Tharekkhan Buddha Image

The Tharekkhan Buddha Statue is in Shwetanttit Village in Pakokku Township, Magwe Division. King Alaung Sithu had five Buddha statues sculpted with the core of sandalwood and a sixth with the chippings and scrapings mixed with wood resin. The statues were placed on thrones made of a kind of wood that resembled elephant skin and found in the Himalayan Region and were thus called elephant thrones.

The statues were so tiny they were enshrined together with other relics in six larger statues sculpted out of eugenia wood. King Alaung Sithu, while on a tour, put the second statue on the Royal White Elephant Naga Shwegyi and released it with an oath. When the King examined the wooded area where the elephant stopped, he discovered a pagoda built by King Siri Dhamma Asoka. He enshrined the Tharekkhan statue in that pagoda. That area being the place where the elephant rested was called the Hsintanttit. With the passage of time, it came to be known as Shwetanttit. The actual site of Shwetanttit Village is three miles east of Pakokku township. The remaining five statues are enshrined in Pakhan Sithushin, Anya Thihataw, Shinmataung, Hsinkyo and Matpaung Myitzu Pagoda.