life.",
  "documented_claim": "The museum identifies Min Mahagiri as a household nat and links dated representations.",
  "unproven_claim": "The object record establishes a physically observed returning spirit or identical practice in every household.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "British Museum — Min Mahagiri authority record",
      "url": "https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG208796",
      "language": "en",
      "kind": "Museum deity authority and object index",
      "note": "Traditional biography and modern representations; not eyewitness testimony.",
      "id": "S1",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    },
    {
      "title": "Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière — The Burmese Nats",
      "url": "https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/diogenes/article/abs/burmese-nats/11AD1BC05688B5725D84124AD6C9C1B3",
      "language": "en",
      "kind": "Scholarly anthropology article",
      "note": "Accessible extract; online republication date differs from the research’s original context.",
      "id": "S2",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    }
  ],
  "country": "Myanmar",
  "author": "Eklipsis",
  "content_languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "path": "/investigations/mahagiri-house-spirit",
  "source_url": "https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG208796",
  "location_precision": "region",
  "location_note": "Approximate orientation marker for the named locality, not an exact encounter, burial, ritual or excavation position.",
  "location_source_url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=23.5&mlon=96.01#map=8/23.5/96.01",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-30",
  "edition": 1,
  "truth_type": "unknown",
  "verdict": "Min Mahagiri’s tradition and modern representations are documented. Literal posthumous manifestation and one uniform practice across Myanmar remain unestablished.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "The mystery and the documented account",
      "text": "The British Museum’s Min Mahagiri authority record identifies him among the thirty-seven Burmese nats and retells a blacksmith’s death at the hands of a king who feared rebellion. The resulting spirit is associated with a coconut placed in a household corner. The record links modern paintings and a print, including a 1991 image. Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière’s scholarly account studies the nat cult’s relationship with monarchy, local communities and Buddhist religious organisation. Neither source is a modern sighting report. They document a supernatural biography and the practices through which it remains socially present.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "The question worth investigating",
      "text": "How do household images, offerings and royal narratives shape different understandings of the same spirit? A canonical list of thirty-seven does not guarantee identical local practice.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence, provenance and uncertainty",
      "text": "The museum authority entry is a brief synthesis and object index. The accessible scholarly extract is not the entire ethnographic argument. The traditional death story is not independently authenticated here. Tagaung is a regional orientation from the narrative, not an exact execution or apparition site.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Inspector’s assessment",
      "text": "Min Mahagiri’s tradition and modern representations are documented. Literal posthumous manifestation and one uniform practice across Myanmar remain unestablished.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Next research and discriminating evidence",
      "text": "Compare dated paintings, prints and attributed accounts of household practice. Record regional naming and offering differences with consent. Read the full anthropological study before generalising about political meaning. Separate traditional biography, ritual performance and a claim of an observed apparition.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "Traditional blacksmith biography",
      "text": "The museum retells the death and subsequent nat identity.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "1991",
      "text": "The authority record links a painting made in Burma.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "Modern scholarly study",
      "text": "The nat cult is analysed in relation to monarchy and local communities.",
      "refs": [
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "30 September 2026",
      "text": "Eklipsis compiles this English documentary investigation from the named sources. No field visit or new eyewitness interview is claimed.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "text": "The museum identifies Min Mahagiri as a household nat and links dated representations.",
      "status": "Documented in the named record",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The object record establishes a physically observed returning spirit or identical practice in every household.",
      "status": "Not established by the selected evidence",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Min Mahagiri’s tradition and modern representations are documented. Literal posthumous manifestation and one uniform practice across Myanmar remain unestablished.",
      "status": "Editorial assessment; stated limits apply",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "hypotheses": [
    {
      "title": "A spirit tradition expressed in household and political relations",
      "status": "Attributed anthropological framework",
      "support": "Museum and scholarship document practices and representations.",
      "limits": "Local variations need their own evidence.",
      "test": "Compare dated objects and consented community accounts."
    },
    {
      "title": "A literal posthumous apparition",
      "status": "Unestablished",
      "support": "The traditional biography describes becoming a spirit.",
      "limits": "No independent modern encounter record is supplied.",
      "test": "Assess any specific observation separately from images and ritual belief."
    }
  ],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "title": "Trace the earliest accessible record",
      "body": "For Min Mahagiri: a household spirit remembered through objects, record author or storyteller, collection date, language, translation, page and exact scope. Distinguish evidence of a story being told from evidence of its events. Note which full documents remain unavailable."
    },
    {
      "title": "Investigate the central question",
      "body": "Compare dated paintings, prints and attributed accounts of household practice. Record regional naming and offering differences with consent. Read the full anthropological study before generalising about political meaning. Separate traditional biography, ritual performance and a claim of an observed apparition."
    },
    {
      "title": "Compare explanations without merging evidence",
      "body": "Compare dated objects and consented community accounts. Assess any specific observation separately from images and ritual belief. Preserve contradictions and unsuccessful searches; proposed work remains unperformed."
    }
  ]
}