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This Buddha shrine
has a long history over a
timeframe of around two thousand years and since times
immemorial every year is the festival around.
There are
always
people
asking where is
it? actually
its quite simple, it's on a platform is on the highest hill
in Yangon dominating the city panorama.
This is one of the most
venerated pagoda in the country, it’s not the tallest stupa,
the tallest
is the
Shwemawdaw
at Bago, but
it is for
sure one of
the the most
famous
shrine in
the world
and also one
of the major
tourist
attraction
together
with Bagan
and
Mandalay. There are some other famous
pagodas such as the Shwezigon in Bagan, Sule
in Yangon downtown and another very famous pilgrim
destination is the Golden Rock Pagoda at Kyaiktiyo in Mon State about 200 km
south east of Yangon.
Everyday monks, nuns, novices
and other people visit the platform to pray, meditate or
simply stay there for a while. In recent years plenty of
tourist join them, below is also some history explained.
Other famous Buddhist temples are located at Mandalay, Mrauk
U, Bago, Sagaing opposite Mandalay, Monywa and plenty of
other places in the country.
Shwedagon,
the “Mother of all Pagodas in Myanmar”, towering to a height
of 326 feet on
Theingottara Hill is the landmark of Yangon, and dominates the shape of the city. Ralph Fitch, the first
Englishman to arrive on Myanmar’s shores in 1558, wrote
about this Buddhist Temple: “it is called Dagon and is of a
wonderful bigness and all gilded from the foot to the top -
it is the fairest place, as I suppose, that is in the world.”
Rudyard Kipling called this
most famous Buddhist temple, ..”a golden mystery
lofty on the horizon, a beautiful wonder that blazed in the
sun, in his letters from the east published in 1889”.
In his “Gentleman in the
Parlor,” (1930),
Somerset Maugham, at his
first sight of the Pagoda was inspired to write that this
superb, glistening, golden Buddhist Temple rising superbly
upwards, was like a sudden hope in the dark night of the
soul.
This Buddhist temple is one of the greatest cultural
monuments ever erected by man.” They both
are right since there is is no
other Buddha temple on earth with this image, charisma and history.
More pictures of the Myanmar
visit of the American
President
Shwedagon History
Shwedagon History
According to the chronicles,
in 585 B.C., Tapussa and
Bhallika, two Myanmar
merchant brothers went for
trade to India.
They were
fortunate to meet Lord
Buddha and received eight
hair relics. They returned
to Myanmar and as a gesture
of welcoming the hair
relics,
several pagodas were built
along the coastal way.
These stupas are still known
as San-daw-kyo Payamyar
(Pagodas built as a token to
welcome the hair relics)
King Okkalapa himself came
to welcome the hair relics.
The Shwedagon Pagoda was
built and the relics
enshrined there,
more.
In 1775, the stupa was rebuilt
by King Sinbyushin of Innwa, raising it to its present
height, with its present form and new hti. The British
forces occupied Theingottara Hill and fortified it in
1824. In 1871, King Mindon placed a new hti, vane and
diamond orb on the top.
Over time its this most sacred
of all Myanmar shrines and the largest of its kind in the
world, is always thronged with devotees, especially on holy
days, when water flowers and candles are offered at the
images of the Lord Buddha. All visitors are ever welcome
and they should
make it a ‘must’ to explore
and get to know more about
it, this is the common
perception but its not true,
if you are foreigner you
must pay entrance, no pay,
not entrance
During construction,
relics of three preceding
Buddha’s (Kakusan, Konago,
and Kassapa) were excavated
and re-enshrined, giving the
temple the name “Pagoda of
Four Relics”. The pagoda was
successively renovated and
rebuilt by the King of
Hanthawaddy (Bago).
King Binnya U raised its height
to 60 feet, and in 1451 A.D.
Queen Shinsawpu raised its
height to 302 feet. It was
also gilded with gold from
top to bottom.
can be approached by four covered stairway
or zaungdans, one from each cardinal point, and four
elevators lead up the hill to the main platform.
Stalls line the stairways selling offerings such as flowers,
candles and gold leaves; Buddha images and statues made from
wood, alabaster and ivory; Buddha shrines for the house;
brass-
During colonial times.
ware, teak the southeast corner of the of
the Buddhist temple platform with a ‘hintha’ bird
(mythological bird, also called hamsa)
and ivory sculptures; gongs and cymbals.
The main and the
busiest entrance of the Pagoda is the southern one. An
escalator is in service here and also at the northern
entrance, which makes it convenient to get up to the
platform to have a look for all this magnificent Buddhist
shrines and the peoples around.
First Shwedagon Pagoda
history information
came from the
end of the 14th Century. From palace
chronicles we know that the king of Hanthawaddy (Pegu or today Bago), Byinnya U,
started some restoration work on a stupa
located near the fishing village of Dagon
from where the the name of the stupa was
derived. The name Dagon was extended to Shwe
Dagon, shwe means gold and dagon means
beautiful. The restored stupa had a height
of approximately 20 m.
About the
following fate already more
information is available indicating a series
of further improvements and modifications.
All this was probably done after an
earthquake, since the middle of the 16th
Century until the beginning of the 20th
Century no less than eight earthquakes were
registered, among them the pagoda was
damaged and from "repair to repair" the
pagoda grow taller and taller.
As seen by
Ralph Fitch
Towards the
end of the 15th Century, it reached a height of approximately 90
m. During the reign of queen Shinsawbu in
the years 1455 to 1462 a platform around the
stupa was created enclosed with walls, this
was the base to the still existing ensemble.
This was also described by Ralph Fitch
in the year
1586… two o
pt>ipt>ipt> called pray.
This house is
fifty five steps long, inside are three
corridors flanked by forty gilded columns.
This building is open to all sides and
inside are more small columns, which are
also gilded. Also the house itself glinted
from gold decoration internally and
externally, this was obviously the
ordination hall of the monks.
Also around are
buildings where pilgrims can rest and some
are for the Tallipoyi, these houses are full
of male and female statues, both male and
female were gilded from top to bottom. It
looks like the most beautiful place on
earth.
The building is
on top of a hill and can be approached via
four path which are bordered left and right
by fruit trees to have shadow when walking
the 1.5 km to approach the platform.
The description of the English traveler
is interesting in every detail
every detail and confirmed more or less the same composition
and basic features were in place by the 16th Century.
Over time continues building and extensions were made, that
went on until today. The present height of the stupa was
reached during the Konbaung dynasty in 1774.
The king of
Ava, Hsinyushin, extended the monument again and the current
high of 99.5m was reached and the current silhouette
implemented. Overall, the composition of this Buddhist
temple complex was basically finished at the end of the 18th
Century although some work is going on
continuously. The
stupa itself if only part of the platform with at
least another 300 shrines and buildings.
from the burning sun in the open
temples the hot marble slabs paving the platform are a
problem for bare-footed visitors which finally are everyone
since shoes are not allowed. Means visit the pagoda after
3pm when there is shadow around cooling the hot marble
slabs, more.
The pagoda orb,
decorated and worked into solid
gold are thousands of diamonds,
ruby gemstones, imperial
jade and other precious stones and
diamond jewelry from
Myanmar and elsewhere, all have been donated.
Donations at
the pagoda orb
donated by King Thayawaddy
in 1841 is housed in a
spired and embellished
pavilion close by. Further
away of the Pagoda entrance
is the Planetary Post for
the Sun it is located at the
northeast corner of the main
stupa.
Close to the
Naungdawgyi Pagoda,
right smack in the
northeastern corner is the
Dhammazedi inscription
dating back to 1485, telling
the story of the Pagoda in
three languages, Pail, Mon
and Myanmar. Walking
onwards, one reaches the
temple of the
Kakusandha Buddha,
opposite the eastern
stairway.
The Eastern Adoration hall is
regarded as the most ornate on the platform. The main figure
of Kakusandha, the first Buddha and three others in this
temple, have their right palms turned upward in a posture
which is not the usual one. The
Tawa Gu Buddha statue occupies a niche on the
upper terrace of the main stupa, behind the Kakusandha
Buddhist Temple. This statue has a reputation of being able
to perform miracles and only men are allowed to climb onto
the upper terrace for a fee. Here on the upper terrace, the
visitor will encounter highly devout Buddhists in deep
meditation. Just have a look at the Shwedagon Pagoda
Pictures here. The Planetary Post for the Moon is beside the
Kakusandha Buddhist Temple. The moon, in Myanmar astrology,
is recognized as one of the eight planets. Across the Pagoda
platform, adjacent to the east stairway is the U Nyo Tazaung
with wood carved panels depicting events in the life of
Gautama Buddha. A Hamsa
Tagundaing or prayer pillar stands close to
led to the conclusion
that this impressive
structure is not very
old, the inner core
might be but everything
around not. The central
Shwedagon Pagoda stupa and some of its
essential parts were
renovated and rebuilt in
the 19th and even 20th
century the earliest
buildings on the
platform are from the
19th Century. As it is
with other buildings in
Myanmar there is a
continuous restoration
going on because usually
the torrential monsoon
rains and the immense
heat do a constant
deterioration. There is
never any isolation
against water be done as
it is in almost all
buildings in the west,
this let the walls
crumble constantly.
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