SHWEDAGON PAGODA IN YANGON IS A WORLD STUNNER
V.S.Gopalakrishnan
"Shwedagon pagoda" is also often written as "Shwe Dagon pagoda". Shwe in Burmese means golden. Dagon was the old name for the locality which is within the Yangon (Rangoon) city. As for "pagoda", it is no derivation from Indian "pakora" we love to eat. 'Pagoda' is Englishman's derivation from Portuguese 'pagode', from ultimately Sankrit 'bhagavati' through several languages, as per an etymological description. The English word 'pagoda' denotes Buddhist towers built in Burma, Japan, China, Korea etc. The locals in these countries have their own terms to denote the towers, such as zedi (in Burmese), chedi, prang etc.
I will say that this golden pagoda is a world stunner. I am avoiding the term "world wonder" since that creates national rivalries, controversies and definitional problems! Presently it stands tall at nearly 350 feet and it has a bottom circumference of 1420 feet. The structure itself is on a level on top of a hill (in the city) called Singuttara Hill so that an additional advantage of more than 150 feet in height is secured by the pagoda, and its visibility from afar is greatly enhanced. Staircases, lifts and escalators take you to the base of the pagoda platform which is a huge extended stretch of land where you can get lost amidst the hundreds of smaller and medium-sized pagodas and sanctuaries. In the night, Shwedagon is lit up and its golden resplendence is a rare sight in the world.
I was familiar with the term "Shwedagon pagoda" from early childhood since my parents and grandparents who had been Rangoon-wasis constantly referred to it. Having visited already the other outstanding South East Asian monuments such as Borobudur, Prambanan and Angkor during the last decade, I was keen to complete the tally by a visit to Rangoon too in order to sink into the beauty of Shwedagon too.
As my plane landed at Yangon on 17th Jan 2012, I could spot the great pagoda. I had selected a hotel close to the pagoda so that I could have a view of it from my hotel room night and day.
Above: Yuzana Hotel, Yangon where I stayed. (photo by me). Please ignore wrong dates on some photos here.
---------------------------------------------------------
Above: A view of Shwedagon pagoda complex from my hotel room window (photo by me)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Above: A zoomed up view from my window (photo by me).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Above: Gilded pagoda lighted at night, from my window, not a well-taken photo.
--------------------------------------------------------
Above: A night view: a fantastic photo from the Net.
----------------------------------------------------------
What is the history of the Shwedagon Pagoda? We must differentiate "tradition" from (written) "history". Traditionally, it is believed that the pagoda is nearly 2500 years old. On the back of my five dollar entry ticket, it is printed that two brothers Tapussa and Bhallika, merchants from Myanmar, met the living Buddha and offered him a gift of honey cakes. In return, the Buddha personally removed eight hairs from his head and gave them to the merchant brothers. The latter handed over the hairs to the king of Okkalapa (as Rangoon was then called) who erected the pagoda and enshrined the eight hairs together with the relics of three previous Buddhas. The original height of the pagoda was 66 feet. From the 14th century onwards, successive monarchs of Burma rebuilt or regilded it until it reached its "present height of 326 feet" nearly 500 years ago. The real written history as engraved on the pagoda itself starts with the 14th century only.
During the recent centuries the pagoda has been the victim of several earthquakes. But frequently renovated, as of today it is a beautiful whole piece covered externally with 60 tons of gold plates and gold bricks donated by many kings and also the public. The figure was given by a well-trained guide, which I have been unable to confirm from anywhere in the internet. On the crown there are more than 5000 diamonds and more than 2000 rubies, and the exact numbers are available on the Net. Right on top of the crown is a large diamond which weights a mighty 76 carats (15 grams) worth millions of dollars. A Westerner in his writing has noted that if the pogada had been in the USA, the gold and jewels would have been stolen long back.
Above: Me and my guide, Mr.Khine Than Tun.
------------------------------------------------
Above: A wall-mounted enlarged photo of the top crown of the pagoda showing the diamonds and rubies and also the pyramidal 76 carat diamond right on top (photo of the photo by me).
----------------------------------
What Mecca is to the Muslims of the world, Shwedagon Pagoda is to the Myanmar Buddhists who constitute 89 percent of the population of Myanmar (Nearly 4 percent are Hindus, 4 percent are Christians and 2 percent are Muslims). There are several calendar-based festivities in the pagoda. The pagoda complex houses a huge number of sanctuaries having an array of Buddhist figures that are worshipped by the visitors such as Reclining Buddha, Jade Buddha, Golden Buddha, Levitating Buddha etc. Worshippers buy incense sticks (agarbattis as we know it), flowers, candles, tiny umbrellas, flag staffs etc sold in the nearby shops and make offerings to the Buddhas. Below are some photos I took inside the vast pagoda complex.
Above: Buddha under a bodhi (peepal) tree that grew from a branch that was taken from the Bodh-Gaya Bodhi tree and brought over from India.(photo by me)
--------------------------------------------
Above: The standing Buddha image on top is said to be levitating Buddha. (photo by me)
------------------------------
Above: A Reclining Buddha in a santuary.(photo by me)
------------------------------------------
Above: A view inside the Pagoda complex (photo by me). The tiny pagoda on the left may be noted!
---------------------------
Above: Seated Buddhas in a shrine. Note them in the "bhumi-sparsha" posture, the right hand touching the ground. In Myanmar, the sitting Buddha is mostly depicted thus. In India, the common Buddha mudras are Dhyana, Varada and Abhaya.(photo by me)
--------------------------------------
Above: A close view of the massive main pagoda. The small pagodas are gold painted. (photo by me)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Above: You can see repair and maintenance work on a shrine by some workers. The intricate designs and carvings are produced on wood that is painted in gold colour (photo by me).
-----------------------------------------
Above: Beautiful and intricate designs and patterns that adorn the ceiling of a shrine (photo by me).
-------------------------------
Above: Here is a white-colored Buddha with a winged protective angel behind. Note the light-green garuda statue at the bottom. The boy and the girl are pouring water from the circular metal drum on to the Buddha by using tumblers. This water-abhishekham practice goes with prayers for granting wishes. The garuda represents Sunday, and those born on Sundays will come to this Buddha for such prayers. The week is divided into eight days in which Wednesday is counted as two days, in terms of before noon and after noon. The animals representing the eight days are (1) garuda-sunday (2) tiger-monday (3) lion-tuesday (4) tusked elephant-wednesday, before noon (5) tuskless elephant-wednesday, after noon (6) mouse-thursday (7) guinea pig-friday and (8) serpent dragon-saturday. The worshipper should know and remember what day of the week he was born. ( I know only the date and not the day of my birth! I must refer to my panchangam!) There are eight Buddhas with these different animals, at eight places facing different directions. So, if you are born on a Thursday, you will do abhishek to the Buddha with a mouse image at the bottom to secure your wish fulfilment!
---------------------------------------------------------
Above: These guys must have been born on Saturday since the animal image (gold colour painted) at the bottom is a dragon cum serpent (photo by me)!
------------------------------------------------------------------
I display below some more photos by me from inside the complex:
(Above photo was not taken by me!)
(Above: The famous Singu Min bell, weighing 23 tons, presented by King Singu of the 18th century. The British stole it to melt it in order to make guns/cannons but managed only to drown it in the Rangoon river. The British failed to retrieve it from the river bottom but the cleverer Burmese people did it and restored it.)
Above: These girls were creating a racket and were in a laugh riot, chatting with a young monk! They obliged me by posing for me! They asked questions about me.
Above: No dogs around, but cats here and there. How can a cat-lover not shoot them? With his camera, I mean.
------------------------------------------------------
We are now headed towards the conclusion of this blog. This pagoda would have been attracting millions of visitors every year but for the self-imposed isolation by the Burmese rulers. Now that the gates are more open, tourists have started pouring in, and I noticed that the culture-minded French are the biggest chunk of the tourists. There are many Americans too, but the British are scarce as if they suffer some guilt complex. I managed to buy a lonely-planet copy in French and surprisingly the English version was not available.
The Myanmar Government will do better to upgrade facilities at the airport, and pay serious attention to tourism. The hotels are too few, and the infrastructure and communications need a strong boost.
For those interested in cultural tourism (as opposed to beaches), I strongly recommend Shwedagon Pagoda, the world stunner, as a real must. I prayed there, and the visit gave me a great feeling. Many ask, "why waste gold on temples and idols?" Gold and jewels are what man seeks but when they are renounced to god, it is a way of conveying to the world that you have gone spiritual and are not materialistic. The best pact between man and god is the former's renunciation of materials in favour of the latter in its full symbolism!
==================================
V.S.Gopalakrishnan
"Shwedagon pagoda" is also often written as "Shwe Dagon pagoda". Shwe in Burmese means golden. Dagon was the old name for the locality which is within the Yangon (Rangoon) city. As for "pagoda", it is no derivation from Indian "pakora" we love to eat. 'Pagoda' is Englishman's derivation from Portuguese 'pagode', from ultimately Sankrit 'bhagavati' through several languages, as per an etymological description. The English word 'pagoda' denotes Buddhist towers built in Burma, Japan, China, Korea etc. The locals in these countries have their own terms to denote the towers, such as zedi (in Burmese), chedi, prang etc.
I will say that this golden pagoda is a world stunner. I am avoiding the term "world wonder" since that creates national rivalries, controversies and definitional problems! Presently it stands tall at nearly 350 feet and it has a bottom circumference of 1420 feet. The structure itself is on a level on top of a hill (in the city) called Singuttara Hill so that an additional advantage of more than 150 feet in height is secured by the pagoda, and its visibility from afar is greatly enhanced. Staircases, lifts and escalators take you to the base of the pagoda platform which is a huge extended stretch of land where you can get lost amidst the hundreds of smaller and medium-sized pagodas and sanctuaries. In the night, Shwedagon is lit up and its golden resplendence is a rare sight in the world.
I was familiar with the term "Shwedagon pagoda" from early childhood since my parents and grandparents who had been Rangoon-wasis constantly referred to it. Having visited already the other outstanding South East Asian monuments such as Borobudur, Prambanan and Angkor during the last decade, I was keen to complete the tally by a visit to Rangoon too in order to sink into the beauty of Shwedagon too.
As my plane landed at Yangon on 17th Jan 2012, I could spot the great pagoda. I had selected a hotel close to the pagoda so that I could have a view of it from my hotel room night and day.
Above: Yuzana Hotel, Yangon where I stayed. (photo by me). Please ignore wrong dates on some photos here.
---------------------------------------------------------
Above: A view of Shwedagon pagoda complex from my hotel room window (photo by me)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Above: A zoomed up view from my window (photo by me).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Above: Gilded pagoda lighted at night, from my window, not a well-taken photo.
--------------------------------------------------------
Above: A night view: a fantastic photo from the Net.
----------------------------------------------------------
What is the history of the Shwedagon Pagoda? We must differentiate "tradition" from (written) "history". Traditionally, it is believed that the pagoda is nearly 2500 years old. On the back of my five dollar entry ticket, it is printed that two brothers Tapussa and Bhallika, merchants from Myanmar, met the living Buddha and offered him a gift of honey cakes. In return, the Buddha personally removed eight hairs from his head and gave them to the merchant brothers. The latter handed over the hairs to the king of Okkalapa (as Rangoon was then called) who erected the pagoda and enshrined the eight hairs together with the relics of three previous Buddhas. The original height of the pagoda was 66 feet. From the 14th century onwards, successive monarchs of Burma rebuilt or regilded it until it reached its "present height of 326 feet" nearly 500 years ago. The real written history as engraved on the pagoda itself starts with the 14th century only.
During the recent centuries the pagoda has been the victim of several earthquakes. But frequently renovated, as of today it is a beautiful whole piece covered externally with 60 tons of gold plates and gold bricks donated by many kings and also the public. The figure was given by a well-trained guide, which I have been unable to confirm from anywhere in the internet. On the crown there are more than 5000 diamonds and more than 2000 rubies, and the exact numbers are available on the Net. Right on top of the crown is a large diamond which weights a mighty 76 carats (15 grams) worth millions of dollars. A Westerner in his writing has noted that if the pogada had been in the USA, the gold and jewels would have been stolen long back.
Above: Me and my guide, Mr.Khine Than Tun.
------------------------------------------------
Above: A wall-mounted enlarged photo of the top crown of the pagoda showing the diamonds and rubies and also the pyramidal 76 carat diamond right on top (photo of the photo by me).
----------------------------------
What Mecca is to the Muslims of the world, Shwedagon Pagoda is to the Myanmar Buddhists who constitute 89 percent of the population of Myanmar (Nearly 4 percent are Hindus, 4 percent are Christians and 2 percent are Muslims). There are several calendar-based festivities in the pagoda. The pagoda complex houses a huge number of sanctuaries having an array of Buddhist figures that are worshipped by the visitors such as Reclining Buddha, Jade Buddha, Golden Buddha, Levitating Buddha etc. Worshippers buy incense sticks (agarbattis as we know it), flowers, candles, tiny umbrellas, flag staffs etc sold in the nearby shops and make offerings to the Buddhas. Below are some photos I took inside the vast pagoda complex.
Above: Buddha under a bodhi (peepal) tree that grew from a branch that was taken from the Bodh-Gaya Bodhi tree and brought over from India.(photo by me)
--------------------------------------------
Above: The standing Buddha image on top is said to be levitating Buddha. (photo by me)
------------------------------
Above: A Reclining Buddha in a santuary.(photo by me)
------------------------------------------
Above: A view inside the Pagoda complex (photo by me). The tiny pagoda on the left may be noted!
---------------------------
Above: Seated Buddhas in a shrine. Note them in the "bhumi-sparsha" posture, the right hand touching the ground. In Myanmar, the sitting Buddha is mostly depicted thus. In India, the common Buddha mudras are Dhyana, Varada and Abhaya.(photo by me)
--------------------------------------
Above: A close view of the massive main pagoda. The small pagodas are gold painted. (photo by me)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Above: You can see repair and maintenance work on a shrine by some workers. The intricate designs and carvings are produced on wood that is painted in gold colour (photo by me).
-----------------------------------------
Above: Beautiful and intricate designs and patterns that adorn the ceiling of a shrine (photo by me).
-------------------------------
Above: Here is a white-colored Buddha with a winged protective angel behind. Note the light-green garuda statue at the bottom. The boy and the girl are pouring water from the circular metal drum on to the Buddha by using tumblers. This water-abhishekham practice goes with prayers for granting wishes. The garuda represents Sunday, and those born on Sundays will come to this Buddha for such prayers. The week is divided into eight days in which Wednesday is counted as two days, in terms of before noon and after noon. The animals representing the eight days are (1) garuda-sunday (2) tiger-monday (3) lion-tuesday (4) tusked elephant-wednesday, before noon (5) tuskless elephant-wednesday, after noon (6) mouse-thursday (7) guinea pig-friday and (8) serpent dragon-saturday. The worshipper should know and remember what day of the week he was born. ( I know only the date and not the day of my birth! I must refer to my panchangam!) There are eight Buddhas with these different animals, at eight places facing different directions. So, if you are born on a Thursday, you will do abhishek to the Buddha with a mouse image at the bottom to secure your wish fulfilment!
---------------------------------------------------------
Above: These guys must have been born on Saturday since the animal image (gold colour painted) at the bottom is a dragon cum serpent (photo by me)!
------------------------------------------------------------------
I display below some more photos by me from inside the complex:
(Above photo was not taken by me!)
(Above: The famous Singu Min bell, weighing 23 tons, presented by King Singu of the 18th century. The British stole it to melt it in order to make guns/cannons but managed only to drown it in the Rangoon river. The British failed to retrieve it from the river bottom but the cleverer Burmese people did it and restored it.)
Above: These girls were creating a racket and were in a laugh riot, chatting with a young monk! They obliged me by posing for me! They asked questions about me.
Above: No dogs around, but cats here and there. How can a cat-lover not shoot them? With his camera, I mean.
------------------------------------------------------
We are now headed towards the conclusion of this blog. This pagoda would have been attracting millions of visitors every year but for the self-imposed isolation by the Burmese rulers. Now that the gates are more open, tourists have started pouring in, and I noticed that the culture-minded French are the biggest chunk of the tourists. There are many Americans too, but the British are scarce as if they suffer some guilt complex. I managed to buy a lonely-planet copy in French and surprisingly the English version was not available.
The Myanmar Government will do better to upgrade facilities at the airport, and pay serious attention to tourism. The hotels are too few, and the infrastructure and communications need a strong boost.
For those interested in cultural tourism (as opposed to beaches), I strongly recommend Shwedagon Pagoda, the world stunner, as a real must. I prayed there, and the visit gave me a great feeling. Many ask, "why waste gold on temples and idols?" Gold and jewels are what man seeks but when they are renounced to god, it is a way of conveying to the world that you have gone spiritual and are not materialistic. The best pact between man and god is the former's renunciation of materials in favour of the latter in its full symbolism!
==================================
