, native_name = , image = Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda.JPG , image_size = , alt = , caption = , map_type = Burma , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , location =

Naypyidaw Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city o ...

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Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

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Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

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Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

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State Peace and Development Council The State Peace and Development Council ( my, နိုင်ငံတော် အေးချမ်းသာယာရေး နှင့် ဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေး ကောင်စီ ; abbreviated SPDC or , ) was the offi ...

, year_completed = March 2009 Abhisit Vejjajiva circumambulates Uppatasanti Pagoda

Uppātasanti Pagoda ( my-Mymr, ဥပ္ပါတသန္တိစေတီတော်, pronounced ; officially called my-Mymr, ဥပ္ပါတသန္တိစေတီတော်မြတ်ကြီး, also called the "Peace Pagoda") is a prominent landmark in

, the capital of

. The pagoda houses a Buddha tooth relic. It is nearly a same-sized replica of

Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

and stands tall.

History

Construction of Uppatasanti Pagoda began on 12 November 2006, with the stake-driving ceremony, and completed in March 2009, built under the guidance of

Than Shwe Than Shwe ( my, သန်းရွှေ, ; born 2 February 1933 or 3 May 1935) is a Burmese strongman politician who was the head of state of Myanmar from 1992 to 2011 as Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). During thi ...

, head of Burma's ruling

. The invitation card for the stake-driving ceremony opened with a phrase "Rajahtani Naypyidaw" (the royal capital where the president resides). The pagoda is 30 cm shorter than the

. "Uppātasanti" roughly translates to "protection against calamity". It is the name of a sutta prepared by a monk in the early 16th century. It is to be recited in time of crisis, especially in the face of foreign invasion.

Structure

The massive base of the Pagoda which may be mistaken for a large hill is completely man-made. The pagoda precinct also comprises: * Maha Hsutaungpyae Buddha Image in Maha Pasadabhumi Gandhakuti Chamber * Four jade Buddha images in the pagoda's hollow cave * 108 feet high flagstaff *

Bo tree ''Ficus religiosa'' or sacred fig is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is also known as the bodhi tree, pippala tree, peepul tree, peepal tree, pipal tree ...

Garden with Maha Bo Tree and the images of the 28 Buddhas * Garden of 108

Bo Tree ''Ficus religiosa'' or sacred fig is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is also known as the bodhi tree, pippala tree, peepul tree, peepal tree, pipal tree ...

s * Marlini Mangala Lake with the chamber of Shin Uppagutta * Withongama Ordination Hall (''thein'') * Cetiyapala Chamber * Sangha Yama hostels * Sasana Maha Beikmandaw Building * Pagoda museum * Pitakat Building and Religious Archive According to ''

The Irrawaddy ''The Irrawaddy'' () is a news website by the Irrawaddy Publishing Group (IPG), founded in 1990 by Burmese exiles living in Thailand. From its inception, ''The Irrawaddy'' has taken an independent stance on Burmese politics. As a publication pr ...

'', 20 people died during a

ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...

accident at a festival marking the pagoda's consecration in March 2009. The consecration of the pagoda, which involves the hoisting of the ''htidaw'' (sacred umbrella, my-Mymr, ထီးတော် ) and the ''seinbudaw'' (diamond lotus bud, my-Mymr, စိန်ဖူးတော် ), took place on 10 March 2009.

Gallery

File:Uppatasanti Pagoda hti closeup.jpg, Closeup of the pagoda's '' hti'' File:Uppatasanti Pagoda-02.jpg, File:Uppatasanti Pagoda, Naypyidaw.jpg, File:Uppatasanti Pagoda-01.jpg, File:Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda interior.JPG, Inside the dome File:Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda -- corner view.JPG, View from a corner File:Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda Plaza at sunset.JPG, Plaza at sunset File:Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda plaza shrine.JPG, A shrine off the main plaza File:Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda plaza.JPG, Main plaza looking east

References

{{Portal bar, Religion, Architecture Pagodas in Myanmar Buildings and structures in Naypyidaw Religious buildings and structures completed in 2009 Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Myanmar Buddhist relics