Kyaikpawlaw Image

Kyaikpawlaw Buddha Image is situated in Gangaw Ward, Kyaikhto, Mon State. About 221 years after the Parinibbana of the Buddha, Sri Lankan King Dewanampiya Teiktha in consultation with Ashin Maheinda floated four statues each enshrining a hair relic with four barges made of teak, jackfruit, thingan and rock cartwheel. Of the four, the one on jackfruit barge became Kyaikhami Mid-water Pagoda, the one on thingan barge became Shin Moktee Pagoda in Dawei, the one on the teak barge became Thihoshin Phondawpyi Phaya in Pathein, and the one on the rock cartwheel became Kyaikpawlaw Image with a live mole in Kyaikhto. Kyaikpawlaw Live-Mole Image had a mole on the right of the forehead.

The image hid the wonders of

(1) its eyes blinking

(2) its immobility despite two thousand elephants, horses and men

(3) its floating in water on the form of a rock cartwheel,

(4) its live mole never disappearing despite repeated gilding thereon and

(5) its face always turning to the Sri Lanka side.