Hmyaw-taw-mu Pagoda Skip to main content

Hmyaw-taw-mu Pagoda

The hillock on which Myawtawmu pagoda stands, is 100 feet high and two furlongs away from the palace site. Although the original donor was not known exactly, the year of renovation of king Min Pha Laung, must be recorded. The place on which Myawtawmu pagoda stands, is a plateau. The brick wall was made around the plateau and the entrance has porches. The brick stairway is an access to climb the top of the mountain. Kwansee entrance gate can be seen if one views from that place. In Mraukoo period, the soldiers who came back from the war, had to enter the city from only that entrance gate.

he pagoda was called Myawtawmu pagoda because the women used to wait for the returning of their husbands, soldiers, to homes from that place. And, it was also the place the women prayed to Buddha by donating light for the victory of the war of their husbands.

In the reign of king Min Kha Maung, a zone officer had to live with his family near Myawtawmu pagoda while he was performing his duties at Ponnawtaung fort. Thus, he had to go to the western province for the war. His wife waited for his coming by staying from Myawtawmu pagoda. She called a soldier to follow her as a guard. One day, the zone officer’s wife donated light and flowers to Buddha going to Myawtawmu pagoda together with the soldier. In that time, the zone officer arrived back home from the war at sunset and when he asked the home maid, he knew that his wife went to Myawtawmu pagoda. He went to Myawtawmu pagoda riding the horse because he was so eager to meet his wife. When he got to the pagoda, he found that his wife was sitting together with the soldier in front of the Buddha image and contemplating the arttibutes of Buddha after she had donated light to Buddha image. As the zone officer was so angry at her with misapprehension, he killed his wife and the soldier in the cave without making any enquiry. One week later, his home maid explained him, therefore, he knew reality about his wife. He felt full of remorse, so he built a pagoda near the pagoda in which he killed his wife in order to salvage his sin. Thus, the unfinished pagoda can still be seen until now as there was no donor to continue building the pagoda. The pagoda in which he killed his wife, had already ruined owing to the treasure hunters.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Byala, a Rakhine National Emblem

by Dr Saw Mra Aung January 04, 2015   T he ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary Rakhine State Day and to provide the Rakhine State with electricity from the national grid line was celebrated on a grand scale in the Vesali Sports Grounds in Sittwe under the auspices of the Rakhine State Government on the 15th December. The ceremony was televised live and I was transported with rapturous joy to see the people of Rakhine State wreathed in the smiles resulting from the feeling that electricity would be available to them at the rate of 35 kyats per unit, which was many times cheaper than that they had incurred in the past. Sharing this happiness with them, I , putting aside my work, spent the whole evening enjoying the Rakhine traditional dances performed with the accompaniment of the songs sung by nation-famous and local vocalists televised.  Out of the dances, it was the Byala Dance with the accompaniment of a song composed about Byala that intrigued me mo...

Sandamuni Buddha Image

King Athor Ka of Padalipoat kingdom excavated seven Sarwat at Buddha relics king Azar Ta That buried in Razargyo kingdom. Sarwat is a container (the unit of measurement). In accordance with the advice of monk Shin Maha Mauk Ga Li Poat Tiek Tha, he sent the Buddha relics to the Buddha’s prophetic places for building the pagodas. King Thu Ri Ya Sak Ka of Dynyawaddy kingdom and king Athor Ka, were simultaneous kings. King Athor Ka ruled his country from BC 326 to BC 286. King Thu Ri Ya Sak Ka ruled Dynyawaddy from BC 316 to BC 272. King Athor Ka sent monk Shin Bar Ku La and monk Shin Maha Teik Tha bringing Buddha relics to king Thu Ri Ya Sak Ka to build the pagodas in the prophetic places of Buddha in Dynyawaddy. The two monks gave him the Buddha relics and the replica of Sandamuni Buddha image which Buddha cast by himself while he was alive. According to the two monk’s instruciton, he built 248 pagodas int he prophetic places of Buddha who visited Rakhine. The pagodas...

Ratanamanaung Pagoda AD

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,...