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Affectionately known to the Mandalay populace as Paya Gyi or the Great Pagoda, the Maha Muni is the most important image in the country while the Shwedagon of Yangon is the most glorious of pagodas. The great image was originally situated in the Rakhine kingdom but in the 18th century when the country was not yet formed into a union, a king of Upper Myanmar had sent troops led by his son the Crown Prince to Rakhine, who returned with this cast bronze image in 1784.
The long and rich Rakhine civilisation has a strong tradition of skilled casting. Devotees believe this image to have been cast during
Buddha's lifetime and under His supervision, that the Buddha blew His breath on the image and gave it life. First it could even speak but fearing that the words of an image might be misunder- stood by the public the Buddha again made it immobile and speechless. Certainly it is an art of great antiquity, cast from analloy of five metals of gold, silver, zinc, copper and whatmight have been tin. This alloy is called Pyinsa Lawha in the Pali language and the metal workers were so skilled the flow of morten metal to have the gold settle at the face of the image. |
Upon reaching Upper Myanmar the 4 metres hiqh enshrined in an ornate pavilion built at a site that was to become the city of Mandalay seventy-five years later. At the time it was an empty but beautifully cool place under the shadow of Mandalay Hill. The original pavilion was destroyed by a fire in 1884 and a new one erected; fortunately the image was not harmed. Thousands of devotees over the centuries have applied gold leaf to the image apart from the face, so that the body and limbs have become thick with |
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| the multiple layers of gold. Every morning at 4 a.m., attended by hundreds of votees, the presiding monks of the pagoda ritually wash the face with water scented with fragrant wood paste and brush lips with the traditional toothbrush of a crushed twig from the Neem tree. New towels brought by devotees are used to rub the face clean. The left- over scented water and towels are received by grateful devotees to keep at home as relics. |
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There are four walkways and the one on the east leads to the front of the image inside an ornate pavilion. Corridors leading to this pavilion are lined with massive red pillars. Pilgrims reverently kneel to pray and the men climb up to the throne of the image to apply gold leaf to the image.
Outside of this central prayer hall are other pavilions, one with two huge bronze ce\estials holding up an immense gong. A small pavilion against a wall has to the Myanmar king of Hanthawaddy, and then they were taken in turn by the Rakhine. When the Myanmar king brought over the Maha Muni Image from Rakhine he also brought these images. Fifty years ago the huge bronze figures had thick iron chains around their ankles: for they kept trying to run away home, it is said. Pilgrims who come to this pagoda often rub the places on the figures where they were suffering an ache or illness, such those with weak hearts rubbing the area of the heart, or those suffering from gastritis rubbing the stomach, and those with aching knee joints rubbing the knees of the figures. These places on the figures are now polished to a sparkling sheen.
The eastern walkway is busiest and most crowded with small shops lining both sides. Shop girls call to customers or laugh with each other as they sit by their goods of flowers, jade beads or buttons, bronze and silver wares, lacquer boxes, gilded figurines, folk toys, boxes woven of palm leaves, bamboo flutes and religious paraphernalia. The colours, sights and sounds create a constant atmosphere of exciting liveliness.
Another walkway is lined with small cubicles where Brahmin astrologers ply their profession. Most are descended from the court astrologers of ancient times who served the Myanmar kings. Another walkway leads towards the marble cutters' quarters where wide roads are lined with blocks of alabaster that are raw, or half-carved into images or completed into images that are being polished with chamois leather. This marbte comes from the Sagyin Quarries not far from Mandalay, and they have been producing blemish free blocks of all sizes for centuries. The marble image's robes curl and flow in the breeze as if they were the softest silk. Orders come from other countries and exquisite images of Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, are often made here.
Another walkway is darker, where gilded shrines, thrones for Buddha images and chairs for revered Abbots are made. The carved wood pieces are completely covered with relief designs formed with organic clay called Thayo, a mixture of wood ash, saw dust and a few drops of lacquer. After the surface is dry, the whole is gilded with real or the cheaper fake gold leaf. Sometimes polished glass brilliants are embedded in the Thayo patterns before it dries completely.
The Maha Muni Pagoda is a place that people from Mandalay and environs love to visit, not only to pray but to enjoy the beauti- ful surroundings and sights, Also, the image is very dear to the Myanmar Buddhist, as if it were indeed true that the Buddha once brought it to life.
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