Shitthaung Pagoda Festival will be held on 8 May 2009 to 12 May 2009 (5 Days).
Anyone can donate to the Board of Trustees for the Shitthaung Pagoda by pass of the following persons.
1. U San Maung, President - Board of Trustees for the Shitthaung Pagoda
Ph: 043-24200-50160
2. U Aye Maung, President - Mrauk-U Association (Yangon)
Ph: 095024733
Festival Included Following Events:
§ Rakhine Traditional Boat Racing
§ Rakhine Traditional Wrestling Competition
§ Rakhine Traditional Dance & Opera Show
The Shitthaung Pagoda
In Mrauk-U, located about half a mile north of the palace site is the Shitthaung Pagoda or the Shrine of 80,000 images. Shitthaung means Eighty Thousand and is a commonly used name although the true title is Ran Aung Zeya, meaning 'victory over enemies’. It stands on a promontory half way up to the west side of a hillock named Phokhaung Taung. The donor of the Shitthaung was Minbargyi, the most powerful king of the Mrauk-U Dynasty. According to the stone script inscription he was also called as Minbin and reigned Rakhine from 1531 to 1553 A.D. The King built this remarkable Pagoda in 1535 A.D after the successful defense against the Portuguese attack on the City of Mrauk-U.
One thousand architects and workmen had built the pagoda for a year. 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. The first platform appears to contain two small pagodas all built of sandstone. They were said by tradition to have been built by the donor of the Shitthaung Pagoda, King Minbin. They were called Nay Htwet Para (Sun Arise Pagoda) and Nay Win Para (Sun Set Pagoda). Nay-Htwet Para is octagonal; the sides are concave and the entrance faces the east. Another small pagoda is Nay Win Para, a stupa shape with a circular base. The King Minbin built these pagodas to show his dominion and autocracy.
The inner temple court east of the main shrine is occupied by a wooden prayer-hall which houses innumerable Buddha images. Before entering the main hall is a stone pillar with inscriptions in Rakhine characters. According to the inscription, the pillar was engraved by order of King Minrazargyi in 1593 A.D. In the upper pillar there is a sculpture of the King and his four ministers. Close to the inscribed pillar lies an image of King Minbin, the donor of this Shitthaung Pagoda. Opposite the entrance is a main image of Buddha, seated on a throne with /bumiphasa mudra/. The image is 9 feet in height. The central pagoda measures 160 feet long, 124 feet broad, and 86 feet high. On the north and south walls stand at regular intervals circular, turret-like pagodas. There are one bigger and fourteen smaller ones on the north and a bigger one and seventeen smaller ones on the south and were built of brick; between each turret a stone slab is erected into the wall. Both sides of the slab contain sculptures in bold relief; the side facing the inner temple usually represents an image of Buddha, the outer side an ogre, naga or mythical birds or beasts. One depicts a cobra with spreading hood holding a lotus flower in its mouth. The shrine itself has a gallery all-round the structure and a dark passage, which leads to the inner chambers. The outer wall contains at regular intervals arched passages; each holds two sitting life-size images of Buddha; they are placed back to back. The inner wall consists of well-hewn blocks of stone cut over its whole length (312') into six tiers of figures. The corner was placed with large four central figures, such as King Brahmans of SE corner, Thagra-min surrounded by his four queens of NE corner, Satu- Lokapala of NW corner, the donor, King Minbin surrounded by ministers and queens of SW corner. The lowest belt of the pagoda represents men in native (Rakhine) costume, manner and tradition, in the manners of wrestling, boxing, dancing, playing, and general merry-making. The first, second, third, fourth, and fifth belts depict the 550 earlier lives of Buddha. There are over a thousand sculptures.
The topmost girdle shows human figures, male and female in praying attitude. From these inscribed sculptures one can learn something about old Rakhine musical instruments and traditional dances. Along the gallery, each corner and each side was provided with both female and male figures of Vasundhra. Therefore, Shitthaung was also regarded as a sima (ordination hall). Along the other two inner galleries are deposited hundreds of Buddha images of varying sizes. A sculpted Buddha's foot-print is placed in the last passage. It is plain; there are no figure-prints on the sole of an upturned foot.
An Evidence of Early Buddhism in the Shitthaung Pagoda
The Shitthaung Pillar : The pillar is very well known and is situated at the entrance of the Shitthaung Pagoda. It is said to have been brought from Vesali to Mrauk-U, and placed at this site by King Minbin, in 1535 A.D who reigned over Rakhine from 1513 to 1553 A.D. It had fallen during the bombardment in the Second World War and has been re-erected in a cage near the same entrance. The pillar is square, rising to a height of 10 feet; each side is 2' 4" broad. Three sides are covered with inscriptions in Sanskrit; the inscription on the north side is also badly damaged; the western face inscription is best preserved. The south side has not been inscribed. Paramount to the history of Arakan is the famous Shitthaung pillar, a stone stele inscribed by kings from the 6th century on and carried from capital to capital. The Shitthaung pillar inscription of Anandachandra, who ruled the next Vesali in the 8th century, records a genealogy of 22 kings. Anandachandra is described as a devout Buddhist, who welcomed monks from Sri Lanka to whom he sent an elephant and robes.
Dr. Johnston was the first to read the western face inscription fully. It was dated on paleographic grounds as the beginning of the 8th century A.D. His readings reveal a list of kings who ruled in ancient Rakhine from the 6th century to 8th century A.D. Although the eastern side of pillar is now completely illegible it can be dated between 3rd century and 6th century A.D. It is considered to be the inscription of early Rakhine kingdoms, mostly Dhanyawaddy.
Stone pillar of the Shithaung Pagoda: There is an octagonal red sandstone column, 8' 10" high above the ground. The circumference around the base measures 72" (9" to each side); towards the apex there is a band decoration consisting of an enclosed row of dots and a double lotus petal motif, with a major petal at each of the eight corners. Stone slab. Close to the pillar lies a large stone slab, 12' long, 4' 2" broad and 10-12" thick. At the lower end, depicted in relief, is a wavy line suggestive of water, from which rises a right-vaulted winged conch shell with a lotus growing from the aperture, the tip of the petals touching the outer edge of an ornately carved wheel symbolizing dhammacakka , (the Wheel of the Law) its outer rim enclosing a circle of dots, and the inner rim comprising a double lotus petal motif.The design appears to be emblematic of Brahmanism (the conch), which produced Buddhism (the lotus flower), the dhammacakka. On the other hand, the design suggests the fertility and prosperity (lotus), which arises from the waters (wave and conch) when the Cakravartin , Monarch (wheel) holds sway. The motif constantly appears in -ancient Rakhine's art. At the upper end of the wheel is a square hole sunk into the stone, 5" deep, 2' 4" long, and 2' 8" broad; next follows a circular, cup-like hole, 4" deep and 6" across the opening; the reverse of the stone is only a rough-hewn surface. As the sides of the inscribed pillar also measure 2'4", Dr.Forchhammer suggested that the stone slab, which must have been from 18-20' long, but is broken off above the cup-like hollow, was originally a lintel or architrave, the square hole capped the inscribed pillar forming the left-hand post of the entrance gate; the circular hollow received the revolving axis of a swinging door; that portion of the lintel which exhibits the dhammacakka, the lotus and conch, protruded over the north-side of the inscribed pillar to counterbalance the weight of the opposite part of the slab (now broken) which formed the actual lintel over the entrance, the octagonal pillar constituted the right-hand post of the entrance. The construction of the gate forcibly calls to mind the "turning of the Wheel of the Law", the essential function of the Buddhist Cakravartin King, to whom was given the power to regulate the celestial and terrestrial forces in order to control the coming of the rains which would ensure the continuing prosperity of the Kingdom. Hence, the Cakra of the lintel was depicted as merging into pillar, on which, as we shall see, the continuity of the dhamma of the Rakhine Cakravartin Kings was recorded. The form of the pillar on the opposite side is also not without significance. In common with other pillars associated with Cakravartin Kingship, it is eight-sided, symbolizing the eight directions of the macrocosmic country and the macrocosmic universe (see. "Asokan" pillars). The decoration around the upper portion is identical with that of the dakkra on the lintel, the lotus petal in each corner suggesting that the effect of the royal dhamma was to be felt in each of the eight corners. Its significance was still remembered in the 16th century, when King Minbin had it erected and built at his remarkable royal shrine, the Shitthaung Pagoda. But all were ruined during the Second World War.
