Shittaung Pagoda
Shitthaung or "temple of the 80,000 Buddhas"
located about half a mile to the north of the palace
site was built by one of the most powerful kings of
the Mrauk U Dynasty, called by the people, Minbargyi.
It is an ancient temple, in Mrauk U of northern
Rakhine state, Myanmar.
History
According to records on inscriptions as King
Minbin who reigned from 1513 to 1553. The king built
this fortress-temple after repulsing a Portuguese
attack on the City of Mrauk U.
The skill and art displayed in
 its construction
and ornamentation are remarkable. Besides, we may
observe here about the maze-like layout of this
pagoda. In the accounts of this curious plan, some
foreigners remarked that the Shitthaung Pagoda was
built alike a fortress. The real purpose of the
pagoda was for prayer, some rituals of initiation,
and some of the King's ceremonies, which were
usually held secretly. It was constructed six feet
thick of solid sandstone and like "rock cave
tunnel". No mortar was used in the construction and
stones were connected with stone brackets. It is
believed that 84,000 of the Buddha's relics with the
same number of the Lord's images are enshrined in
it. People who entered the tunnels of the temple
felt that they were actually inside an endless
tunnel. The pagodas had been built by one thousand
architects and workmen for a year. The central
pagoda measures 160 feet long and 124 feet broad, 86
feet high. On the north and south walls stand at
regular intervals circular, turret-like pagodas.
There are one big and 14 smaller ones on the north
and a bigger one and seventeen smaller ones on the
south. Along the other two inner galleries are
hundreds of Buddha images of various sizes.
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The Shittaung Pillar
The Shittaung Pillar is well-known and
it is located just on the northern entrance of the
Shittaung Pagoda. It is believed to have been
brought from Vesali to Mrauk U. It was placed by
King Minbin in 1535 A.D. The pillar was destroyed
during the World War II. Now it has been renovated.
The original pillar stands from 10 feet and each
side is 2' 4" wide in surface. Three faces have
Sanskrit Inscriptions and the other one was badly
damaged. The pillar was made from red sandstone and
decorated with double lotus petal motif at all the
eight corners. The ancient petal pattern designs of
the Mrauk U period can be seen on this pillar. |
