Shwedagon Pagoda

Rising up to a height above 100m, bounded by the Singuttara Hill in Yangon is the most sacred place of Myanmar. Shwedagon Pagoda is a stupa which is covered by golden plates from top to bottom with diamonds encrusted at the top. This 2500 years old Pagoda was a creation by the king Okkalapa and the story behind the Pagoda is also a very interesting one. When Prince Siddhartha became the enlightened one and was meditating at the Rajayathana tree in the seventh week, two merchants named Thapassu and Balluka came across. They offered honey and corn. They were the first two people to follow lord Buddha and Buddhism. So in return Lord Buddha gave them 8 hair strands which they placed in a ruby casket and brought back to Asithanjana near Singuttara Hill. Back there, with the help of King Okkalapa, they built a pagoda placing inside the ruby casket with sacred hair strands as well as other relics from three other previous Buddhas, staff of Kakusandha Buddha, a piece of the robe of Kassapa Buddha and the water filter of Koṇāgamana Buddha. 

Covering the sacred relics, a golden pagoda was built and covering that a silver pagoda and a gold and copper alloy pagoda and bronze pagoda were built respectively. Encasing those and iron pagoda and finally a brick pagoda were built. It is also said that the innermost Shwedagon Pagoda was filled half with jewelry and on top of it was a ship full of jewelry and on top of it were the relics. 

Since its first construction, Pagoda was renovated and restored with several additions by many kings and queens. In 308 BC King Srimasoka built a enclosing pavilion while around 1360, King Banya-U enlarged the pagoda. Queen Shinsawbu made a retaining embankment with brick along with an enclosure wall. King Dhammazedi gifted gold that matched the weight of himself and his wife for the gliding of the pagoda and placed a huge bell on it. Anaukpetlun donated an umbrella and a bell and he reconstructed the pagoda which was damaged due to an earthquake. Hsinbyushin restored the pagoda to present day height and gave away an umbrella and 77kg of gold for the gliding. 

If we look at the basic plan of the site, making Shwedagon Pagoda the center piece, there are 4 smaller stupas at the four cardinal directions. Encircling the main stupa, there are 64 small stupas inline with the cardinal stupas. Main stupa can again be divied into 3 parts as the base, dome and the spire. The base of the stupa consists of a square plinth of 6.4m high, octagonal terraces and an octagonal dais called "eight edges". Dome consists of circular bolts, the bell, the girdle, the inverted alms bowl and the festoon. The spire is again divided into four parts. The lowest part has 7 concentric rings. Above them are the upturned lotus and the inverted lotus. Above them is a tear drop shaped structure. Finally at the top it the umbrella. 

Travellers' Guide

If you are planning to visit Shwedagon Pagoda, there are several formalities you should follow. Make sure you wear your bottoms covering your knees and your tops should have sleeves at least up to elbow length. You must remove your shoes and slippers at the entrance. An entrance fee of $5 will be charged. There are food and concession services if you want. Usually the Pagoda is open daily from 4 am to 10 pm and on the waxing day of Tabaung around March and waxing day of Wakhaung around June the pagoda is open 24 hours. 

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Pagan Pagodas in Myanmar

Pagan or also known as Bagan is located 425 miles north of Yangon, Myanmar. It is a famous religious city consists of many pagodas, stupas and shrines built around 11-13 AD. Pagan was the capital city of northern Burma for more than thousands of years.  It's believed that more than 13,000 structures once occupied the Pagan plain. Pagan is a religious and archaeological marvel, and some would say it's "a wonder of the ancient World." The temples stretch for eight miles along the bank of the Ayeyarwady River and for about two miles inland. At some points the ruins are so dense that it's often described as a place where it's impossible to move without touching something sacred. 

People of the Burman ethnic group had been already converted to Indian religion like Mahayana. Under King Anawrahta (reigned 1044-77), the ethnic Burmans finally conquered the other people of the region, including people called the Mon, who were previously dominant in the south. They sent the Mon royal family making it the capital and centre of an official, fundamentalist form of Hinayana (Theravada) Buddhism adopted from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), about 1056. This initiated the period of Pagan’s greatness, which was sustained at first by Mon artistic traditions. Many numbers of large and exquisite monasteries and shrine were built and maintained during the next 200 years and it was made possible both by the great wealth of the royal exchequer and by the large number of slaves, skilled and unskilled, whose working lives were dedicated to the support of each institution. The city became one of the most important centres of Buddhist learning.

Lesser buildings are grouped around the more important pagodas and temples. Scattered around these are smaller pagodas and buildings, some of which may once have been aristocratic palaces and pavilions later adapted to monastic uses--e.g., as libraries and preaching halls. All are based on Indian prototypes, modified during subsequent development by the Mon. The principal architectural theme is the Buddhist stupa, a tall bell dome, designed originally to contain near its apex the sacred relics of Buddhist saints. Another is the high, terraced plinth, which may be supplemented by stairs, gateways, extra stupas, and pinnacles and symbolizes a sacred mountain.

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