Mingun ( ) is a
village tract
A village tract (; also spelt village-tract), also called overvillage, is a fourth-level administrative subdivision of Myanmar's rural townships. As of August 2015, there are 13,602 village tracts in Myanmar, consisting of 70,838 villages. The eq ...
in
Sagaing Township
Sagaing Township is a township in Sagaing District in the Sagaing Division of Myanmar. The township contains town towns- the principal town is Sagaing and Sataung comprising a total of 34 wards. The township additionally has 76 village tracts g ...
of
Sagaing Region
Sagaing Region (, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and longitude 94° 97' east. It is border ...
, north-west
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 ...
, located 11 km up the
Ayeyarwady River
The Irrawaddy River (, , Ayeyarwady) is the principal river of Myanmar, running through the centre of the country. Myanmar’s most important commercial waterway, it is about 1,350 miles (2,170 km) long. Originating from the confluence of the ...
on the west bank from
Mandalay
Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553.
Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...
. Its main attraction is the ruined
Mingun Pahtodawgyi.
Mingun Pahtodawgyi
The Mingun temple is a monumental uncompleted
stupa
In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...
begun by King
Bodawpaya in 1790. It was not completed, due to an
astrologer
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
claiming that, once the temple was finished, the king would die. The completed stupa would have been the largest in the world at . Huge cracks are visible on the structure from the earthquake of 23 March 1839. Like many large pagodas in Myanmar, a ''pondaw paya'' or working model of the stupa can be seen nearby.
King Bodawpaya also had a gigantic
bell
A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...
cast to go with his huge stupa, the
Mingun Bell weighing 90 tons, and is today the largest ringing bell in the world. The weight of the bell in Burmese measurement, is 55,555 viss or ''peiktha'' (1 viss = 1.63 kg), handed down as a mnemonic "''Min Hpyu Hman Hman Pyaw''", with the consonants representing the number 5 in Burmese astronomy and
numerology
Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...
.
Hsinbyume Pagoda
Just a couple of hundred yards from the great stupa and bell lies the beautiful white Hsinbyume or Myatheindan Pagoda with a distinctive architectural style modelled after the mythical
Mount Meru
Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ...
(''Myinmo taung''), built in 1816 by Bodawpaya's grandson and successor
Bagyidaw and dedicated to the memory of his first consort Princess Hsinbyume (Lady of the White Elephant, granddaughter of Bodawpaya, 1789–1812) who died in childbirth.
See also
*
Bodawpaya
*
Mingun Bell
References
External links
Wanderings in Burma by George W Bird, 1897F J Bright & Son, London, pp 316A, 318, 318A, 320A inc. old photos of Mingun by Signor Beaton of Mandalay
Col Henry Yule's Remarks on the Senbyu Pagoda at Mengun, 1869''
SOAS
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...
''
The Art and Culture of Burma: The Konbaung Period - AmarapuraDr. Richard M. Cooler,
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...
A Trip to Mingun''
GLOBOsapiens.net'', December 26, 2006
{{Sagaing Division
Populated places in Sagaing Region