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Shwethalyaung Buddha, Bago

Shwethalyaung Buddha in Bago is the most revered reclining Buddha in Myanmar. The Shwethalyaung depicts the Buddha on the eve of entering nibbana (nirvana). At 55 m ( 181 ft), the Shwethalyaung Buddha is not as big as the colossal Kyaukhtatgyi Buddha statue of Yangon. However, the Shwethalyaung is older and, arguably, regarded as more artistically rendered. It is also 9m longer than the reclining Buddha in Wat Po, Bangkok.

Shwethalyaung Buddha, Bago.

The Shwethalyaung Buddha was built by King Migadippa I in 994, before the Mons were conquered by the Burmans. King Dhammazedi restored it during his reign. Then, when Bago was destroyed in 1757, the Shwethalyaung was lost under layers of vegetation, and was only rediscovered in 1881 when workmen building a railway line for the British stumbled over it.

In 1906, after the undergrowth had been cleared, a tazaung (pavilion) was built over it. Although the tazaung prevented the Buddha statue from being view in whole, it does provide some protection to the statue against the elements. Today, a temple complex has sprung up around this statue, with souvenir vendors hawking their wares along the route to the statue.

Vendor selling a type of baked banana cake by the roadside outside the temple of the Shwethalyaung Buddha.

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Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

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