o appreciate the legend of the Birman, one must visualise the beautiful temples in ancient Burma. The magnitude of the Buddha idols helps to impress upon us the deep religious faith the people have, their belief in the reincarnation of souls and their deep respect and love for their Priests. The watchful and loving care of the 100 white temple cats is due to their belief that the Priest are returned in the form of the Sacred Cats of Burma (The Birman) after death.

Centuries ago the Khmer people of Asia built beautiful temples of worship to pay homage to their Gods. The temple of Lao-Tsun housed Kyan Kse, a beautiful golden goddess with sapphire blue eyes, who watched over the transmutation of souls. Mun-Ha, one of the most beloved of the priests, whose beard had been braided with gold by the great god Son-Hio, often knelt in meditation before the golden goddess of Tsun-Kay-Kse. Sinh, a beautiful and faithful white temple cats, was always at his side and shared his meditations. As the holy priest prayed, the sacred cat would gaze at the brilliant goddess.

One night as the moon rose and Mun-Ha was kneeling before the sacred goddess, raiders attacked the temple and Mun-Ha was killed. At the moment of Mun-Ha's death, Sinh placed his feet upon his fallen master and faced the golden goddess.

Immediately the hairs of his white body were as golden as the light radiating from the beautiful golden goddess, her beautiful blue eyes became his very own, and his four white legs shaded downwards to a velvety brown, but where his feet rested gently on his dead master, the whiteness remained, thus denoting the purity of the Priest's soul passing into the cat.

The next morning the temple radiated with the transformation of the hundred white cats, which, like Sinh, reflected the golden hue of the sunset. Sinh, the golden cat of Burma, never left the throne after his master's death. Then seven days later he too died, carrying with him into paradise the soul of Mun-Ha, his beloved master.

The Birman cat is believed to have originated in Burma, where it was considered sacred and the companion cat of the Kittah priests. The arrival of the Birman in Europe began in 1919 with two Englishmen, Major Gordon Russell and August Pavie, who were living in France at the time. They received a pair of birmans from the Kittah people in gratitude for their part in saving the temple from being over run by invading enemies. The male unfortunately died during the journey to his new home, but the female survived the long ocean voyage. She was in kitten on her arrival and this litter produced the first Birmans to be seen in the western world.

In 1925 the Federation of Feline Françoise recognised the Birman as a true breed of pedigree cat. During the war all pedigree cats in Europe suffered a great set back. Of the Birmans that had been born only two now survived, a pair named Orloff and Xenia Kaabaa. The offspring of this pair formed the new foundation of the Birman breed in post war France. Other long hair breeds were used to guarantee the continued existence of the Birman but by the early 1950's pure Birman litters were being produced from Birman parents.