Located at Singuttara Hill in Yangon capital city Myanmar is an ancient sacred site where the relics of Buddha was buried.
The height: of the Shwedagon Pagoda is about 98 metre and base perimeter is 432.8 metre.
The lower stupa was plated with 8,688 gold bars while upper part with 13,153 gold bars.
A cool and serene praying platform with a beautiful and unique pagoda can easily make visitors spending hours enjoying the charms of this entire temple complex.
Devotees and pilgrims sat on the wide platform and perform their prayers.
This was once the Victory Ground and most sacred places here.
Women sweepers have just completed their day's task and were passing by the bell shrine near the north passage.
Smaller Buddha shrines surrounding the temple acts as the Guardian Spirit of the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Offering water and flowers to the Buddha.
Each and every corner has a place like this, making a total of 12 places.
Devotion Hall with a large drum.
As dusk falls,a gust of strong winds through the pagoda site makes you imagine being in wonderland.
Over 2,500 years ago, there lived a king by the name of Okkalapa. He was ruler of Suvannabhumi and ruled over the Talaings. At this time, Siddharta Guatama was living in northern India. He was still a young man and was not yet recognized as the Buddha.
The Eleven Shrine clusters.
As Guatama was reaching the end of his 49 days of meditation, he was
visited by two brothers. Their names were Tapussa and Bhallika, and they
happened to be from Myanmar and were subjects of Okkalapa. These two
merchant brothers present Guatama Buddha with a gift of some honey cake,
as they recognized him as The Enlightened One
To express his thanks to them, Siddharta Guatama pulled out 8 of his hairs off of his
head, and gave the hairs to Tapussa and Bhallika. They took the hairs
and headed back home.
However, during their journey they were twice robbed, and 4 of the
sacred hairs were taken from them. By the time they reached Myanmar,
they had only 4 of The Buddha’s hairs left.
The Sun and Moon Stupa.
The Hall of Gold and Silver Hill.
U Po Thaung Hall.
The dark sky and sudden downpour lasting for nearly thirty minutes.
If you were lucky to be near the southern entrance,there will be a large hall to take some shelter from being drenched.
Fortunately there were not many visitors at that time.
Reclining Buddha.
The years of 1852 through 1929 mark a time of British military occupation in Myanmar, with colonial rulers controlling the areas.
However, the people of Myanmar were still able to have full access to the Shwedagon.
In 1871 a new diamond-studded piece for the pagoda’s structure was donated by King Mindon of Mandalay.
The people of Myanmar were thrilled at this tribute and well over 100,000 of them gathered at Shwedagon to celebrate. And although this made the British military somewhat uncomfortable, they had to allow it as the people were honoring their faith.
The tip of the stupa too high to be seen by our naked eye contains 5,448
diamonds,2,317 rubies,sapphires and other gems,1,065 golden bells,and
at the very top ,a single 76-carat diamond.
There were two location where the glittering diamond can be seen at
night.
At one location you will be able to see the green and red sparkles while the other location is the orange and crystal white.
The bell(Khaung-laung-pon),normally to be hit only three times with a piece of wood during prayer ceremonies.
In 1608, a Portuguese invader by the name of Philip de Brito y Nicote stole a bell that weighed around 6,0000 lbs, or 30 tons.
However, as he was attempting to return home with the bell, it fell into the Bago River and was lost.
The bell was replaced in 1779. That was after a massive earthquake in 1768 toppled the highest part of the pagoda.
Photo showing the thickness of the bell's outer layer.
After the stupa, was rebuilt, King Hsinbyushin’s son Singu had a 23 ton bronze bell cast.
It was called the Maha Gandha bell.
In the 1820’s, however, British soldiers plundered the pagoda, and stole this bell.
En route to Calcutta, the bell fell overboard and sank into the sea.
It was later recovered and now sits atop the pagoda platform, on the northwest side.
Finally, in 1841 another bell was created, this one weighing approximately 8,000 pounds (40 tons) and covered with 45 lbs (20kg) of gold plating.
This bell, called the Maha Tissada bell, still resides in the pagoda, on the northeast side of the enclosure.
From the south entrance which is the stairway used by most foreign visitors,you'll arrived at the Southern Main Shrine(Devotional Hall).
There is an image of Konagamana Buddha (2nd Buddha of this world).
There were 4 Buddhas in this world,with the fifth and the last to come in the future.
The Maha Bodhi Tree is located near the North right entrance.
Junior nuns visiting the museum.
Hsi-la-shin (Nuns) were commonly seen in the street of Yangon going round for alms only on two pre-Sabbath days unlike the monks who move around everyday.
The Chinese Merited Association Tazaung.
Here, there were 28 Buddha images that represent all Buddhas who have lived since the creation of time.
The Shrine of the guardian spirit of Shwedagon Pagoda (or) Shwedagon Bo Bo Gyi.
This was kept behind the glass together with Thagyamin (or) the King of heaven.
There are iron grill fencing to protect from intruders stealing this pure gold statues.
No through access path from the golden statues shrine located just beside the Eastern stairway.
Buddha’s Footprint Hall encircled and protected by a naga (serpent).
Historically, during the third week after enlightenment, Gautama Buddha was protected by the naga king Mucalinda when there was a great shower of rain.
Before 1st century AD when Buddha was starting to be represented in human form, his footprint, wheel and the Bodhi tree were used as iconographic figures to represent Gautama Buddha.
To pray for blessing here,spill water with the purplish cup near the neck of the naga 5 times and subsequently dip your fingers into the water and wet your forehead three times.
A small Chinese temple within.
This is the Pagoda of the Eight Weekdays.
On each side (there were eight sides) of the pagoda is a niche, in which there is a small Buddha image.
Above each Buddha image is an image of an animal that represent each day of Burmese eight weekdays.
Met this young graduate monk with excellent English who provided me with a short guided tour and invaluable talk about Buddhism.
Hpone-kyi or Monks are dedicated to the service of the Buddha with the main role being the propagation of Buddhism.
The influence of hpongyis, therefore
on the lives of the Myanmar people is indeed considerable.
About 60 percent of Buddhist boys received
free education in hpongyi kyaungs(monks monastery) both as lay pupils or as koyins (i.e.,
novices). No fees were charged and poorer boys were even given food and
clothing. In return the boys rendered a few personal services to the master
or teacher.
Direction to Phouthad Temple about 15 minutes walk off the main road.
A side road therafter with an uphill walk on a tarred road.
The main street of Huay Xai looks quite similar to Chiang Khong and that's where all the tour agencies,guesthouses,banks,restaurants are located.
I change my baht to kips from a tour agency .(10 baht =2,500 lao kips)
If you care to turn right and walk further up as you exited from the immigration,say another 300 metres is a commercial bank with ATM machine.
The rates here: kips - baht (2698/2670)
