General information. Facts from history and the Burmese written language system

The Gregorian calendar is now used in Myanmar; the only difference is in the form of the numerals.

On October 21, 2010, Myanmar adopted a new state flag. At the head of this page thumbnails of both old and new flags are shown.

To get an impression of the Myanmar numerals 0 to 9, take a look at the image below:

Burmese writing is perhaps one of those where the baseline of the letters and numerals plays a crucial role.

The Chula Sakarat year numbering system

Between 1835 and 1887 Burma is known to have been using the year numbering system called the Chula Sakarat. At that time Burma was colonized by the British Empire, the whole period of British rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948. The Chula-Sakarat (CS) dating is sometimes referred to as the Burmese Era (BE). Like many other sources of numismatic information, the Krause catalogue insists that CS dating began in 638 AD, whereas, for instance, Wikipedia claims that the first year of the Chula Sakarat era corresponds with the year 639 AD.

The year in the CS era begins on April 14/15^th. Thus, depending on the exact month of issue, the AD = CS + 638 or AD = CS + 639 formula should be used.

The same applies to the reverse conversion: we should use the following formula: CS = AD – 638 if the AD date falls between January 1^st and April 14/15^th; hence if the AD date falls between the second half of April and December 31^st, the expression CS = AD – 639 should be used.

Bearing this in mind, I hereby notify you that in the Creounity Time Machine both conversions for Myanmar (Burma) operate with 638, not 639 years of difference,— as do the authors of the Krause catalogues.

The coins issued between 1852 and 1885 circulated in Upper Burma, they're the most common Burmese coins of the XIX-century that had dates specified in the Chula Sakarat era.

Here's a picture of a Burmese coin dated CS 1214. As we don't know for sure the month of issue of this coin, it can be dated either 1214 + 638 = 1852 AD or 1214 + 639 = 1853 AD. The Creounity Time Machine converter will show you the first option only.

Source of this image was found here.

The system of monetary denominations in present day Myanmar

The currency of Myanmar (a.k.a. Burma) is the Kyat. One kyat is subdivided into 100 pya. Bank notes of values ranging from 1 to 1,000 kyat are now in circulation, as well as coins of the following denominations: 100, 50, 10, 5 and 1 kyat and 50, 25, 10 and 5 pya.

Information about most recent updates of the converter

Update @September 11, 2011: both direct conversion and reverse conversion now support the Chula Sakarat era used in Burma in the XIX-th century. An optional appearance of the Burmese numeral «4» has also been added (it was often used on those old Burmese coins).

◄ Previous Next ► Coin 0 of 999 Go to the picture # State: Myanmar Denomination (value): 5 kyat Minting year: 1999 State: Myanmar Denomination (value): 1 kyat Minting year: 1956 State: Myanmar Denomination (value): 50 pya Minting year: 1954 State: Burma Year of the Chula Sakarat era: 1214 Year of the Gregorian calendar: 1852/1853 State: Myanmar Denomination (value): 10 pya Minting year: 1983 State: Burma Denomination (value): ¼ pe Year of the Chula Sakarat era: 1143 Year of the Gregorian calendar: 1781 State: Burma Denomination (value): ¼ pe Year of the Chula Sakarat era: 1227 Year of the Gregorian calendar: 1865 State: Myanmar Denomination (value): 5 kyat Minting year: 1999