Page 78 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

76 Yangon and around Midtown Yangon
1 Continuing around the terrace, the florid Rakhaing Tazaung (or Arakan Pavilion) was
commissioned by a pair of wealthy Rakhine merchant brothers and houses a large
reclining Buddha almost 10m long, plus miniature paintings-cum-sculptures showing
the founding of the Kyaiktiyo temple.

Between the western and northern staircases
A Kassapa Buddha image (see box, p.74) stands in a shrine opposite the top of the
western stairs. Just past the western staircase, a shiny-bright shrine with dazzling glass
mosaic pillars houses a replica of the Buddha’s Tooth (a copy of the original, held in
Kandy’s Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka). Opposite, on the base of the stupa, is a
small golden statue of King Okkalapa, the ruler who is said to have helped establish the
original Shwedagon Pagoda back in 588 BC, while behind the Buddha’s Tooth pavilion
a museum houses items gifted to the pagoda over the years.
Continuing around the terrace, a pavilion on the northwest side of the stupa holds
the gargantuan bronze Bell of King Singu (also known as the Maha Ganda Bell),
commissioned by King Singu in 1778, weighing almost 25 tonnes and standing
over 3m tall. An attempt by the British to steal the bell backfired when the boat
carrying it sank in the Yangon River; it was subsequently rescued and restored by
the Burmese.
The large area of open terrace directly in front of the bell pavilion is known variously
as the “Auspicious Ground” or “Wish-fulfilling Place” and is said to be particularly
favourable for the granting of boons – hence the locals who can usually be found
praying here. Behind here is the huge seated Chanthargyi Buddha, the temple’s largest,
and the small gilded Shinsawbu Buddha (to the left of the Chanthargyi Buddha),
donated by Queen Shinsawbu (see p.73) herself. A small photo gallery next to the
Chanthargyi Buddha has some interesting shots of the pagoda including close-ups of
details (including the extravagant hti) impossible to see with the naked eye.
Further around is the eye-catching Sacred Hair Relic Washing Well (signed
“Hsandawtwin” [Hair Relic Well]), an odd-looking green and blue shrine with glass
mosaic inlay, built in 1879 over the site of the spring in which the Buddha’s eight hairs
are said to have been washed before being enshrined in the pagoda.

Between the northern and eastern staircases
The terrace on the northern side of the stupa is much larger than on the other sides,
covered in a dense and disorienting maze of shrines. Facing the northern stairs, the
shrine at the base of the stupa houses an image of the historical Buddha, Gautama.
Diagonally opposite is the unusual Mahabodhi Pagoda, a garish parody of the great
Mahabodhi Stupa at Bodhgaya in North India, looking as incongruous amid the
surrounding Burmese architecture as a panda at a bishop’s convention. Past here, and
dominating the northeast corner of the terrace, is the brilliantly gilded Naungdawgyi
(“Elder Brother”) Pagoda, like a miniature of the main stupa, said to mark the spot
where the eight hair relics were first stored.
A further sequence of revered images can be found close to the Mahabodhi Pagoda.
These include the Shin Izzagona Buddha (signed “Shin Issa Gawna’s Buddha Image”
and flanked by images of holy men) and – opposite – the small, golden Pyidawpyan
Buddha (signed “Pyidaw Pyan Returned Buddha Image”), given back to the
Shwedagon after having been removed to England in colonial times, and now
protected by stout bars. Next door is King Tharyarwady’s Bell (aka the Maha Tithaddha
Gandha), cast in 1841 and even more massive than King Singu’s Bell, with a weight of
42 tonnes, a height of 2.6m and a diameter (at its mouth) of 3.3m.
Tucked away at the far northeast corner of the platform is the celebrated
Dhammazedi Inscription, erected by King Dhammazedi in 1485 and cataloguing the
history of the pagoda in three languages (Burmese, Mon and Pali) on a trio of huge
stone slabs.

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