Telakhon

Telakhon, one of the oldest Buddhist-influenced prophet cults among the Karen hill peoples of Myanmar (Burma). In their mythology, the restoration of their lost Golden Book by their white younger brothers heralds the millennium. Ywa, a withdrawn high god whose offer of the book to their ancestors was ignored, would then return to deliver the Karen from oppression by the Burmans or the British. The cult was founded in the mid-19th century by Con Yu. It banned traditional animal sacrifice, practiced a strict ethic, and maintained Karen culture. In 1962–65 the cult’s seventh successive head, the Phu Chaik (“Elder of the Faith”), was presented with vernacular Bibles by American missionaries. Expectations rose on both sides and membership (mostly in eastern Myanmar) increased to 10,000, but the Bible was rejected as not revealing the mysteries of Western knowledge. Renewed opposition to the Burmese led to armed clashes and the removal and death of the Phu Chaik in 1967. A similar cult, the Leke (founded 1860), is still in existence but others have become Christian churches or have declined.