Bago : Ancient City With Renewed Splendour

Bago (Pegu),50 miles north of Yangon, in recent years is fast recovering its once ancient splendor. It was the capital city of the Hamasavati Kingdom for many centuries under the Mon and Myanmar Kings, when Yangon or Dagon, as it was then known, was little more than a small pilgrimage town near the great Shwe Dagon Pagoda. Bago can be reached by roads; a newly widened six-lane highway is now complete, with factories, industrial complexes, cafes, hotels, golf courses and other facilities along the way. Air-conditioned buses now ply this route. On the roads are good restaurants and cafes where visitors can take rides on horse-drawn carriages and bullock carts around a lovely lake, or enjoy the food and the scenery. Bago can also be reached by railway. Early Travellers In ancient times visitors from Europe could go by ship directly to Bago. Some like Ralph Fitch (November 2586), the first Englishman to visit Myanmar, have left records of the splendor and glory of Bago, a grandeur and a greatness not seen in Europe cities of the time. Fitch wrote that "Pegu is a city very great and very fair with walls of stone and great ditches round about it. There are two towns, the old town and the new. In the old town are all the local citizens, strangers and very many merchants of the country... In the new town is the King and all the nobility and gentry. It is a city very great and populous and it made square and with very fair walls, and a great ditch, round about it full of water, with many crocodiles in it … The streets are the fairest that ever I saw, as straight as a line from one gate to the other, and so broad that ten or twelve men may ride a-front through them. Bago is an hour and a half's pleasant drive to the north of Yangon, which is a pleasurable outing for the family or to take visitors around. Before bridges were constructed across the Hline/Yangon River and Bago River to the south, east and west of Yangon, Bago to the north was the only noteworthy town to visit from Yangon on a day's trip. Let me take you, reader, on a short tour of this ancient city which is now becoming rapidly a historical, cultural and business centre, on the road to Mandalay and Mawlamyine (Moulmein). The Pagodas First, the pagoda; as in nearly all the ancient cities of Myanmar only the pagodas have survived from the past, because they were the only structures built of stone, brick and mortar, unlike the houses and other buildings like palaces, markets, monasteries, rest-houses and so on, mostly built of wood and bamboo. The first pagoda we should visit is the great Shwe-maw-daw Pagoda. The height of this pagoda is actually a little higher than the famous Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Yango. Though Sudasanaa Hill on which Shwe-maw-taw is built is lower in height thanTheinguttara Hill on which Shwe Dagon is constructed, the actual pagoda with a height of 373 feet is taller than Shwe Dagon Pagoda, whose height is 326 feet. Legendary history says that both Shwe-maw-daw and Shwe Dagon are from the time of the Buddha, i.e. about 2,553 years old. Similar to the Shwe Dagon this greatly venerated pagoda was first built by merchant brothers, in this legend named Mahasala and Cullasala, who brought back from Indian two sacred hairs bestowed by the Buddha to enshrine therein. The Shwe-maw-daw Pagoda is of architectural interest as it has an octagonal base with elaborate multi-plane projections in the lower portion which is quite old. Bago is in earthquake-prone zone and the top part of the pagoda collapsed each time during three major earthquakes in 1912, 1917 and 1930. Reconstruction, with an earthquake-proof structure from the bell-shaped dome to the finial "umbrella", was completed only in April 1954. Visitors can see in the Pagoda Museum a number of ancient Buddha images of stone and bronze found in the damaged top part of the pagoda after the earthquake. The next religious edifice you should certainly see while you are in Bago is the large reclining image of the Buddha, 180 feet in length and 52.5 feet in height. This is one of the largest reclining Buddha images in the world, but believe it or not, it was "lost" for many years as it became covered with earth in the scrub jungle, until an Indian contractor digging the huge mound for earth, found the ancient bricks. The Buddhist community raised a storm of protest which stopped the bricks from being further destroyed. The image was restored in 1881. I was originally built in 944 A.D. by King Migadipa (Jr.), and his official name is Shin-bin-tha-lyaung but it is popularly known as Shwe-tha-lyaung "the golden reclining image. It has been renovated and covered with a large prayer shed (Aryon Khan Tazaung) with lovely glass mosaic work on parts of the image. On both sides of the main approach leading to the stairway for the pagoda are the souvenir shops, mainly run by the local Mon and Myanmar people, where beautiful lacquerware, wood, straw and shell artifacts can be brought at cheap prices. There are many other famous pagodas in Bago, like the Mahazedi (the Great Stupa) built by King Bayinnaung in 1560 A.D., and Hinthakone Pagoda, which you should see. Tradition has it that Hinthakone is the hill where the two sacred mythical ducks called Hintha (Hamsa) alighted, when only the very top of the hill was above the ocean. The name Hanthawadi or Hamsavati, by which Bago and her kingdom were known, originated from this name. There is also a famous sacred ordination hall called Kayuani Sima, which in the 15th century had connecitons with Sri Lanka. The Hanthawadi Palace Kanbawza Thadi, the famous palace of King Bayinnaung (1551-1581 A.D) is being extensively excavated and some buildings re being rebuilt. King Bayinnaung was the founder of the Second Myanmar Empire, which stretched from the borders of India to parts of Thailand and Laos. In 1566 A.D. he built a new capital city called Hanthawadi on what is now Bago. To the south of the Shwe-maw-daw Pagoda he built a grand palace which he named Kanbawza Thadi. Excavations at the palace site were started on 25 April, 1990. The Archaeological Department has up to now excavated six mounds which revealed the brick foundations and plinths of the old palace. Many teak pillars, some with inscriptions, were also found. The Settaw Saung, one of the main rooms of the palace, has been reconstructed and the work is finished. Also the main Audience Hall (the Lion Throne Room) has been rebuilt. The palace site transferred to the Arcaeology Department comprises 9,662 acres. The reconstructed 16the century palace of Hanthawadi and the whole palace site becomes a main tourist attraction. There is also an interesting archaeological museum on the excavation site. Finally before you leave Bago you should visit a famous teaching monastery, a Pariyatti University called Kha Khat Waing, on seven acres of land with about 1000 monks and monk students, which is well worth visiting. Roads, bridges, markets and hotels are all being developed and enlarged. It will not be long before Bago becomes again a city of renewed splendour.