Burmese pagoda

Burmese pagodas are stupas that typically house Buddhist relics, including relics associated with Buddha.^[1] Pagodas feature prominently in Myanmar's landscape, earning the country the moniker "land of pagodas."^[2] Several cities in the country, including Mandalay and Bagan, are known for their abundance of pagodas. Pagodas are the site of seasonal pagoda festivals.^[3]

Bawbawgyi Pagoda is one of the earliest existing examples of a Burmese pagoda.

Burmese pagodas are enclosed in a compound known as the aran (အာရာမ်, from Pali ārāma), with gateways called mok (မုခ်, from Pali mukha) at the four cardinal directions. The platform surrounding a Burmese pagoda is called a yinbyin (ရင်ပြင်).

According to 2016 statistics compiled by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, Myanmar is home to 1,479 pagodas exceeding 27 feet (8.2 m) in height, a quarter of which are located in Sagaing Region.^[4]

1. Sagaing Region 372 (28.5%)
2. Kachin State 187 (14.3%)
3. Yangon Region 161 (12.3%)
4. Mandalay Region 157 (12.0%)
5. Magwe Region 97 (7.44%)
6. Ayeyarwady Region 78 (5.98%)
7. Kayin State 44 (3.37%)
8. Shan State 44 (3.37%)
9. Tanintharyi Region 40 (3.07%)
10. Mon State 34 (2.61%)
11. Rakhine State 26 (1.99%)
12. Chin State 24 (1.84%)
13. Kayah State 22 (1.69%)
14. Bago Region 18 (1.38%)

Terms

Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is Myanmar's most prominent zedi.

Ananda Temple in Bagan is a classic example of a pahto.

In the Burmese language, pagodas are known by a number of various terms. The umbrella term phaya (ဘုရား, pronounced [pʰəjá]), which derives from Sanskrit vara,^[5] refers to pagodas, images of the Buddha, as well as royal and religious personages, including the Buddha, kings, and monks.^[6] Zedi or jedi^[7] (စေတီ), which derives from Pali cetiya, specifically refers to typically solid, bell-shaped stupas that may house relics.^[8] Pahto (ပုထိုး) refers to hollow square or rectangular buildings built to resemble caves, with chambers that house images of the Buddha.^[1][8] Burmese pagodas are distinguished from kyaungs in that the latter are monasteries that house Buddhist monks.

Types

Burmese zedis are classified into four prevalent types:

1. Datu zedi (ဓာတုစေတီ, from Pali dhātucetiya) or datdaw zedi (ဓာတ်တော်စေတီ) - zedis enshrining relics of the Buddha or arhats^[9]
2. Paribawga zedi (ပရိဘောဂစေတီ, from Pali paribhogacetiya) - zedis enshrining garments and other items (alms bowls, robes, etc.) that belonged to the Buddha or sacred personages^[9]
3. Dhamma zedi (ဓမ္မစေတီ, from Pali dhammacetiya) - zedis enshrining sacred texts and manuscripts, along with jewels and precious metals^[9]
4. Odeiktha zedi (ဥဒ္ဒိဿစေတီ, from Pali uddissacetiya) - zedis built from motives of piety, containing statues of the Buddha, models of sacred images^[9]

Of the four classes, dhammazedis and udeikthazedis are the most prevalent, since they are routinely erected by donors as a work of merit.^[9] Burmese zedis are typically constructed with bricks, covered with whitewashed stucco.^[9] Prominent zedis are gilded with gold.^[9] Burmese zedis are crowned with a spired final ornament known as the hti, which is hoisted in a traditional ceremony (ထီးတော်တင်ပွဲ, htidaw tin pwe) that dates to the pre-colonial era.^[10][11]

See also

• Myanmar portal

• Buddhism in Myanmar
• Cetiya
• Awgatha
• Pagoda festival
• Dhamma Talaka Pagoda, Birmingham UK
• Global Vipassana Pagoda, Mumbai India
• Golden Pagoda, Arunachal Pradesh India
• Sand pagoda
• Stupas in Sri Lanka
• Relics associated with Buddha