These relics were the ‘taunghmwedaw’, walking staff of the 25th Buddha Kakusandha, the ‘yesittaw’, water filter of the 26th Buddha Konagamana, and a piece of ‘yethanauttaw’ the bathing robe of the 27th Buddha Kassapa, enshrined. The Mon king Okkalapa lived at the time in question in close vicinity of the 58 meter/ 188 ft high Singuttara hill, which – as legend goes – was already at that time a for Buddhist sacred hill because somewhere hidden on its top were relics of the 3 Buddhas preceding Gautama Buddha. Back then the area where Okkala was built was – like most of the south coast area – low lying and often swampy land. Assuming that Siddhartha Gautama was born between 563 BC and 483 BC and further assuming that he became Buddha at the age of 35, which would be between 528 BC and 403 BC, a year between 590 BC and 580 BC can be the correct period in which our story begins. OK, let me now travel back in time, get more specific about the ‘puzzle pieces’ and put them together by telling you the following amazing story that has its beginning long before the Pagan dynasty emerged in the late 9th century under the Pyu king Thamudarit.Īs legend has it, it all began way back in the mists of history and legend of the 6th century BC, more precisely around 585 BC, with the small settlement of Okkala founded by the western Mon who at that time had already established earliest southeast Asian civilisations, cultures and kingdoms in the areas of present times Mon State as well as along the southern border between Burma and Thailand and in south Burma’s fertile delta region, namely, the Bago Division, Yangon Division and Pathein District (Ayeyawaddy Delta) with their later main centres being Thaton and Bago. It is safe to say, that without the Mon, Yangon and the Shwedagon pagoda (just as so many other things) as we know them would not exist in Burma and without the British, Yangon (the original beautiful British Colonial Rangoon part) would certainly neither have its present townscape nor its importance as port city and economic hub. The histories of Rangoon/Yangon and the Shwedagon pagoda are inseparably intertwined and the coming into being of one required and/or made possible the coming into being of the other. These ‘pieces’ that were essential to Yangon’s coming to be in both legend and reality are the Mon Kingdom Suvannabhumi, the Mon King Okkalapa, the small fishing village Okkala (later Dagon), the holy Singuttara hill, relics of 4 Buddhas including those of the present Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, the merchant brothers Tapussa and Bhallika from Okkala, Taninganway Gyo Min, king of the celestials also called Thagyamin, Sularata, also called Sule nat (guardian spirit), the Mon queen Shinsawbu, the Burmese King Alaungpaya and several other successive Mon and Burmese kings of different eras, the Shwedagon Pagoda and, of course, most importantly the British. The Yangon of today is in a manner of speaking a completed puzzle the pieces of which come from different times, different political situations, different political and religious events and different places. ![]() ![]() The origins and genesis of Rangoon, at the time of this writing since 26 years called Yangon, are a mixture of legend, mystery and proven historic reality. ![]() History Of Rangoon (Yangon) And The Shwedagon Pagoda
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