yangon, sule pagoda

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The Sule Pagoda is a Burmese stupa located in the heart of downtown Yangon, occupying the centre of the city and an important space in contemporary Burmese politics, ideology and geography. According to legend, it was built before the Shwedagon Pagoda during the time of the Buddha, making it more than 2,500 years old. Burmese legend states that the site for the Shwedagon Pagoda was asked to be revealed from an old nat who resided at the place where the Sule Pagoda now stands.

The Sule Pagoda has been the focal point of both Yangon and Burmese politics. It has served as a rallying point in both the 1988 uprisings and 2007 Saffron Revolution.

The pagoda is listed on the Yangon City Heritage List

The Sule Pagoda incorporated the original Indian structure of the stupa, which initially was used to replicate the form and function of a relic mound. However, as Burmese culture became more independent of its South Indian influences, local architectural forms began to change the shape of the pagoda. It is believed to enshrine a strand of hair of the Buddha that the Buddha himself is said to have given to the two Burmese merchant brothers, Tapissa and Balika. The dome structure, topped with a golden spire, extends into the skyline, marking the cityscape

According to Burmese legend the site where the Sule pagoda now stands was once the home of a powerful nat (spirit) named Sularata (the Sule Nat). The king of the Nats, Sakka, wished to help the legendary king Okkalap build a shrine for the Buddha's sacred hair-relic on the same site where three previous Buddhas had buried sacred relics in past ages. Unfortunately, these events had happened so long ago that not even Sakra knew exactly where the relics were buried.

The Sule nat, however, who was so old that his eyelids had to be propped up with trees in order for him to stay awake, had witnessed the great event. The gods, Nats and humans of the court of Okkalapa therefore gathered around the Sule Ogre and asked him the location, which he eventually remembered.

Sularata Nat (Sule Nat)

The Sule Pagoda was made the center of Yangon by Lt. Alexander Fraser of the Bengal Engineers, who created the present street layout of Yangon soon after the British occupation in the middle of the 19th century.The Sule Pagoda is located in the center of downtown Yangon and is part of the city’s economic and public life. During the 1988 and 2007 protests, the Sule Pagoda was a functional meeting point for anti-government and pro-democracy protesters.

The peacock has an important role in Burmese culture. It was the emblem of the Kon-baung Dynasty (1845-1941) the last of the Burmese dynasties and it symbolized the belief that the monarchy descended from the sun. The Burmese Peacock Dance relates to droughts caused by the sun, and sacrificing a peacock is a gesture to bring forth rain and the heavenly gift of fertility.

roundels encircling a peacock and a rabbit, indicating the sun and the moon

The peacock also has

considerable significance in the Buddhist

religion, especially Theravada Buddhism which is

practiced in Burma. In the

Buddhist Jataka, the

peacock is the shape under

which the Bodhisattva

teaches renunciation of

worldly attachments.

There are eight Day shrines, one for each day of the week (in the Burmese calendar, Wednesday is divided into two parts), dotted around the eight corners of the stupa (the stupa is octagonal), and most Burmese pray at their day shrine when visiting a pagoda. If you can figure out the day of the week when you were born, light a candle, place some flowers, or pour water over the shrine corresponding to that day.

Each shrine also has a planet and a beast associated with it, the most interesting one being the Gahlon, a mythical half-bird half-beast said to guard Mount Meru (the shrine for Sunday)

Worshippers make offerings to planetary posts according to the day of the week they were born

The day that one has born is the most important in daily life in Myanmar.Myanmar strongly believe in astrology and the day you born is playing a major factor to tell your fate, match making, business dealing, house whole building, in worse case to buy a car or to apply a job, Myanmar do consult with astrologer or Buddhist Monks who then refer to your birth day to tell you the do's and don'ts.

In esoteric Buddhism the peacock is a symbol of wholeness, since it combines all colors when it spreads out its tail in a fan. It exhibits intrinsic identify and the short-lived nature of all things, since its forms appear and vanish as swiftly as the peacock displays and furls its tail. Peacocks and rabbits represented the sun and the moon respectively. peacock / rabbit are the symbols for the moon and the sun and signify eternal brilliance.

One famous pavilion on the compound of Sule Pagoda is the Pavilion of the Sule Bo Bo Gyi (Grandfather Nat of Sule). According to legends this nat is said to be so old that he had been able to pay homage to all four Buddhas that had appeared in this world. It was said in the Shwedagon Pagoda chronicles that he was the one who directed the Sacred Hairs of Lord Buddha to be buried at Sanguttira Hill where the world famous Shwedagon Pagoda now stands.

Many Myanmar people believe

that he has powers to help them in their actions and commercial

enterprises and his pavilion is

always crowded.

Others says that he is one

of the guardians of

Buddhism and is entitled to

receive homage from the devotees.

Large temple bells are donated to the temple by lay people and are highly regarded – they are struck three times at the end of personal spiritual practice as an invitation for all to share in the good fortune accumulated and others show their approval by declaring thadu, thadu, thadu, which means well done, well done, well done.

A tiger statue that is associated with the moon and Monday. Worshippers make offerings to planetary posts according to the day of the week they were born.

There are also many astrologers on the northern stairways for those interested to foresee their future. 

Long planetary post

The Chinthe is a leogryph (lion-like creature)

that is often seen

at the entrances

of pagodas

and temples in Burma and

other Southeast

Asian countries

Text: InternetPictures: Sanda Foişoreanu & InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanu www.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound Hlaing Win Maung - Pleasing melody (xylophone)