Alanpya Pagoda (; also known as Signal Pagoda) is a

Burmese pagoda Burmese pagodas are stupas that typically house Buddhist relics, including relics associated with Buddha. Pagodas feature prominently in Myanmar's landscape, earning the country the moniker "land of pagodas." Several cities in the country, incl ...

located on Alanpya Hill, on the southern part of Dhammarakhita Hill, in

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The pagoda is south of

Maha Wizaya Pagoda The Maha Wizaya Pagoda (; ) is a pagoda located on Shwedagon Pagoda Road in Dagon Township, Yangon, Myanmar. The pagoda, built in 1980, is located immediately south of the Shwedagon Pagoda on Dhammarakhita Hill. The enshrined relics were contrib ...

Names

Alanpya Pagoda is known by a number of various names. During

British rule in Burma British colonial rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the successive three Anglo-Burmese wars through the creation of ''Burma'' as a province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally i ...

, the pagoda acquired its present-day name, Signal Pagoda (Alanpya Zedi in Burmese), because it was used as a

signal station A signal station is a form of Navigational aid, Aids to Navigation that is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization, IHO simply as "A signal station is a place on shore from which signals are made to ships at sea". While this broad de ...

for vessels coming up Yangon River. It was also known as McCreagh's Pagoda, after Brigadier McCreagh, and as Sale's Pagoda, after Lieutenant

Robert Sale Major-General Sir Robert Henry Sale (19 September 1782 – 21 December 1845) was a British Army officer who commanded the garrison of Jalalabad during the First Afghan War and was killed in action during the First Anglo-Sikh War. Biography ...

, who was stationed there during the

First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War (; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War in English language accounts and First English Invasion War () in Burmese language accounts, was the first of three wars fought between the ...

. The pagoda has also been known as Sandawkyo Pagoda (ဆံတော်ကြိုစေတီ), Gurkha Pagoda, and Tattoo Pagoda (တပ်ဦးစေတီ), as well as by its

Mon language The Mon language, formerly known as Peguan and Talaing, is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon people. Mon, like the related Khmer language, but unlike most languages in mainland Southeast Asia, is not tonal. The Mon language is a recogn ...

name, Kyaik Hapaw Cih (ကျာ်ထပှ်ထစှေ်, ).

History

According to the Shwedagon Chronicle, the pagoda pre-dates

Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ; ), officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' (, , ), and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda, is a gilded stupa located in Yangon, Myanmar. The Shwedagon is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanma ...

, and was built on the site of a pavilion honoring the arrival of the Buddha's hair relics. The pagoda was toppled in 1348 and subsequently renovated by King

Razadarit Razadarit (, ; , or ; also spelled Yazadarit, "king of kings"; 1368–1421) was king of Kingdom of Hanthawaddy, Hanthawaddy Pegu from 1384 to 1421. He successfully unified his Mon language, Mon-speaking kingdom, and fended off major assaults ...

. In 1452, Queen

Shin Sawbu Shin Sawbu (, ; , ; 1394–1471) was queen regnant of Hanthawaddy Kingdom, Hanthawaddy from 1454 to 1471. Queen Shin Sawbu is also known as Binnya Thau (, ) or Old Queen in Mon. Queen Shin Sawbu and Queen Jamadevi of Haripunjaya are the two most ...

gilded the entire pagoda, which was reconstructed by King

Bayinnaung , title = King of Toungoo , image = Bayinnaung.JPG , caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar , reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581 , coronation = 11 January 1551 at Taungoo, ...

in 1564. The pagoda was rebuilt yet again in 1775 by Min Letwe, King

Hsinbyushin Hsinbyushin (, , ; ; 12 September 1736 – 10 June 1776) was the third emperor of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1763 to 1776. The second son of the dynasty founder Alaungpaya is best known for his wars with Qing China and Siam, a ...

's minister. The pagoda's site subsequently became a military encampment for British forces following the

. The pagoda's present

hti ''Hti'' (, ; ; Shan language, Shan: ), a Burmese language word meaning umbrella, is the name of the finial ornament that tops almost all Burmese pagodas. The chatra umbrella or parasol is an auspicious symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism. As re ...

(umbrella) was donated in November 1910.

References

{{Buddhist sites in Myanmar Buddhist temples in Yangon