Mahazedi Pagoda () is a prominent Buddhist pagoda in

Bago Bago may refer to: Places Myanmar * Bago, Myanmar, a city and the capital of the Bago Region * Bago District, a district of the Bago Region * Bago Region, an administrative region * Bago River, a river * Bago Yoma or Pegu Range, a mountain ran ...

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 ...

History

The pagoda was built 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, ...

to house a gold and jewel-encrusted tooth relic of the Buddha. The tooth relic was a replica from

Dharmapala of Kotte Dharmapala or Dom João Dharmapala Peria Bandara (1541 – 27 May 1597) was the last king of the Kingdom of Kotte, in present-day Sri Lanka, from 1551 until 27 May 1597. He is also known as Dom João Dharmapala, the first Christian king in Sri L ...

, the king of the

Kingdom of Kotte The Kingdom of Kotte (, ), named after its capital, Kotte, was a Sinhalese kingdom that flourished in Sri Lanka during the 15th century. Founded by Parakramabahu VI with the help of the Ming, the Kingdom managed to conquer the Jaffna ki ...

, who gifted the tooth, along with an alms bowl and his daughter. The construction of the pagoda began in November 1559, and was completed six months later in May 1560. The footprint of the pagoda was 100 ''

taung Taung is a small town situated in the North West Province of South Africa. The name means ''place of the lion'' and was named after Tau, the King of the Barolong people. ''Tau'' is the Tswana word for lion. Taung skull fossil site In 1924, a sk ...

'' () in diameter, and the height was 150 ''taung'' (), without the ''

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 spire"). The ''hti'' spire was raised atop the pagoda for the first time on 2 January 1561. The relics arrived in 1576. In 1599, King

Anaukpetlun Anaukbaklun ( ; 21 January 1578 – 9 July 1628) was the sixth king of Taungoo Burma and was largely responsible for restoring the kingdom after it collapsed at the end of 16th century. In his 22-year reign from 1606 to 1628, Anaukpetlun comple ...

conquered Bago and removed the relics to

Taungoo Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ), also spelled Toungoo and formerly Toung-ngú, is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east a ...

. In 1636, King

Thalun Thalun (, ; 17 June 1584 – 27 August 1648) was the eighth king of Toungoo dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). During his 19-year reign, Thalun successfully rebuilt the war-torn country which had been under constant warfare for nearly a century since ...

removed the relics to

Inwa Inwa (, or ; also spelled Innwa; formerly known as Ava), located in Mandalay Region, Myanmar, is an ancient imperial capital of successive Burmese kingdoms from the 14th to 19th centuries. Throughout history, it was sacked and rebuilt numerou ...

, enshrining them at the

Kaunghmudaw Pagoda The Kaunghmudaw Pagoda ( ; Yaza Mani Sula Kaunghmudaw (); ) is a large Buddhist pagoda on the northwestern outskirts of Sagaing in central Myanmar (Burma). Modeled after the Ruwanwelisaya pagoda of Sri Lanka, the Kaunghmudaw is known for its egg ...

Sagaing Sagaing (, ) is a town in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located on the Irrawaddy River, to the south-west of Mandalay on the opposite bank of the river. Sagaing, with its numerous Buddhist monasteries, is an important religious and ...

. Throughout its history, the pagoda has been destroyed by several earthquakes on the

Sagaing Fault The Sagaing Fault is a major fault in Myanmar, a mainly continental right-lateral transform fault between the Indian plate and Sunda plate. It links the divergent boundary in the Andaman Sea with the zone of active continental collision along t ...

, on 13 September 1564, 1583, and 8 October 1888, and completely leveled in 1930. Mahazedi Pagoda was rebuilt in the 1950s.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Buddhist sites in Myanmar Pagodas in Myanmar Buddhist temples in Myanmar 16th-century Buddhist temples Religious buildings and structures completed in 1560