BURMA: Shwedagon
A `waking, winking wonder` is Rudyard
Kipling`s description of the glowing gold Shwedagon Pagoda standing on
Singaturra hill, overlooking the city of Rangoon. Burmese legend says the
temple enshrines eight hairs of the Buddha and that on being taken out of
their casket more than 2500 years ago, ….the Heavens moved….the Blind could
behold objects...the Deaf could hear... Lightning flashed… Winds blew…and
gems rained down, until knee-deep. The Shwedagon is the most lavish place of
Buddhist worship in the world. The stem of the pagoda is plated with some
20,000 solid gold bars; the hti canopy on top is set with 5448 diamonds and
2317 rubies, while the tip is crowned with a single, 76 carat diamond. Huge
stone chinthes mythical lions, guard four street level entrances to the
pagoda. Inside, long stairways lead up to the platform where barefoot
Buddhists circumambulate sixty-four smaller pagodas clustered around the
base of the stupa. It is a place of beauty and serenity with monks kneeling
in prayer, and people burning incense, and offering flowers to small statues
of the Buddha. One of the world`s biggest bells, the 45 tonne Maha Tissada
Gandha Bell, donated by King Tharrawaddy in 1841, hangs in a pavilion on the
north-east terrace. It is struck on the occasion of Wesak, when thousands of
pilgrims pack the Shwedagon to celebrate Buddha`s birthday.