Before entering the main prayer hall at Dhammikarama Burmese Temple, you encounter two chinthes. A pair of these lion-like creatures (leogryphs) often guards the entrance to Burmese temples and pagodas. They evolved from a legend about a princess who married a lion and gave birth to a son. Years later, the son killed the lion without realizing it was his father. In atonement, he commissioned lion statues to protect the temple.