Mingalardatshwegu and Koenawon Pagoda Skip to main content

Mingalardatshwegu and Koenawon Pagoda

King Kheik Ta Thin, the nephew of king Su La San Dra, founded Pyinsa after fall of Vesali. In those days, Arahat Thit Sa Van Da Wa practised meditation in the cave near the city of Pyinsa during three months of lent. That cave still can be seen unitl now. The cave is called Ngetkhaung. That Arahat Thit Sa Van Da Wa practised meditation in the cave at the base of Lamaded mountain as well. Lastly, he practised meditation dwelling in Thamoatdawiri of present Sittwe. The word “Bandawagu” gradually became changed to Bandawgu, and in finally, Badawmaw at the present time. Those names are called regarding Arahat Thit Sa Van Da Wa. He attained Parinibbanna in Thiripatpada mountain of Sanga mountain ranges. King Kheik Ta Thin cremated the cropse by himself. He built a pagoda on Thiripatpada mountain enshrining relics of Thit Sa Van Da Wa and others in AD 818. The pagoda is octagonal in shape at the base and it is surrounded by eight spherical pagodas which face eight directions. The pagoda is called Koenawon because it has nine pagodas in total.

The Buddha image in the form of Pacinka mudra, is in the cave monastery of the east. The Buddha image in the form of Oattarabawdi mudra is in the cave monastery of the south. The Buddha image in the form of Latkhanadipa mudra is in the cave monastery of the south-west corner in which Buddha image is pointing to his sole with his right hand’s index finger. The Buddha image in the form of gaining Parinibbanna, is in the cave monastery of the west. The Buddha image in the form of preaching Dhamma to Yatkhas, is in the cave monastery of the north-west corner. That mudra is called Yatkhadamma mudra. The Buddha image in the form of Abaya mudra is in the cave monastery of the north-east corner. It is necessary to repair the surrounding pagodas because they are ruins.

And, king Kheik Ta Thin built Mingalardatshwegu pagoda in the western hill of Koenawon pagoda enshrining the relics of Arahat Thi Sa Van Da Wa and Buddha relics in AD 818. The pagoda is bell-shaped in structure. The base of the pagoda is octagonal in shape and the stone sculptures are at the corners of the pagoda. The entrance cave is in the east. The stone Buddha image in the perfumed chamber, is five feet high. The pagoda is maintained by the board of trustee of the pagoda.

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...

An ancient Arakan silver coin found in Ramree Township

An ancient Arakan silver coin was found at Ko-ran-taung hill in Ramree Township, Arakan when a villager was digging a hole on the ground at the hill. I can't read the script on the coin. However,according my understanding, I guess the writting - Shwe-nann--tha-khon Candavijayaraja (ေရႊနန္းသခင္ စႏၵဝိယဇရာဇာ). The name 'Candavijaya (စႏၵဝိဇယ)' is very sure even though others not sure. King Candavijayaraja ruled Mrauk-U kingdom for twenty-one years - from 1710 A.D up to 1731 A.D. Around Arakan, many coins were found with the name of that king. So, it is most possible that the coin (in photo) recently found in Ramree Township was made by the King Candavijayaraja (စႏၵဝိဇယရာဇာ). Photo - Rakha Maung http://mrauku.blogspot.com/

An Old City of Dhanyawaddy

AN OLD CITY OF DHANYAWADDY  By Tun Shwe Khine (M.A.)   Buddha preaching king Sanda/CandaSuriya while visit Rakhine with 500 disciples: 554 B.C. Some twenty one miles north of Mrauk-U and about six miles east of Kyauktaw is an old city of Dhanyawaddy. The earliest city in Rakhine, Dhanyawaddy is situated west of the ridge lying between the Kaladan and Lemro rivers, occupying the well-drained foothill area and backed by the ridge. Remains of the walls and moats of this city can still be seen on many sites. The remains of brick fortifications arc still seen along the ridge which protrudes into the city itself. The old city was of fairly large size, almost circular in shape, with the eastern wall made of brick at the base of the ridge. On the western side only a small portion of the outer wall remains because of the ravages of the Thare creek, a tributary of the Kaladan. The creek might once have formed the moat on the west side, while on the other three side...