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State Seal of Myanmar
The State Seal of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar is the national emblem used in all official government documents, including publications. As the seal is an official symbol, there are State Seal Law and Principles regarding appropriate usage of it.
Description
Usage
The State seal can be used for the following:
History
Before 1948
Toungoo and Konbaung Dynasties
The Toungoo Dynasty and the Konbaung Dynasty never adopted their respective emblems. They only had the green peacock flag but there is no recording about that flag. You can only see modern reconstructed green peacock flag today.
British Burma
After being annexed by the British Empire, the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom was adopted. After Burma was separated from India, the green peacock on a yellow was adopted as the national symbol and badge of Burma, in 1939. But the coat of arms was still the coat of arms of United Kingdom.
Japanese puppet state
The State of Burma, a Japanese puppet state, adopted the circular seal bearing stylized golden peacock as the State seal in 1943.
Current design
The current design of the State Seal was first introduced at the Constituent Assembly of the Union of Burma in 1947.
1948–1974
The State Seal of Burma, approved by the Constituent Assembly in 1947, contained the Burmese text ပြည်ထောင်စု သမတမြန်မာ နိုင်ငံတော်။ on the banner, which means "Republic of Union of Myanmar" (the same as the text in the current State Seal except the spelling of the word that mean President or Republic: သမတ), as well as three lions. Additionally, there was a circle surrounding the map of the country containing Verse 194 of the Buddhavagga in the Dhammapada in Pali: သမဂ္ဂါနံ တပေါ သုခေါ (samaggānaṃ tapo sukho), which translates to "Happy is the practice of those in harmony." It was adopted at the independence of the country on 4 January 1948.
1974–1988
The 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma adopted a new State Seal with Socialist symbols : a pinion (cogwheel) with 14 teeth, surrounding the map of Myanmar, surrounded by two paddy ears, the two artistic Burmese lions besides the branches: The left lion facing to the left and the right lion facing to the right, The words ပြည်ထောင်စု ဆိုရှယ်လစ်သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်, which means "Socialist Republic of the Union of Myanmar", on the ribbon banner at the bottom. It was adopted together with the new State flag and the 1974 constitution on 3 January 1974. The original publications of 1974 constitution shows the State flag with full colours, but it shows the State seal only in white and black. But in the official usage, it is always yellow and black. The e-book version of the 1974 constitution from Myanmar Law Information System shows the blue State seal from Wikipedia in place of the State seal.
1988–2011
On 19 October 1988, the State Law and Order Restoration Council enacted a law which replaces the expression "Socialist Republic of the Union of Myanmar" with the expression "Union of Myanmar". The State Seal was modified as the country name in State Seal Law had been replaced: the words ဆိုရှယ်လစ်သမ္မတ ("Socialist Republic") were removed.
Changes to current State Seal
In 2008, the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar for Burma was approved by a referendum. In this new constitution, changes have been made to the State Seal. The new State Seal uses the colours red and gold/yellow. Also, the pinion and paddy ears have been removed and replaced with Eugenia sprigs and the words on the ribbon have been changed to ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် which translates "Republic of the Union of Myanmar". The new Laws and Principles for State Seal were passed on 21 October 2010 (but were not enforced immediately) and the new State Seal was displayed on the television on that day's afternoon. But the new state seal had not been adopted yet until 2011. It was adopted on the day the 2008 Constitution came into force, on 31 January 2011.
Symbolism (historical and current)
Peafowl
Peafowl symbolizes the race of the sun.
Lion (Leograph)
The reason of the inclusion of three lions in the State Seal was given as follow:
State Motto on the Circle
သမဂ္ဂါနံ တပေါ သုခေါ (samaggānaṃ tapo sukho), which can be translated to "Happy is the practice of those in harmony," is from Verse 194 of the Buddhavagga in the Dhammapada.
Ears of Paddy
Ears of paddy are the symbol for cultivating class.
Pinion
Pinion (cogwheel) is the symbol for working class.
Five-Pointed Star (Mullet)
Five-pointed star represents the revolution/resistance and the struggle for independence of Myanmar against colonialist and fascists.
Sprigs of Eugenia
Eugenia sprig symbolizes victory.
Map of Myanmar
The map of Myanmar in the State Seal symbolizes the principal that the Sovereign power of the State is derived from the citizens and is in force in the entire country.
Myanmar traditional floral arabesques
Myanmar traditional floral arabesques are included to decorate the State seal as representation of ancient Myanmar traditions which are appropriate for modern Union of Myanmar.
State Name
The then conventional long names of the State are included in the State Seals,
Gallery
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