Myanmar Mandalay Myanmar
is the last city where
Burmese Kings ruled, a not so old old pagoda and temples citadel of the Konebaung
dynasty who ruled the country for the
last time before the British annexation in
1885. |
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The city at the Irrawaddy river
was
built under
King Mindon starting at 1856, at that time a
Irrawaddy river cruise was the preferred
means of transport.
Today the city
is the number three tourist destination in
the country and is flooded by Chinese
immigrants from behind the northern border. For great travel
a Mandalay Hotel is virtually behind every
third corner.
Mandalay Myanmar is still the hub and
center of
culture and communication with all what a
great city needs, such as hotels, markets, temples
and a great Buddhist legacy with countless
Buddhist monasteries and pagodas.
Only the road to
Mandalay is in real bad condition, potholes
and
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craters are the normality, cows
prefer to walk the street and its very dusty
in the center of the country where the city
is.
The
city is accessible by
air via several
airlines, rail,
river and road travel. A hotel almost always
has a Chinese owner and the resorts and
restaurants too. A Irrawaddy river cruise
should be on every travel plan. Hotels are
plenty but only the Sedona Hotel is real top
notch.
The second up market, big and
expensive is Mandalay Hill Hotel the former Novotel.
From the Sedona a breathtaking view over the
palace, the moat plus hill is available.
Actually the Sedona Hotel is just on the
other side of the road running along the
moat.
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The road to
Mandalay Myanmar
was made famous by Kipling and
a river cruise on the mighty Ayeyarwady
River or Irrawaddy
River
to
Bagan is
still a great event with the vessel "Road to Mandalay". There are
also short distance boats and ships to
Sagaing and Mingun.
Larger
river ships connect with upper or
northern Burma.
Some years ago the new international airport
was completed at Myanmar Mandalay. Now flight became more easy,
the city has they only international airport
beside
Yangon airport.
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Road
to Mandalay Photo |
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Palace,
Mandalay
Images
Palace Moat and Wall
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Until now only one international flight from
Chiang Mai
in Thailand to the city is
available.
enclosed with a moat and
fortification
such as the palace wall is probably the
most impressive structure in the city
beside of Mahamuni Pagoda and Temple. Totally destroyed and burned down after
a direct hit by a Japanese bomb from an
aircraft during WW2 it took a long time
to to rebuild everything according to
the old construction plans. It took the
combined effort of the local military
who convinced the richer crowd of the
city to donated money for rebuilding and
as we see today it worked, rebuilding
was done by the end of the 198X.
The
interior is not up to date since too
many items and goods where looted and
stolen by the British colonialists. The
Brits where literally spoken the pain in
the ass of Burma, they
destroyed virtually everything directly
or indirectly, read
more.
What they left when they run away
was a workable train system, some
administration, Yangon, which was
completely rebuilt by the British
and a good education system |
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Myanmar
Mandalay City
still retains its old
traditions and is the centre of attractions
for its historical heritage, in the center
is the fully restored palace.
Mandalay is well-known and famous
for the presence of significant monasteries,
pagodas, temples and religious edifices and
also for the palace right in front of the hill where the last two
kings, King Mindon and King Thibaw, resided,
a reminder to
British colonial time,
means travel to see the real thing
before it vanish, there is a hotel
for every taste and budget to handle this.
Book a tour to visit some oft the
most venerated
pagodas and temples in the country, such
as the Mahamuni Temple and
Pagoda
complex and countless other sacral buildings
and monasteries.
A Irrawaddy River
Cruise
is one of the best trips around no need to
take a long |
Mahamuni
Mahamuni |
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Irrawaddy River
Cruise |
long cruise. It only needs to walk to
river bank and try to find a sampan for
about 2 hours and tell the guy he should
move up and downstream and cross the
Irrawaddy to Mingun. This old city is a
famous one with incredible pagodas, temples
and some monasteries, there is plenty to see
which give a good insight into the daily
life of the people.
The best
would be to get a tour guide because they
know better what to do and everything goes
much faster as if you do it on your own,
guides like Lonely Planet etc. are useless
for this,
read more.
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The first
daytrip
should be to the top of
Mandalay hill, its the best
view and orientation point
in the city, from there the
palace and the most
interesting monasteries,
temple and pagodas can be
spotted, a long lens camera
should be taken with. The
view over the city and the
Irrawaddy River (Ayeyarwady)
is breathtaking, during
monsoon times it looks like
a big lake where some white
pagodas pop out. Mandalay a
fascinating city, but only
at the second or third
glance. It needs a bit of
and explorer |
Mandalay Daytrip to
Sagaing |
mind to find the the
interesting things.
It is almost
mandatory to take a
tour guide,
otherwise everyone
will miss more than
the half of the
interesting sites
and views. It also
makes it more easy
to get into a
monastery, temple
and Pagoda since the
people there usually
know the guy or the
lady, read
more.
Another daytrip is
to Sagaing
having a look around the
pagoda and temples which are
often close to the banks of
the Irrawaddy and the
Sagaing Hills behind. At
this area its virtually
possible to breath Buddhism
and Asian history,
more.
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Mandalay Sagaing including Kaung Hmu Daw Pagoda
is a
treasure-trove for anyone
exploring Asians old culture, Religion and
monuments that culminates in Bagan further
south. Countless
numbers of monuments old and new,
dilapidated or maintained are still visible,
religious edifices form the majority, to say
each of them is a museum by itself is no
exaggeration. They all have something to
show and tales to tell.
One of the real
highlights is the
super-size Kaung
Hmu Daw Pagoda at Sagaing on the other side of the Irrawaddy, with
immense dimension and a rather unorthodox
design the building is a real visitors
magnet.
The structure
has a huge dome and is seen already from a
far distance. The Sagaing Kaung Hmu Daw
Pagoda, which literally means "Pagoda of
Royal Merit at Sagaing". The official Pali name is "Rajamanicula",
built by King Tha Lun (A.D. 1629-1642) of
Nyaung Yan Dynasty (A.D. 1599-1752). The
pagoda was built in 1636 in commemoration of
the reestablishment of Inwa as capital. The
Pagoda is a monument of historic importance
as well as an object of veneration of
Buddhists because it enshrines the Tooth
Relic of the Buddha brought from Ceylon (Sri
Lanka).
There is a strange
tale
relative to the construction of the
pagoda, when the royal
architects asked King Tha Lun what shape of
pagoda he would like to build, the Chief
Queen who was present nearby suddenly
exposed her rounded breast for model! When
and who cooked up this story is unknown but
some call it the "breast pagoda"!
Pagodas of such
design are quite often in the country as well
as in India and Sri Lanka. Sanchi of the
first century B.C. in India, Manikyala of
the second century A.D. in Punjab, Amaravati
of about third century A.D. and Mahaceti of
Sri Lanka are the noted Buddhist monuments
of the rounded cup shaped design. In Burma
itself plain cylindrical undecorated solid
pagodas are found at many ancient historical
sites - Pyay, Bagan and elsewhere. Bawbaw
Gyi, Be Be, Phaya Gyi and Phaya-ma pagodas
at Sre Kestra - an old
Pyu City State near
Pyay, and Bu Phaya, Nga Kywe Nadaung and
Lokananda Pagodas at old
Bagan are some good
samplings of types of pagoda modelled on the
early Buddhist stupas of India before the
elaborately decorated conical tapering
pagodas of later periods emerged.
There is a
written record regarding the original model
of the pagoda which is found in one of the chronicles named Hinan Nan Yazawun
Daw Gyi (The
Glass Palace Chronicle) which was
compiled by a royal historical commission of
learned scholars appointed and assigned by
King Bagyidaw (A.D. 1819-1837). In it an
account of Tha Lun's pilgrimage to ancient
Pyu pagodas at Pyay is given. In his younger
days Tha Lun, during his pilgrimage to Sri
Kestra made a vow at the Phayama Pagoda (it
was called Tharama Pagoda in these days)
that if he ever succeeded to the throne he
would build a pagoda of similar design.
Historians thus concluded that the shape of
Sagaing Kaung Hmu Daw Pagoda
is religiously
inspired and architecturally motivated by
ancient
Buddhist Temples
of India, Sri Lanka and Burma it is
documented in the chronicles.
On the spacious
platform of the
Kaung Hmu Daw Pagoda
well-preserved in a masonry shed is a Sagyin
marble inscription 81 feet high, in Pali and
Bamar recording the detailed account of
the construction of the pagoda. Besides, the
Pagoda Trustees have published a booklet on
the history of the pagoda available for sale
at souvenir shops at the entrance gate.
There is also a big billboard on the wall of
the main devotional hall on which are given
in both Bamar and English facts and
figures of the pagoda.
King Tha Lun dedicated several acres of land
to the
Kaung Hmu Daw Pagoda
at Sagaing.
The site for erecting the Pagoda was chosen
by a board of learned monks, Brahmins
astrologers, historians, geologists,
engineers and artisans appointed by the
king. In the centre of a spacious precinct
surrounded by three successive enclosure
walls stands majestically, the principal
religious wall, the principal religious Pane
of solid brick and mortar.
It is a gigantic dome at Mandalay Sagaing
resting on three circular terraces
and rising to a
height of 151 feet crowned by an artistic
gold plated and jewel studded pinnacle
called hti. The circumference of the base
measures 400 feet. Figures of celestial
beings adorn the base, the entire structure
is surrounded by a palisade of stone lamp
posts, 812 in total. Each post is 6 feet
high and 8 inches in diameter with a cup
shaped niche hollowed out of the side at the
top so as to contain oil or candle light.
Sir Henry Yule
who accompanied Sir Arthur Phayre's mission
to
King Mindon
in A.D. 1855 wrote in his account that he
saw traces of gilding on the Pagoda when he
visited it. So it seems that atone time it
must have been a glittering gold dome.
Because of its supersize and intact
solidity, wonder stories are told. Under the
hti of the Pagoda there is enough space for
two bullock carts to drive pass each other.
The structure of the Pagoda is so massive
and solid that a
Myanmar Saingwaing
(ochestra) being played crescendo
on one side of it cannot be heard on the
opposite side. But it is a fact that the
Pagoda has never been destroyed or damaged
by natural disasters, ravages of war or
vandalism since the time of its completion.
From the marble inscription we learn that in
it are enshrined a gold Buddha image of King
Tha Lun's own weight, crown jewels and
treasures, votive objects of gold, silver,
bronze, brass, copper, lead, and alloy
dedicated to the sacred Tooth Relic of the
Buddha that Tha Lun's grandfather King
Bayint Naung received from King Dhammapala
of Ceylon. Many servicemen were assigned for
the upkeep of the Pagoda - engineers,
masons, carpenters, artisans craftsmen and
artists. They were granted paddy land and
tax immunity for their service to the
Pagoda.
There are three villages of "Kaung
Hmu Daw Pagoda
servicemen"
located a few
furlongs to the north, along the highway.
They are, Si Tee village, Let Hlote and Swan
Chet. Their names tell their assignments.
King Tha Lun by royal order dedicated these
three villages to his Pagoda. Si Tee
(playing drum) village people are assigned
to the duty of playing the drum or music at
the time of the Pagoda festival. Let Hlote
(moving hands) villagers are duty bound to
dance or stage performances at the time of
Pagoda festival and Swan Chet (cooking rice
for offering) villagers have to cook rice to
offer to the
Kaung Hmu Daw Pagoda
and monks at the time of the
Pagoda festival.
For their services Tha Lun granted them
'Land to live on', 'Land to produce their
food' and 'Land to cultivate other crops'.
Besides they enjoyed tax immunity and
exemption from conscription. It is
said that the people of these three
villages still perform their duties
to the Pagoda and enjoy their
privileges hereditarily.
At the time of
its festival in the cold season when the full
moon rises above the silhouetted
Sagaing Hill
range, this super size grotesque dome, with
the little lights from the 812 lamp posts
flickering around it, creates an
other-worldly spectacle captivating and
holding the viewers spellbound. The text
within the box is
based on an article by Dr. Khin Maung Nyunt
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There are many great daytrip
possibility, beside of Sagaing is Mingun
another historical place with several
marvelous pagodas. Another
sightseeing trip could be done into the
Shan hills to
Pyin Oo Lwin or
Maymyo
the former British hill station with a
beautiful botanical garden and a
pleasant climate its around thousand
meters high which is the usual
temperature on the Shan plateau,
resulting into production of temperate
climate vegetables, fruits and flowers.
From to the west the daytrip
leads to
Monywa
with a incredible temple and pagoda
scenery, this city in the center of the
country is
the hub for the central and northern
part of the country, before they called this "upper
Burma".
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Mandalay Hill offers
a panoramic view over the
city,
and over the
Irrawaddy show a flat scenery with the
Ayeyarwady - Irrawaddy
river in between.
Legend tells that a ogress after
a arguing with Lord Buddha decided to cut off her breasts and presented
the same to Buddha. There upon, Buddha solaced her and made a prophesy that
the ogress would be reborn as a prince. This prophesy turned out to be
when the city was founded by the pious
King Mindon who convened the Fifth Buddhist Synod (Council) in 1871.
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Mandalay hotel,
Mandalay
Hill, |
Hill and
Palace |
The Hill
is the landmark of the city
the last
royal city of the Burmese Kings,
The view from the hill offers a
great panorama over the city the royal
palace, Kuthodaw Pagoda, the sleepy town of
Sagaing on the bank of ever-flowing mother
Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady, to the west and
the blue ridge of the Shan mountains, to the
east. At a tour the Mandalay Myanmar hill should be
the first stop since it provides great scenes
and beauty that supplements the visual value
of the city. Emerald-green Nanda Lake is
close to it. The hill is 236 m high
and situated just
northeast of the city, standing there
and enjoying peace and tranquility, joy and
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contentment to be in harmony with nature.
Two large and majestic Lion statues
are guarding the entrance to the hill
and will take 1729 steps to the apex. After
taking 435 steps, one will reach the
observation platform from where one can have
bird's eye view of the stunning scenes and
sights.
From my own experience I tell you
take a car to get up there to climb up the
stairs is very exhaustive and get you into
serious health trouble if you are not in good fitness conditions. There are a
couple of similar situations in Thailand and
Cambodia. Legends tell, there is a strong
tradition belief that at one times, Buddha
and his faithful disciple Ananda happened to
visit the hill.
Buddha
emphatically prophesied that in the 2400th
year of Buddhist Religion (1857), a great
metropolis would be founded at his
foot. That prediction came into reality
during the reign of King Mindon (1853-78)
who transferred his royal capital of
Amarapura to his newly built city.
To commemorate the great
event a huge
Buddha standing
statue is
constructed, pointing his right arm to the
direction of the city.
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Buddha on
the hill |
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This statue
was originally commissioned by King Mindon
and later restored by famous Great Hermit, U
Khanti. It is known as Byadeikpay Buddha
statue (Foretelling Buddha).
Peshawar relics, at this place, one will
find a pagoda that shrines relics of
Buddha. It is surprising; the
Buddha relics came from Peshawar,
2000 years ago. Peshawar is also
called Purushapura, well known as
the centre of Ghandara Art, the
ancient and oldest school of
Buddhist Art
in the world. The Ruler of Kushana
dynasty, in the 2nd century, opened
up the stupa of the Great Emperor
Asoka and redistributed the
contents.
During the 20th century, when the
British made archaeological
excavations there, they
discovered a reliquary containing
Buddha' relics, belonging to Kushana
Kings. As the Muslims had no idea to
deal with those relics, the British
had no option but to present the
same to the people. Hence,
the authentic Buddha relics are to
be enshrined in the said pagoda. One
of the most beautiful Burmese Buddhist pagoda - temple is
in
Penang
Malaysia. |
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Because of the population
growth and a unhealthy environment the King intended to shift his capital from
Amarapura
to
Mandalay. New
foundations were laid about 1856-57, precise square
and oblong blocks were planned. The city
started flourishing in the year 1859. The King’s
palace was built at the centre of Myanmar
Mandalay covered by moats and city walls, it was
almost square.
King Thibaw was the
last King of Burma
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King
Thibaw
and
Queen
Supayalat |
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and
Queen Supayalat
was the last Queen,
picture
above - the picture is from 1880. He has
been the last Burmese ruler. His short
reign (1878'85) ended with the occupation of Upper
Burma by the British. He was strongly influenced by
his
wife,
Supayalat,
and
her
mother.
In
an
attempt
to
play
the
French
against
the British.
King
Thibaw's
government
granted
the
French
economic
concessions
in
exchange
for
a
political
help.
To
cover
their
interests
the
British
colonial
administration
in
Rangoon,
Calcutta,
and
London
started
all
kind
of
foul
play
to
King
Thibaw
of
Myanmar
Mandalay
gain
immediate
annexation
of
Upper
Burma |
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King Mindon |
When King Mindon
ascended the
throne, the King
found a new and flourishing city at the
foot of the
hill, to be known as Yadanabon. Here, Buddhism will be promoted and
perpetuated.
King Mindon (1853-1878) was upright, wise
and compassionate, he ruled the
country efficiently. He made vast and far-reaching reforms in the fields of
administration, economy and judiciary. He also sent envoys to Europe for the
first time.
The
first minister who
visited the West was distinguished minister, Kinwun Mingyi, eminent
administrator and jurist.
King Mindon convened the Fifth Buddhist Synod (Sangayana), engraving the Buddhist scriptures at the Kuthodaw Pagoda at the
foot of the hill. The
Buddhist Canon of
Tripitaka Texts
were inscribed on 729 marble slabs and
housed in small shrines there. It
constitutes the “World’s Biggest Book”. If piled up it will reach the
height of 20 storied high rise building.
King Thibaw (1878-1885), the last king who ruled the country.
Buddhist
scriptures at the Kuthodaw Pagoda.
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The city probably
has together with
Amarapura and the
Sagaing Hills on the
other side of the
Irrawaddy the
highest
concentration of
monasteries. Some of
them went with
modern times and
restructured their
monasteries into
meditation centers.
Some of the most
beautiful teak
carved monasteries
are in Myanmar
Mandalay, its
amazing to see all
this artwork, there
is no problem to
visit them, the
people are very
friendly and
foreigner oriented,
but visit the places
together with a
guide since you
don't know how to
handle this in the
proper way, a
donation would be
taken positive
before leaving, most
monasteries are
existing via
external
contributions.
Mandalay Myanmar is
a incredible oriental city on the best
historical sense, full with everything
which makes the old orient so
interesting. At a first glance not much
to see and also the flat area in this
part of the dry zone shows lots of dust
and nothing interesting, but a second
and third look is needed to get the old
orient unfold.
Among other, there are
still the old quarters where arts and
crafts are made. Silk weaver, marble
sculpture, wood carver, bronze and brass
casting, jade carver and so on, have a
look at the images. All this
work is done mainly in open rooms,
sometimes even just at the pavement.
Everyone at Mandalay Myanmar is positive when
people are watching, this places
are also ideal to buy genuine
and unique items and souvenirs |
teak
monastery
Art and Crafts |
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The
Mahamuni Temple and Pagoda
is probably the most
venerated in the city,
actually its not only the
temple which is very
interesting, its the same
with they area around the
temple which is one of the
oldest quarter for arts and
crafts in the modern history
of the country.
There are
woodcarver, artists creating
marble Buddha statues
creator and everything
around this theme,
more. |
Mahamuni Temple
Pagoda |
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Brief Chronology of
the city
11.Sept.1853 a general meeting of monks and
other men
held at Masoeyane Monastery decided against
the move of the capital to a new site.13.Sept.1853 A petition was put up to the king to convey the fact that
public opinion was against the
move of capital.
30.Oct.1856 A survey team was sent to inspect site for the new capital.
31.Oct.1856 A plan was drawn for the new capital.
29.Dec.1856 A detailed program was written to carry out the ceremonial and
ritualistic side of the
construction scheme, care was taken that none of the formalities omitted.
13.Jan.1857 A Royal Order was issued sanctioning the built of a new capital
at a site called Mandalay. 2.Feb.1857 Repair of water reservoir around the new site started and
finished in two month’s
time.
13.Feb.1857 City and Palace plan and fortification plan were marked out
and pegged.
25.Feb.1857 Leveling the ground for the Palace.
6.Mar.1857 The earth was ploughed up at the city and Palace sites by gold
and silver ploughs.
14.Mar.1857 A camp was put up at the northwest corner within the Palace site
to serve as a temporary
abode of the royalty.
7.May.1857 Construction for an arsenal began.
14.May.1857 Coronation; prisoner released; decision to revive the Thathameda
tax.
25.June.1857 Exterior decoration put up at the royal palace camp.
2.July.1857 The king moved to the royal Palace camp with the idea to supervise the
palace construction
himself, monsoon flooding couldn't stop him.
24.July.1857 A stockade put up around the palace site.
26.July.1857 The king inspected the various constructions in the city.
7.Aug.1857 Cutting wood for the Palace began.
July-Aug.1857 New city area was divided into plots for residential and
commercial quarters.
1864 With the help of Bishop Bigandet, a steam printing press
was set up that could pro
duce Pitaka written on 864 palm leaves by only single impression.
March 1864 Ten homes for the aged poor were put under a German medical man
called Merbie.
6.July.1865 King Mindon made six of his sons promise abstinence from drinking
liquor.
11.July.1884 Telegram mentioned the Chinese attack of Bhamo; 1670 soldiers
dispatched.
17.July.1884 Another 1650 soldiers dispatched; the Chinese surrender after
one-month fight.
7.Nov.1885 King Thibaw declared war on the British and ordered the march of
troops along three
routes ' 5000 men down the Irrawaddy river, 5000 men along the Taundwingyi route
and
5000 men along the Toungoo route.
25.Nov.1885 The British occupied Myingyan, King Thibaw considered evacuation
but the queen was sick,
queen mother too old and the royal princesses too young and so abandoned the
idea of
leaving the city; decided to give in to all demands made by the British.
1.Mar.1889 386 miles of the railway line to Yangon were completed.
1901 The British Viceroy of India Lord Curzon visited the city; he gave
order to move the
British troops out of the Palace immediately and to preserve the palace as a
national
museum.
19.Feb.1942 Mandalay Myanmar was bombed by the Japanese for the first time.
1.May.1942 Occupied by the Japanese.
17.Mar.1945 The Palace was destroyed by the Japanese.
11.Mar.1949 Mandalay Myanmar was occupied by Karen rebels, they left on 6.April.
7.July.1967 The Ludu Daily, the only newspaper of Mandalay Myanmar was stopped from
publication.
Ref: From DR. THAN TUN books
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Mandalay City
This tram or
streetcar in the first in
Asia, was running in the city during the
same time as the Meiji dynasty was on in
Japan. During this time the development
of Burma was about the same as the
development in Japan.
The British
colonialists destroyed everything
according to the doctrine to keep the
country purely as a supplier for raw
material. This is one of the reason why
there is this mess in the country, the foundation for
this was laid by the British and
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Streetcar
Mandalay Myanmar |
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today (2012)
this people
in Europe and their
neocolonialist
friends from the US
still do everything
they can to make the
country miserable,
now they call it
embargo, before it
was war and looting.
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