Myanmar is referred to among the nations of the world as “the Golden Land”, “the Land of Pagodas” and “the country with the most beautiful spot in this world”. The presence of many golden pagodas, some of them dating back to ancient times has prompted these accolades. Out of these many pagodas, the distinctive golden spire of the Shwe Dagon which is visible to a traveller in an airplane or a ship fn5m a distance of 30 miles has been the source of inspiration for the expression “the most beautiful spot in the world”. This stupa is more than a place of worship for Buddhists as it is also a repository for artistic and cultural treasures.
The Shwe Dagon was initially a stupa of 60 foot height built by the King of Okkalapa 2500 years ago to enshrine 8 sacred hair relics of the Buddha and other sacred relics forming the utensils of three earlier Buddhas. Before it was completed, the Naungdawgyi stupa, which can still be found on the platform of the main stupa was built to house these relics while the latter was being planned for construction. Hence the name Naungdawgyi which means “elder brother” as it preceded the main shrine.
Throughout the ages, a succession of Mon-Myanmar kings have encapsulated the stupa with successive layers raising it to the present height of 326 feet (99m) from the plinth to the “diamond bud” finial. The hill on which the shrine has been built itself is 190 feet (58m) above the sea. The stupa rests on a plinth with a perimeter of 1420 feet (432m) and is surrounded by a total of 64 subsidiary stupas and four larger ones at the cardinal points where giant stairways and great porches surmounted with flamboyant arched pediments admit the worshipper onto the platform of the pagoda.On the main stupa itself,the “plantain bud “ below the finial has a girth of 65 feet (20m), while that of the double-lotus band below is about the same. Further below,the ovolo band called the “turban” is widened to 96 feet 5 inches (29m), and below that the bell flares to a circumference of 344 feet 8 inches (1 05m) at its mouth. Of the three terraces below the bell, the first measures 340 feet 9 inches (104m), the second 265 feet (81m) and the third 188 feet (57m) on each side. The entire stupa from the plinth to the diamond bud finial is covered with plates of gold. Rubies, diamonds, emeralds and other gems on the vane, diamond bud and the tiered umbrella finial donated by devotees ranging from monarchs to common folk through the ages may well be worth billions.
The platform has a width of 900 feet (274m) on the east and north and 700 feet (213m) on the west and south. There is a covered stairway at each of the cardinal points with the one on the west being the longest as being the one ascending from the lowest level. Stucco carvings, ornamental ironwork, sculptures in marble and alabaster and the art of the jeweller can be appreciated on a leisurely stroll around the platform if one takes the time to look at interesting pavilions, mini-museums and various nooks and corners along the way. Buddhist architecture and religious motifs that have been assimilated into the national culture and then endowed with indigenous forms will be found in abundance. Pavilions s for worshippers, rest havens, parasols sculptured out of masonry and many tiered ones in metal, planetary posts decorated with either mythical beasts or large and small creatures representing them, free-standing towering columns surmounted by the stylised brahminy duck or other symbols and ornamented with cylindrical streamers and tassels proclaiming the presence of a place for worship and the ubiquitous public drinking stands constitute some of the exotica.
Taking leave of these minutae and stepping back to take a good look at the main stupa, the elegance in proportion which has overcome its majestic size becomes apparent. One might also feel that the mellow aura bathing it is due to the subtle interplay of reflecting surfaces Thus even if the fiist impression should be of its immensity, a lasting one could very well be of its uniqueness and grace.
Sule Pagoda
The Sule Pagoda is located right in the centre of downtown Yangon at the intersection of two main arteries, the Maha Bandoola and the Sule Pagoda roads. Its history stretches as far back as 2200 years ago, to a time not too long after the completion of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. From the top of the plinth to the base of its pinnacle it stands 144 feet 9.5 inches (44m) and is built on an octagonal ground plan, this configuration being followed through each successive stage in its profile. The platform encircling the stupa is quite narrow, being about 20 feet (6m) wide and is filled with various pavilions and other edifices, a shrine built around a Bo tree from Bodh Gaya and a statue of the Sule divinity pointing at the spot where the pagoda was to be built being among them. The overall height of the stupa is 168.43 feet (51m) from the ground level and its precincts cover an area of 2.81 acres (1.14 hectares). Besides the main stupa there are subsidiary stupas on the platform,on the terraces and one at each entranceway located at the cardinal points where there are also vestibule halls on the platform for the worshippers.
Botabtaung Pagoda
This ancient stupa was formerly known by its name in the Mon language as Kyaik Dei At, meaning “Pagoda on minstrel’s hill”. It is said to be built where the ship carrying the sacred hair relics of the Buddha made landfall but some 500 years after the event and that a hair relic and two osseus relics were enshrined in it. The stupa had been completely destroyed by bombs during the Second World War so that alter ground breaking ceremonies in 1948 it was rebuilt incorporating the original a m ancient times.The stupa rises to an overall height of 132 feet (40m) beginning from a plinth of 6 feet 9 inches, the first terrace 15 feet 9 inches,the second 11 feet 8 inches, encircling band 4 feet 81 inches, the bell-shaped section 18 feet 8 inches, the ovolo band 16 feet 3.5 inches, the part from the “inverted monk’s bowl” to the double lotus band, 12 feet 8 inches, the “plantain bud” stem being 19 feet to the finial which has a total I of 27 feet 9 inches includ ing the multi-tiered umbrella, the jewelled vane and the “diamotid bud”.
Ngadatkyi Shrine
The original image in this shrine was an image of the Buddha seated in the lotus position with a height of 20.5 feet (6.2m). It was then sited in a depression and then relocated here when a great image having a height of 45,5 feet (13.8m) on a pedestal 30 feet (9.lm) high and 46 feet (13.9m) wide was erected on this piece of high ground in 1900.
The shrine is situated within a monastery complex located in Shwegondaing Ward of Bahan Township and can be reached from the road encircling the Royal Lakes by turning into a lane bearing its name. A shorter route is by following the Shwegondaing road connecting the Bahan and Tamwe townships right up to the rear en trance of the shrine.
The dimensions pertaining to this great image are as follow:
(a) circumference at the hair knot-19.5 feet (5.9m)
(b) circumference of the frontlet - 20 feet (6.08m)
(c) distance between the corners of each eye -over 3 feet (1m)
(d) pinna of the ear - 6 feet (1.82m)
(e) length of the nose -3 feet 6 inches (l.06m)
(f) circumference of the throat -20 feet (6.08m)
(g) breadth of the shoulders -24 feet (7.3m)
(h) girth of the arms - l5feet 9 inches (4.79m)
(i) width between the extremities of the knees- 36 feet (10.9m)
(,j) length of each palm - 10 feet (3.04m)
(k’) length of each thumb -4.5 feet (1.37m)
(U length at the soles of feet -10.5 feet (3.19m)
The great image, which was originally arrayed in monastic robes, has been invested with the regalia of kings such as a diadem, ear ornaments and jewelled sashes by devotees.
Chaukhtatkyi Shrine
The Six-storeyed Shrine surpasses the nearby Five-Storeyed Shrine in name only the great image is in a reclining posture while the latter is in a sitting posture. This way of applying multi-storey qualifiers to places of Buddhistic worship seems to be an indigenous development which began during the second Innwa period. In the Ngadatkyi or the Five Storeyed Shrine donated by Prince Minyedeippa in 1558, the first use of this qualifier is recorded. Work on this image started in 1899, the donor named U Hpo Thar being fired by his ambition to make it a model edifice not only in this country but in the whole world as well. By 1907, the image of the Buddha half reclining on a royal couch on his flank, one hand propping up his upper torso was completed. From afar one might have mistaken it for an image in the seated posture. The image then had a length of 195 feet (59.28m) and a height of 100 feet (30.4m) from the surface of the couch to the halo round the head with the height of the couch itself 5 feet 6 inches above the platform. Extensive reconstruction completed in 1973 extended the length of the image to 216 feet (65.85m) with the height of the couch however, reduced to 4 feet (1.22m). Originally the axis of the head turned towards the west and the visage faced the south, but the reconstructed image has the head aligned towards the east and the visage facing north.
Koedatkyi Shrine
This shrine is located near the Bagaya Hollow where the railway line passes above a motor road intersection. This huge image of the Buddha has a height of 66 feet (20.06m) and is depicted seated above a lotus-throne 6 feet 6 inches (1 .98m) high. A pair of masonry lions guard the entry stairway accompanied by a pair of dancing divinities. The shrine was built in 1906.
Gaba Aye (World Peace) Pagoda
A good part of the thousands of pagodas to be found all over the country originated hundreds of years ago. One of the exceptions is this pagoda, built in 1952, which, as it name implies, is dedicated towards the realisation of global peace. The circular platform around the main stupa is enclosed in the manner of a cave-temple and there are five proches decorated in the traditional style of flamboyant arched pediments, lotus flowers, lotus buds and the swastika motif in carved stucco. In passing it might be pediments, to explain why and how the swastika came to be associated with Buddhism. As some dictionaries of the English language will point out, the origin of the term swastika is svastika from skrit denoting “well being”-the device being associated with sun worship and veneration of the wheel originating with the ancient Aryans. To Buddhists however, it is in the context of its association with Dhammacakka (the Wheel of Law), the first sermon preached by the Buddha after attaining enlightenment, that this rotating wheel motif is employed on religious structures.
The main stupa is 117 feet 6 inches (35.82m) high, with subsidiary stupas on the five porches each 8 feet (2.4m) high.
North of the World Peace Pagoda, there is a great man-made cave 455 feet 8.32m) in length. 375 feet (114m) wide and having an internal dimension of 220 feet .88m) x 140 feet (42.56m) made in the shape of the “Sattapani Grotto” near Rajagaha ‘ city of India where the first Buddhist Synod or Great Council was held just some months after the Buddha went through Parinivarna, the Decease. The name of the Gaba Aye Cave “Maha Pasana”, meaning “Great Cave of Stone” and was built in 1953. It was in this great cavern that the Sixth Buddhist Synod was inaugurated in the year 2498 of the Buddhist Era (1954 AD) with 2500 venerable monks convening to recite and verify the words the Buddha in Pali, the entire Tipitaka, which in printed form would take up about 40 volumes.
Mai Lamu (Maid of the Mangrove) Pagoda
It was said that a hermit (rishi) once came upon a mangrove tree bearing an abnormally large bud which he took to his retreat and it later produced a girl child. The child was nurtured and brought up by the hermit who named her Mai Lamu on account of her being born of a mangrove fruit. She grew up into a beautiful woman and Sakka (Indra), monarch of the celestial divinities, fell in love with her. After asking for her hand in marriage from the hermit, the lord of the celestial gods fathered a child who, it was said eventually became king of Okkalapa, the name by which Yangon had been referred to in the remote past. Representations of the Maid of the Mangrove and her heavenly suitor can be seen at the southwest corner of the Shwedagon Pagoda.
In 1959, the Caretaker Government under General Ne Win embarked on a programme of developing satellite towns to provide housing for the expanding population of the capital. During the clearing of land near the Ngamoeyeik tidal stream as part of the programme in setting up the new township of North Okkalapa. the stump of a ruined stupa overgrown by a hardwood tree was revealed. Eventually a donor materialized who built a new stupa at this site. As the ruins were being cleared before the construction of the new stupa, a casket bearing a figurine of a woman was recovered from the reliquary of the ruined stupa. The figurine was said to resemble the Maid of the Mangrove statue on the Shwedagon Pagoda exactly and in the light of the legendary association of a crocodile named Ngarnoeyeik involved in the legend of King Okkalapa with the location of the ruined stupa by the Ngamoeyeik stream, the shrine came to be known as Mai Lamu Pagoda. A stylized fruit of the mangrove is also featured in the construction of the stupa.There is also an image of the reclining Buddha and clustered around these main edifices are compositions in stucco of various episodes in the life of the Buddha.
Mahawizaya Stupa
The Mahawizaya Stupa was built on the Dhammarakkhita (Guardian of the Law) Hill which faces the famous Shwedagon Pagoda, in 1980 to commemorate the first successful convening of all sects of the Buddhist monastic order under one supervisory body. It was built from funds donated by the people across the whole country. An image of the Buddha which was a royal gift from the King and Queen of Nepal is enshrined within the stupa.
All manner of traditional decorative art executed by modern and artisans grace this shrine and testify to the preservation of a national culture developed through the ages.