Tourist Guide To Mrauk-U

Ba Saw Ye, the governor of Thandwe, gained the throne of Mraukoo in 1531 AD. He was called Min Pyin prince because he was given Lamucriminpyin by the king to govern. When he became a king, he was called king Min Pyin, but later, his name became Min Bar. He accepted giving him the title of Thi Ri Thu Ri Ya San Da Mahar Dam Ma Ra Zar at the coronation. His chief queen was Phaw Saw Min. King Min Yay Kyaw Saw fought king Min Saw Mon who was ruling Laungkyat, the last capital of Laymyo period. Consequently, he had to take shelter under king Thu Ra Tan, and he had to give him twelve Bengal cities of Rakhine in order to get back the throne of Laungkyat. Therefore, the twelve Bengal cities of Rakhine fell to king Thu Ra Tan for 125 years from 1406 AD to 1531 AD. One year later, after king Min Bar had gained the throne of Mraukoo, Shin Mya Wa and Maha Pin Nya Kyaw suggested him to recapture the twelve Bengal cities of Rakhine, which fell to king Thu Ra Tan in 1406 AD. The king let Maha Pin N...

King Min Hti Kha, the eldest son of king Min Bar, built Koethaung pagoda in 1553 AD. In the same time, Saw Than Dar, the chief queen of king Min Hti Kha, erected the cave on the hill which is fifty feet high and four hundred feet away from the west of Koethaung pagoda. That cave was called the chief queen cave because of the queen’s good deed. The Buddha image which is 100 feet high and the throne which is 5 feet high, were sculpted from the single stone. Only four walls of the cave remain. The roof of the cave is damaging.

Koethaung pagoda is situated one and half a mile away from the east of the palace site. After king Min Bar had passed away, the crown prince Min Taik Kha took the throne of Mraukoo in AD 1553. When king Min Taik Kha was ill, the prophets told humbly that the king would die next six months, but if he wanted longevity in life, he must make nine astrological contrivances in terms of Buddha therapy. According to the prophet’s advice, Koethaung pagoda was built in the east of the palace in AD 1553. He managed to finish the pagoda within six months. No sooner had the pagoda been finished then the king recovered from his illness. He was crowned as king with his queen Saw Than Dar, and he passed away after he had ruled Rakhine for three years. There is a cave tunnel around the pagoda. Nine stupas are above the cave tunnel. Nowadays, they fell down and debris of those stupas are blocking the cave tunnle. There are five levels inside the outter wall, and one hundred and eight pagodas which wer...

King Min Pha Laung, the youngest son of king Min Bar, ascended the throne of Mraukoo in 1571 AD. He was called Min Pha Laung because he was born at the time of Ba Yin Gyi Pha Laung’s arrival in Mraukoo. He built a stone pagoda by Kyatkhat city gate near Anuma lake in the south of the palace. The pagoda is called Gawyewa pagoda. His grandson Min Kha Maung ascended the throne in 1612 AD and renovated the pagoda. The pagoda was roofed with the prayer hall. He donated the golden robe for the whole pagoda. The pagoda has four walls at the base and one has a proch. The figures of two Devas making obeisance to Buddha, were sculpted at both sides of the porch pediment. The figure of minister in the form of squatijng, was sculpted under the king figure. The stone Buddha image which is three cubits high, was erected on the stone throne in the perfumed chamber. The remains of the golden robe donated for the Buddha image, can still be seen until now. Nine stone bowls in the form of the lotus flow...

Htoakkanthein pagoda is located on the hillock which is 30 feet high and 300 feet away from the western part of Chitthaung pagoda. The donors of the pagoda are king Min Pha Laung and his chief queen Shin Lat. The pagoda was built in AD 1571. While King Min Pha Laung was governing the country, it was in chaos, therefore, his friends told him, “Build the pagoda called Htoakkan if the country is in chaos, and prop it up if the house is old.” Therefore, the pagoda was named Htoakkanthein. The pagoda is 100 feet wide from the south to the north and 137 feet long from the east to the west and it stands on the hillock which is 20 feet high. The structure of the pagoda is that there is a great pagoda in the form of the stupa at the center of the substructure (base monastery) and there are four small stupas in the four corners. Dhadugappa is placed over the inverted alms bowl at the central pagoda and the surrounding pagodas. The entrance is in the south in the substructure (base monastery) a...

Buraoat pagoda is situated on the hill which is 50 feet high and half a mile away from the palace site. As the country was in chaos, after Htoakkanthein pagoda had been built, king Min Pha Laung built Buraoat pagoda as a monument in AD 1571 in order not to disintegrate the country. After the upper part of the pagoda had already ruined, one terrace only remained. The terrace has twenty nine small caves nad twenty nine Buddha images dwelled in those caves. The stone Buddha image which is 13 feet high, is on the lotus throne inside the chamber at the eastern entrance. .

Shin Mya Wa was a courtier. His father was Maha Nan Da Thin Kyan, the governor of Sinetin. His mother was Zay Ya Khay Ma, the daughter of Sin Kay Aung Tin and Saw Than Da. He was born at 4 AM on Thursday in the fullmoon day of waso in 1542 AD. Shon(Shin) Mra (Mya) Wa Image King Min Bar was also born to Saw Nan Di, the elder sister of Zay Ya Khay Ma and king Min Ra Zar on Saturday in the month of waso in 1542 AD. Therefore, Shin Mya Wa and king Min Bar were cousins. Maha Pin Nya Kyaw was born in 1539 AD. Shin Mya Wa, king Min Bar and Maha Pin Nya Kyaw were friends. Those three friends. Those three friends were educated in the monastery of monk Agga Sein Day Ya until the age of 16. And then, those three friends went to India to study further education. King Min Bar and Maha Pin Nya Kyaw returned to Rakhine after they had completed in education. But, Shin May Wa changed into an ascentic and studied under the ascentic Thi Ri Vi Tha Noe for 23 years. After he had completed in educa...

Shinkite library of Buddhist scripture is one of the forty eight Buddhist scripture libraries in Mraukoo. The door was king Min Pa Laung. The gilded palm leaves written Pitakas, are in the library, and the monks of the nearby monasteries use them. Shinkite library is situated near Shinkite gate in the north of Htupayone pagoda. At the ancient time, king Min Pha Laung donated the library and Pitakas for the monks who lived in Taungnyo monastery in AD 1591. Each side to the library is 13 feet long and the porch of the library is 6 feet high. The wall is concave and it is in the form of the lotus flower. The outter wall of the library is decorated with flowers and flowering creepers. The seven levels of the graduated turret which are 15 feet high, are above the substructure. The library is enclosed with the wall. Previously, the bronze Buddha image was in the perfumed chamber. Nowadays, the Buddha image and the throne don’t exist in the library. The department of archaeology preserves it.

Andawthein pagoda stands 100 feet away from the northern part of Chitthaung pagoda. The pagoda and the prayer hall are fenced with the wall which is made of brick. The hillock on which the pagoda stands, is the spur of Phoekhaung mountain and it is eight feet high. Before Andawthein was built, king Min Hla Ra Zar Saw Mon, the twelfth king of Mraukoo dynasty, built the prayer hall and Buddha image at the present place of Andawthein in AD 1521. By the time king Min Bar was the governor of Thandwe, the monks from Rakhine had to go to Srilanka for the missionary work because Theravada Buddhism was on decline in Srilanka. The mission of Samgha was led by Ashin Tay Zar Ra Tha from Thandwe and Ashin Dha Ma Vi La Tha from Mraukoo. When they got back from Srilanka. Ashin Tay Zar Ra Tha gave the molar relic of Buddha to Ba Saw Yee, the governor of Thandwe. The crown prince Ba Saw Yee built a pagoda enshrining the molar relic of Buddha in it on Warthura mountain of Thandwe near the present Andaw ...

King Maha Thu Ri Ya Tine San Dra founded Vesali in AD 327. His chief queen was Thu Pa Bar Day Vi, the Sakkya clan of Kapilawat kingdom. One day, the queen spoke to the king humbly that she wanted to make obeisance to Thakkyamuni Buddha image which was worshipped by the ancestors of Kapilawat kingdom in belief. The king sent his ministers to Kapilawat kingdom to convey the Buddha image to Vesali. Thakkyamuni Buddha image carried by the sailing ship to Vesali, fell into the water at Waykhanaungtheinzeetount because the sailing ship wrecked due to the storm. In such time, it has said that Waykhanaung was 120 feet in depth. However they dived into the water to look for it, they didn’t find the image. When the ministers arrived at the palace, they told the king that the Buddha image had fallen into the water. When the queen heard that news, she contracted with the psychological disease because she wanted to make obeisance to the Buddha image intensely. And then, king Maha Tine San Dra made...

Ratanapoon pagoda is situated on the hillock which is 10 feet high and 20 feet away from the northern part of Andawthein pagoda. The pagoda was built by king Min Kha Maung and his queen Shin Htwe in AD 1612. The pagoda was named as Ratanapoon because the treasures were heaped in the pagoda and in other words, the pagoda was called Ratanapoon in order to know that Rakhine people have taken refuge in three gems called Buddha, Dhamma and Samgha in strong faith. Ratanapoon was derived from Ratanapunya in Pali. The pagoda resembles Sanchi stupa in India and Kaungmudaw pagoda donated by king Thar Lun is Sagaing. Ratanapoon pagoda is enclosed with the wall. There are the entrance staircases in the east, the north and the south of the wall. There are lion figures which were made of stone at the entrances outside the inner wall. The pagoda is enclosed with seventeen brick pagodas. There are three stone pagodas adjacent to Ratanapoon pagoda in the east. The stone Buddha images are in the cave...

Mingaungshwegu pagoda stands half a mile away from the palace site and 200 yards away from the south of Pharaoat pagoda. Nat Shin May, the chief queen of king Thi Ri Thu Dam Ma Ra Za, built the pagoda. The pagoda is the solid conical structure. The pagoda was built by fitting the stones properly. The receding terraces have the porches. The workmanlike stone sculptures were made at the pediments of the porches. The upper part of the pagoda is inclining a little towards the ground because the treasure hunters burgled the inverted alms bowl of the pagoda. The department of archeology maintained the porches. Queen Nat Shin May was an outstanding queen in Mraukoo period. She was famous not only for good reputation but also for bad reputation. The examination of the repeating Buddhist scripture by heart, was held in the month of Nattaw in Mraukoo period. The honorable parade was made for the person who gets the first prize wearing the umbrella. Nat Shin May had to go around the city in celeb...

Thakkyamanaung pagoda is situated half a mile far in distance from the eastern part of the palace site and it stands on the flat land. The pagoda was erected by king Thi Ri Thu Dam Ma in AD 1629. The pagoda was named Thakkyamanaung in commemoration of that Sakkya clan ruled the throne of Mraukoo consecutively from generation to generation. The pagoda is 240 feet in circumference and 114 feet high. The pagoda is surrounded by the stone wall. The figures of Tanawyatkha and Piliyatkha who are gurading the pagoda, and the figures of Vithajone and Pyinsathikha celestial beings who are playing obeisance to Buddha, can be seen at both sides of the western entrance. The pagoda was made of stone and it was built in the form of the sacred lotus. The form of booming of sacred lotus flower and the form of appearing of the pagoda from the plinth, represent that Buddha, the sacred lotus flower, appeared from the worldly realm, the mud. There are four porches in the two terraces. The porches were ...

King Sa Nay ascended the throne of Mraukoo as the ninth descendant of king Min Bar clan. After king Sa Nay had passed away, minister Nga Ku Tha La, the governor of Laungkyat, took the throne of Mraukoo with the name of Na Ra Pa Ti Gyi. He asked the monks humbly whether the rib relic of Buddha and the breast-bone relic of Buddha should be moved or not as they were near the residences of Latsay lake. The monks answered pointing out the quotations logically that the relics should be moved. So, the king built the new pagodas on the two hills which are 100 feet high by bringing back the relics from such pagodas. King Na Ra Pa Ti Gyi foretold himself that he would be a king according to astrology. That is why the pagoda in which the rib relic of Buddha was enshrined, was named Htintawmu and the pagoda enshrining the breast-bone relic of Buddha, was named Myintawmu. Nowadays, the pagodas are damaging and covering with creepers.

Zinamanaung pagoda is half a mile far away from the palace site and stands on Pantein hillock. King San Da Thu Da Ma Ra Zar ascended the throne of Mraukoo in 1652 AD. Firstly, the king built a pagoda just after he had ascended the throne. And then, the children shouted out that the good deeds done by the king on Pantain hill, were not worth to say “well done.” When the king heard those words, he consulted with the wise ministers. And, they spoke to the king humbly that the pagoda the king built, was very small, therefore, the Devas called god, made the children speak out to remind the king. As the king felt embarrassed about those words, he built another big stone pagoda near the former pagoda in AD 1658. The pagoda is an octagonal structure at the base and the guinea pigs which have single heads and double bodies, are at the corners. The entrance of the cave is in the east to enter the perfumed chamber. In the past, the bronze Buddha image was in the perfumed chamber. Nowadays, the b...

Ratanamanaung pagoda is situated half a mile away from the north-east corner of the palace site. King San Da Thu Dam Ma built the pagoda in AD 1658. The pagoda was named Ratanamanaung dedicating to that Rakhine people have taken refuge in three gems: Buddha, Dhamma and Samgha in belief from generation to generation. The pagoda was built step by step with the bell-shaped dome, the inverted alms bowl, the moulding, the downturned louts petals, the coloured-glass ball, the upturned louts petals, the banana bud, the umbrella, the triangular vane and the diamond orb. The pagoda is 150 feet high. There are planetary figures in all directions near the pagoda. The sabbath hall which is 54 feet in length, 13 feet in breadth and 10 feet i height, is in the northern part of the pagoda. That sabbath hall is called white cave. The monk who dwelled in the cave, was given the throne of Mraukoo in 1696 AD, and he ruled Rakhine for one year in the name of Mar Rone Pi Ya. The stone cave is in the east,...

Oak Ka Ba La, the son of king San Da Thu Dam Ma, ascended the throne of Mraukoo in AD 1674. After he had reigned the country for eleven years, he built a pagoda near Mingalar gate in the north of the palace. The king named the pagoda Mingalamanaung in order to know that Rakhine people complied with thirty eight kinds of blessing from generation to generation successfully. At the same time, Mingalaoo pagoda was also built in the old capital of Crake. One day, after the king had made obeisance to Mahamuni Buddha image, the courtier told the king in supplication on the way back to Mraukoo that Mingalaoo pagoda collapsed occasionally. And then, the king ordered his companions to go back to Mraukoo and he set off for the old capital of Crake with his two queens by the single boat. When the comrade Thi Ha who governed the southern part heard such news, he advanced towards the old capital of Crake to assassinate him. When king Oak Ka Ba La got to the port of the old Crake city, he disembarked...

King Na Ra Aba Ya Ra Zar ruled the throne of Mraukoo in 1742 AD. He built five pagodas on Datswan mountain which is 100 feet high and one mile away from the west of the palace. It is called Latkwaytaung pagoda because the pagoda was built enshrining the ring finger relic of Buddha in it. The five pagodas can be seen like a thumb, an index finder, a middle finger, a ring finger and a little finger by looking at in distance. Those look like spreading the human’s hand. That is why the mountain is called Latkwaytaung mountain. The devotee U Than Tun Oo renovated the pagodas in the British regime because they fell into ruins. Mauktaw gate exists between Rathaytaung and Latkwaytaung.

The pagoda on Haritaung mountain was built by Na Ra Aba Ya Ra Za in the year of AD 1750. The pagoda is called Aritaw pagoda because it was built enshrining Aritaw relic of Buddha in it. Some historians say that the word “Hari” was derived from “Chari” in Sanskrit. Nevertheless, such Hari mountain has existed before king Na Ra Aba Ya Ra Za. That mountain was called Galone mountain, Thiri mountain and Hari mountain respectively since the time of founding Mraukoo of king Min Saw Mon. It is found in the record that king Thi Ri Thu Dam Ma Ra Za was called king Min Ha Ri because he was born in the place near Hari mountain.

By SAN SHWE BU (J.B.R.S Vol. 6, Part3. 1916) The great outstanding feature in the history of Arakan is the account of Buddha’s sojourn in this country and of his supervision over the casting of his image. The story of his seven day’s visit with five hundred Rahandas— his lengthly discourse pregnant with prophesy delivered on the top of the hill opposite the town of Kyauktaw– His Journey into the city of Dynnyawaddi at the request of King Sanda Thurya— the casting of the image by men and gods, have been very clearly set fourth by the able researches of the late Dr. Forchammer and need hardly be mentioned again in the present sketch. The Mahamuni tradition is the oldest of the kind we have. It permeates the whole religious history of Arakan and the images that at present sanctify a thousand temples and pagodas in this country are the replicas of the first great and only faithful copy of the Master. Interesting as all these facts may appear there is however one great flaw which defie...