Previous Post: Bago’s Shwemawdaw Pagoda – Myanmar’s Tallest Stupa

looking back at Shwemawdaw Pagoda from Hintha Gon

from Shwemawdaw to Hintha Gon and KanBawZaThadi – all close together

It is a short walk from the east entrance to the Shwemawdaw to the Hintha Gon temple built on a nearby hilltop – though I hopped into the air-conditioned taxi waiting for me at the west side parking lot!  The hill figures in the foundation myth of a Mon port on the banks of the Bago River in the early 800’s C.E. To them it was the city of the hamsa, the mythic bird known as hintha in Bamar.  (The word gon means “hill”.)  Here is how the current 2015 Rough Guide To Myanmar tells the story –

According to Buddhist legend, the newly enlightened Siddhartha Gautama made a flying trip to Lower Burma, which at that time was covered by sea water. Seeing a female hamsa sitting on the back of a male, perched on a tiny island of dry land, Buddha foretold that this spot would become the centre of a prosperous kingdom 1500 years later. Roughly on schedule, the waters having receded, two Mon princes founded the town, known as Hanthawaddy to the Mon, in 825 AD. The double hamsa motif can be seen all over Bago today.

Given that Bago is about a mere 18 meters above sea level it is possible that the legend echoes faint memories of a severe flood which affected the area before the ninth century foundation of the city. To connect one’s city or stupa with the Buddha’s life in some way can never be a bad thing in Myanmar!

Welcome To Hintha Gon Pahto

The temple on the hilltop was restored in the early 20th century on the inspiration – and money collecting –  of the Buddhist monk U Khanti, who is also credited with restoring the various temples on the top of Mandalay Hill. Since that time the earthquakes of 1917 and 1930 that levelled the stupa down below undoubtedly had the same effect on the structures of Hintha Gon, whose large central shrine is covered with a column-supported and modern-looking roof steel girders and aluminum sheeting.

the two hamsa –  the key figures in  Bago’s foundation myth

As the pix above and below show,  the hamsa image is a recurring one!

Hintha Gon’s central shrine area

monk making devotions at Hintha Gon Pahto

monk at Hintha Gon shrine

There really is not a lot to see here other than the central shrine.  Some guide-books refer to the temple as a major nat worship site but, given my lack of knowledge about this dimension of Myanmar religion, I did not recognize much of it as I wandered around.

I did note the above seated Buddha figure in the Have No Fear pose, a nice change from the usual. The right-hand holds a bowl, perhaps symbolizing the Medicine Bowl containing the Dhamma (the Buddha’s teachings).  And then it was back to the more typical Touching the Earth mudra of most Myanmar seated Buddha statues…

Buddha figures in the usual “Touching The Earth” mudra at Bago’s Hintha Gon Temple

Buddha figures in a niche of the Hintha Gon shrine surrounded by colourful lights

I am hard pressed to explain the significance of the figures in the two following images. If the shrine is one of the eight planetary posts common in other Myanmar temples, the mouse may be associated with one of the days of the week (Thursday). However, I did not see the elaborate shrines associated with the eight days as I made my way around so it probably is a reference to some other legend.

what is a mouse doing on the Hintha Gon shrine table?

The figure below I take to be a nat figure.  Nat worship is an important element of the animistic religion of the Bamars before they took on Theravada Buddhism some thousand years ago.  As in Tibet with the Bon religion, many of the Bamars’ pre-Buddhist beliefs were integrated with their new religion.

The result is a head-scratching experience for someone like me whose Buddhism is essentially a demythologized and heavily secularized version of what real Buddhists in Asia actually practise.

The nat pantheon consists of thirty-seven established major nats and a myriad of other minor nature spirits. My research into the various nats did not turn up anyone depicted in the way the figure below is.  Please comment below if you know!

a Nat figure at Hintha Gon in Bago

The biggest reason for visiting Hintha Gon, other than to stand at the mythic foundation spot of what for a short while was an important city, is to see the view of the modern city to the west.  Standing above all else is the Shwemawdaw, visible in the photo below on a hazy weekday morning.

the Shwemawdaw zedi to the west from Hintha Gon

I returned to the car and my driver Wan after passing by vendors’ stalls with temple flower offerings and other items for sale.  The red and white banners depict the animals associated with the eight days of the week in Bamar astrology – Sunday’s Garuda and then the tiger, lion, tusk elephant, dragon, tuskless elephant, mouse, and guinea pig.

Also hanging there were a few multi-coloured Buddhist flags with a pattern created in the 1880’s by Henry SteelAlcott off the Theosophical Society and since adopted by Asian Buddhists as one of their symbols.

flowers and other items for sale outside of Hithsa Gon Paya

Perhaps you know the significance of the horse-like creature below? If so, let me know. There must be a reason why they would be in a shop attached to the Hintha Gon temple!

paper mache animal figures for sale outside of Hintha Gon Paya

Ten minutes later Wan and I were approaching the building pictured below –  Kanbawzathadi Palace.  Already there were a couple of busloads of tourists – Thai and Chinese.  We had all come to see the Audience hall constructed for the most successful ruler of the Toungoo Dynasty. [He ruled from 1551 to 1581 and had made Bago (akaPegu) his new capital.]

Kanbawzathadi Palace

Bayinnaung and the Palace – a Fifty year history

site plan of the once-Hanthawaddy City

The above information boards give the visitor with a bit of back ground to the rule of Bayinnaung and the site plan for the city of Hamsawaddi Pegu. The Palace itself is in a U shape with two long wings and the central area with the Lion Throne Hall. One of the wings is depicted in the image below. It is important to note that the palace you see is a construction that went up in the 1990′ based on the evidence uncovered by archaeological work. The remains of the original wooden posts were the main element uncovered.  While the recreated palace does raise questions about authenticity and accuracy, it is now another site on Bago’s tourist tour route!

a wing of the reconstructed palace complex with original posts on display

explanation of posts and their history and significance

foundation posts on display in a wing of  Kanbawzathadi Palace

another view of the excavated posts on display at Kanbawzathadi Palace in Bago

The ruler who commissioned the building of the palace is the middle of the three figures pictured below.  On our left is Anawrahta, the founder of the first great Bamar Kingdom after 1044 C.E. it was centered in Bagan (aka Pagan). Alaungpaya is the third monarch; he founded the last of Burma’s great dynasties, the Konbaung, in the mid-1700’s.

What all three have in common is their consolidation of power over the area we still think of as Myanmar these days.  This may explain why the military rulers invested in the construction of this palace; faced with ethnic insurgencies around the perimeter of the country,  the building is an re-affirmation of Bamar hegemony over the Myanmar of these three lionized kings.

a celebration of Three Great Bamar Kings of the Past 1000 years

A wikipedia article on Bayinnaung provides an excellent summary of his life and accomplishments. (See here.)  If anything gets across the scope of his success it is a map of the lands he conquered and more or less controlled –

Map of Bayinnaung’s Taungoo Empire_(1580)

The capital of this territory – today’s Myanmar and most of Thailand and Laos – was Pegu. It was to Pegu that emissaries would come from all corners of his empire to pay homage and seek favour. The carriage below is meant to convey some of the grandeur of those times – although it seems -like a scaled-down version of the grand vehicle described by a visiting European in 1567.

a replica carriage perhaps like the one used by Bayinnaung

description of Bayinnaung’s carriage from 1567 C.E.

The focal point of the palace is the Lion’s throne Hall. Instead of the gold-coloured paint we see now, it is probable that real gold – and lots of it – was used to convey the might and power of the Taungoo Dynasty. Unfortunately, it was destroyed within twenty years of Baybnnaung’s death in 1581, and was only recreated in the 1990’s.

the front of the Lion Throne Hall  in Bayinnaung’s Kanbawzathadi Palace

There is not really a lot to see at Kanbawzathadi Palace. Perhaps in time, the available space will be used to flesh out the details of Bayinnaung’s reign and its accomplishments with more displays of artifacts from his time.  Twenty minutes was all it took to see everything.

On our way to a cup of coffee Wan did stop in front of the Bee Throne Hall; like the Palace, it is a recent reconstruction. It was apparently the King’s private quarters and contained a living area as well as his bed chamber. You really don’t get a sense of any of this as you walk around the parts accessible to public viewing.

Bee Throne Hall in Bayinnaung’s Palace Complex in Bago

inside the recreated Bee Throne Hall at Bayinnaung’s Palace complex in Pegu (Bago)

elaborate doorway trim – gold-coloured paint on tin –  at The Bee Throne Hall

Over time if the motivation is there to devote scarce resources to the project as opposed to more mundane ones like new schools and hospitals and better pay for teachers and nurses, perhaps more of the palace complex will be excavated and reconstructed.

If nothing else, it sends a positive message to the young of Myanmar that their ancestors did great things – and that they can too if they work to keep the country unified.

Next Post: An Afternoon in Bago, Myanmar – Visiting The Reclining Buddhas

Related Posts: Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda – The Golden Heart of Myanmar

Ballooning Over The Plains Of Myanmar’s Bagan

The Uninspiring Buddhas Of Myanmar’s Bagan

monks walking on the Shwemawdaw Pagoda terrace in Bago

If you find yourself in Yangon and have spent all the time you want to in the city,  a day trip to the once-capital of a Mon kingdom in the lower Myanmar area is a worthwhile possibility.  Some seventy kilometers north of Yangon is the modern city of Bago, formerly known in English as Pegu. From 1365 to 1625 C.E., it flourished under a string of competent rulers who left impressive religious monuments.  These works not only expressed but helped strengthen their claims of spiritual legitimacy and worldly power.

The person at my hotel’s reception desk arranged for a taxi to pick me up at 7:00 a.m. For $70. U.S. I would have the service of an air-conditioned car for the day. The driver Yan had done the trip often before so he already had a checklist of sites to visit in his head and we wasted little time getting from place to place.  With another passenger or two to split the cost, the trip would have been downright cheap! It was still worth it.

Bago’s Shwemawdaw Pagoda and terrace

Bago’s most famous site is the great zedi or stupa pictured above. (For some reason the word pagoda – not a Burmese term – is often inaccurately used to describe it.)  At 115 meters (376 feet) it is currently the tallest in the country, reaching 14 meters (46 feet) higher than  Yangon’s Shwedagon.

The zedi which stands today was erected in the 1950’s and is the latest in a series of constructions, the first of which was built perhaps twelve hundred years ago.  Massive earthquakes over the centuries – including one in 1917 and another in 1930 – means that the structure has been rebuilt often, each time a little taller.

Satellite Photo – Bago’s Shwemawdaw Pagoda and Hintha Gon

Associated with the zedi are the usual relics of the Buddha – the strands of hair and a tooth or two – that infuse the structure with their perceived power.  Another important draw of the zedi is the presence of the eight planetary pillars or posts arranged around the octagonal base to which believers are drawn, depending on their day of birth or the advice of an astrologer or astrological chart. (Wednesday is divided into two days to make eight different possible days of birth).

one of the covered walkways to the Shwemawdaw terrace

As at Yangon’s great zedi, you enter the Shwemawtaw by one of the four long covered passageways – one at each of the cardinal directions. (See map above.) There is a almost-bazaar-like feeling in the air as you walk up towards the steps to the grand terrace on which the zedi sits.

shrine with donation boxes near the entrance of Shwemawdaw Pagoda in Bago

Once on the terrace around the zedi, there are a number of pavilions and shrines; the one above happened to be the first one I passed by after entering from the West entrance.  The Shwemawdaw terrace is more open and less cluttered than the one around Yangon’s Shwedagon.

seated Buddha statue in one of Shwemawdaw Pagoda’s shrines

I was there at 9 a.m. so it was not yet very busy. (The time approaching dusk is a more atmospheric  time to visit, thanks to the presence of many more worshippers.) However, each of the planetary posts already had people bringing flowers and providing the Buddha figures with ritual baths.

one of the eight planetary posts around the Shwemawdaw

another planetary post area with shrine – note the water pipe behind the statue

During its heyday, Bago was a port city and ships would come up the Bago River from the sea. However, by three hundred years ago the river had changed course and the city found itself cut off from the river.  Of course, the invasion and destruction of the city  a couple of times in the past four centuries in the brutal course of war did not help matters. What still remains – admittedly touched up at times to quite some degree – are the religious monuments that still attract travellers from far away.

a reminder of Bago’s past as a sea port

a row of seated Buddhas in the Touching the Earth position ( Bhumi-sparsha mudra)

devotional verses on a plague at Shwemawdaw Pagoda in Bago

I spent over an hour taking in the scene on the Shwemawtaw terrace, siting on pavilion steps and watching monks and townspeople go by.  I did not see any other “western” tourists while i was there.

Some musicians where playing in one of the pavilions so I put the audio record feature of my camera to work to capture the very mellow groove they were putting out – it reminded me of the juju sound of Nigeria’s King Sunny Ade. On a foundation of drums, the guitarist/vocalist put out a great rhythmic sound. Click on the video below and give a listen!  (My apologies for the mediocre camera work – I must learn how to shoot video one day!)

side pavilions on the Shwemawdaw zedi terrace

another shrine area with seated Buddhas and nat figures

a section of the hti (the umbrella) from the pre-1917 zedi destroyed by an earthquake

close-up of hti section from pre-1917 stupa

the fallen Hti and another of the eight planetary posts

Devotees arrange offerings at one of the planetary posts

monks walking past one of the pavilions on the Shwemawdaw terrace

shrine area – Buddhas under the Bodhi Tree

Both Gaya in northern India is where the historical Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha, the Awakened One. Sitting under the Bodhi Tree he resisted the progressive temptations of Mara, who tried his best to deflect Siddhartha from his destiny as World Saviour.  Touching the earth with his right hand to call the Earth itself as a witness, he broke Mara’s spell. That moment is depicted in the vast majority (99%?) of the seated Buddha statues you will see in Myanmar.

close-up of Buddha figure under Bodhi Tree

a Bodhi Tree with eight shrines around it – a mini planetary posts area

The above monument  incorporates Hindu Brahmanism and its astrological concerns via the planetary posts in a Buddhist framework. This is just one of the many syncretistic elements I noticed in Myanmar Buddhism.

The most significant element – and one I can make no claim to understanding – is the presence of nat images. Before the Bamars turned to Buddhism around 1000 years ago, their religion was an animist one centered on the appeasement of  nature spirits called nats. Over time a set of thirty-seven major nats and a number of minor ones developed; Mount Popa, not far from Bagan, is the major nat pilgrimage site for those in Myanmar, often country folk,  who still believe in nats.

the seated Buddha covered by the cobra head

The iconic moment in Siddhartha’s life when a cobra provided him protection from the rain while he sat in deep meditation is depicted above.  Below is what I assume is a nat figure or two; unfortunately I have yet to learn their story and what they are doing in a side shrine on the Shwemawdaw’s terrace.

two nat figures and a wooden Buddha statue

pavilion at Shwemawdaw Pagoda – perhaps for over-nighting pilgrims

looking out from the above pavilion towards the stupa

bells and mallets at Shwemawdaw pagoda

a monk walks past a planetary post shrine, begging bowl in one hand and fan in the other

enclosed shrine pavilion on perimeter of Shwemawdaw terrace

the center of the above shrine room

another of the 8 Shwemawdaw’s planetary post shrines

Shwemawdaw shrine being attended to

a view of the Shwemawdaw terrace from one of the pavilions

I walked around the zedi a couple of times. As is the custom in Tibet and Nepal, I did so in a clockwise direction. However, I noticed again that this is definitely not the custom in Myanmar as I saw monks and lay Buddhists walk either way.

What does seem to be important is not to expose the bottoms of your feet in the direction of the Buddha statue you have stopped to pray at.  Some of the images above will show petitioners with the soles of their feet properly placed!   I hadn’t really noticed this custom until a few days before when, on a visit to the Shwedagon in Yangon, a French tourist chastised me for being so ignorant as to be sitting the way i was!

Shwemawdaw Pagoda (Zedi) from the terrace of the Hintha Gon

Given all the other places to visit, it was time to move on.  After finding my driver Yan and his car, we headed to Hintha Gon for a quick visit to the hilltop shrine – and the view of Shwemawdaw that you see above.  By mid-afternoon, we had checked off anther four or five sites and in the photo below I am at the top of the Mahazedi looking back at the great stupa of Shwemawdaw one last time. It was a bit hazy but it poked up over the plains of Bago.

the Shwemawdaw Pagoda in the afternoon haze from the top of Mahazedi Paya

Next Post: Bago’s Hintha Gon and the “New” Kanbawzathadi Palace

Having spent two days in Kalaw, we were on the move again. The town of Nyaung Shwe at the top of Inle Lake was our destination. However, before we headed there, we went to Pindaya, famous for the caves in the limestone ridge south of the town.

The attraction is the Shwe Oo Min Pagoda, which fronts an extensive maze of caves and connecting passageways. It was here that Buddhists have placed Buddha statues over the centuries. (The oldest date back about 275 years.)  While there are not quite 10,000 statues  (8091 according to one recent count, 9000 according to another), it is just a question of time before the Buddha count passes that number!

looking back to Pindaya from the Shwe Oo Min Pagoda  entrance

Some fifteen years ago, while in northern Laos, Laila and I had taken a boat some 25 kilometres up the Mekong River from Luang Prabang to see the Buddha statues in the Pak Ou Caves just above the west side banks of the river. The Buddhists of Myanmar and Laos belong to the Theravada branch of the religion. As memorable as that visit had been, the Pindaya Cave complex would contain an even more impressive collection of Buddha statues,  probably reflecting the greater agricultural wealth generated in the Pindaya area.

covered walkway to the Shwe Oo Min Pagoda entrance

Shwe Oo Min entrance

As you approach the pagoda and the entrance to the cave itself, you see the dramatic statues pictured above. The Prince and the Spider statues recall the legend involving the caves, the giant spider, seven princesses held captive in the caves by that spider, and finally, the noble prince Kummabhaya who kills the spider with an arrow from his bow and frees the princesses. Supposedly the name Pindaya is a condensation of “I shot the spider” in the local language!

The Prince Kummabhaya and the Spider at the Pindaya Caves

The cave lies behind the Shwe Oo Min Pagoda itself. The stupa at the front of the cave dates back about nine hundred years. Inside the cave are the innumerable Buddha figures attracting pilgrims with prayers, wishes, and offerings and tourists with their cameras and curiosity.

the final steps up to the Pindaya cave entrance

Getting decent photographs inside the cave proved challenging thanks to the variable light sources – a mix of tungsten and fluorescent – and sometimes just not enough light!   Some people will insist on walking around with the flashes of their cameras firing off,  annoying other people while still producing mediocre images.

My DSLR – a 2011 Sony A77 – was set at Auto White Balance and an iso of 3200, and the following pix are what I got. The tiny on-camera flash is pretty much useless – as well as inappropriate – in this situation. Sensor technology has improved somewhat over the past four years, so perhaps a newer DSLR set at 6400 will produce better images. Indeed, the cell phones that some people used were not up to capturing anything other than souvenir shots. (Not that there is anything wrong with that!)

looking back at the Pindaya Caves entrance

The Buddhas I saw were overwhelmingly seated Buddhas in the “Touching The Earth”  (aka “The Earth Is My Witness”) mudra. This position has the Buddha’s right arm resting on his right leg with the fingers touching the ground he is sitting on. The palm of his hand is turned to the inside. Meanwhile, his left hand rests on his lap, palm up and open. It recalls the moment when Siddhartha Gautama, sitting under the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya, resisted Mara’s last futile enticement. This mudra is the one that 99% of Myanmar Buddha statues are in!

a wall of seated Buddhas at Pindaya Cave

Attached to many of the Buddha figures are plaques with the names of the donors on them. Devout Buddhists have brought the statues here – or have paid someone to do so on their behalf – to gain merit. For a Buddhist layperson, the gaining of merit – whether by offering food to members of the Sangha or by contributing to the building of a paya (stupa) as in Bagan or placing a statue in the cave here in Pindaya – is a fundamental practice.

Theravada Buddhists ultimately aim to be released from the cycle of suffering, samsara, and to achieve nirvana. To achieve success in this world—and to advance to enlightenment in subsequent rebirths—they must build positive karma, or merit.

see below for Harvard Divinity School web page

the Pindaya Buddhas – pilgrim and tourist perform their respective rituals

seated Buddhas wrapped in silk

seated buddhas in the Touch the Earth pose

As in Bagan, the Buddha figures here, while exhibiting the required characteristics of a Buddha – the elongated ears, the stylized bump (ushnisha) on top of the head, etc. – are often not skillfully done. Ultimately, they are here not because of their artistic merit but because they bring merit to those who paid for them or installed them here. I reminded myself that this is not primarily an art gallery or a museum – it is, first and foremost, a living place of pilgrimage for Buddhist believers.

the Pindaya cave ceiling – in some places, it goes up ten or fifteen  meters

the cave ceiling and the green buddhas

Crawling through a narrow tunnel, I came to this small grotto and a believer deep in meditation. In front of him were a dozen different seated Buddha statues, most in the Touching The Earth mudra.

small shrine room inside a side cave at Pindaya

side cave buddhas – two mudras displayed

many Buddhas, all in a row

I was puzzled when I came upon the following Buddha statue. His right palm faces outward, and his index finger is curled up and seems to be holding something. I had not noticed this particular mudra in any of the other statues.

Seated Buddha with medicine bowl and the dharma seed?

And now there were a number of the unusual mudras all nearby. Below are a couple of other examples of the unusual hand gesture. When I returned home, further research turned up an explanation. See below for the quote that made sense of it all!

close-up of a nearby Buddha with a similar mudra

yet another Pindaya Buddha with the unusual mudra

Within the cave, there are about seventy unique images of the Bhisakkaguru tradition dating to the late 18th century. They are unique in that the styling of hair, eyes, nose, ears, robe are different from most other images from Burma.

The salient feature of this type of image is the holding of a seed in the upturned right palm. Than Tun reports that such images are found nowhere else in Burma, and based on Buddhist iconography, that these images are from the Mahayana tradition, and the conjecture is that the Pindaya cave at one time served the Mahayana Bhisakkaguru cult.

“Pindaya Caves”, Wikipedia article

another dharma seed mudra on display

two Buddhas in the same mudra- bent index finger on the right hand

And then it was back to the usual Touching The Earth mudra of most of the cave’s statues.

crudely sculpted Buddha figure in touching the earth mudra

a few of the almost 10,000 Buddhas in the Pindaya Caves

Time was running out, and I headed for the exit to rejoin the others when I came upon a passageway that led to a whole new section of the cave complex that I hadn’t even realized was there! The images below show a much less crowded and claustrophobic area of the cave; another 100 years and future generations of merit-seeking Buddhists will fill up the empty space.

the passageway to another wing of the Pindaya cave

Pindaya cave – a new less claustrophobic wing

more miniature Buddha figures and their donors

additional space to be filled with Buddhas in the future

seated Buddha with unusual hand gestures

———————

Useful Links:

The Wikipedia entry “Pindaya Caves” is an excellent overview of the topic.

The Lonely Planet website has some basic info on the caves and how to get there.

A brief article titled “Buddhism In Myanmar” in Harvard Divinity School’s Religious Literacy Project explains the significance of merit-making in Myanmar Buddhism.

Next Post: Myanmar Travels: The Road From Pindaya To Nyaung Shwe In Shan State