Burmese pagodas are

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

s that typically house

Buddhist relics Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gr ...

, including

relics associated with Buddha According to the '' Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta'' ( Sutta 16 of the '' Dīgha Nikāya''), after attaining ''parinirvana'', the body of Buddha was cremated and the ashes divided among his lay followers. Division of the relics According to the '' ...

. Pagodas feature prominently in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

's landscape, earning the country the moniker "land of pagodas." According to 2016 statistics compiled by the

State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee The State Saṅgha Mahā Nāyaka Committee ( my, နိုင်ငံတော် သံဃာ့မဟာနာယကအဖွဲ့, abbreviated Mahana or in Burmese, SSMNC in English) is a government-appointed body of high-ranking Buddhis ...

, Myanmar is home to 1,479 pagodas exceeding in height, a quarter of which are located in

Sagaing Region Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...

. Several cities in the country, including Mandalay and

Bagan Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wou ...

, are known for their abundance of pagodas. Pagodas are the site of seasonal

pagoda festival Pagoda festivals ( my, ဘုရားပွဲ; ''paya pwe'') are regular festivals found throughout Burma (Myanmar) that commemorate major religious events in pagoda's history, including the founding of a pagoda and the crowning of the pagoda's ...

s. 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).

Terms

In the

Burmese language Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the count ...

, pagodas are known by a number of various terms. The umbrella term ''phaya'' (, pronounced ), which derives from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

''vara'', refers to pagodas, images of the Buddha, as well as royal and religious personages, including the Buddha, kings, and monks. ''Zedi'' (စေတီ), which derives from

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

cetiya upright=1.25, Phra Pathom Chedi, one of the biggest Chedis in Thailand; in Thai, the term Chedi (cetiya) is used interchangeably with the term Stupa Cetiya, "reminders" or "memorials" (Sanskrit ''caitya''), are objects and places used by Buddhi ...

'', specifically refers to typically solid, bell-shaped stupas that may house relics. ''Pahto'' (ပုထိုး) refers to hollow square or rectangular buildings built to resemble caves, with chambers that house images of the Buddha. 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: # ''Datu zedi'' (ဓာတုစေတီ, from Pali ''dhātucetiya'') or ''datdaw zedi'' (ဓာတ်တော်စေတီ) - zedis enshrining relics of the Buddha or

arhat In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...

s # ''Paribawga zedi'' (ပရိဘောဂစေတီ, from Pali ''paribhogacetiya'') - zedis enshrining garments and other items (alms bowls, robes, etc.) that belonged to the Buddha or sacred personages # ''Dhamma zedi'' (ဓမ္မစေတီ, from Pali ''dhammacetiya'') - zedis enshrining sacred texts and manuscripts, along with jewels and precious metals # ''Odeiktha zedi'' (ဥဒ္ဒိဿစေတီ, from Pali ''uddissacetiya'') - zedis built from motives of piety, containing statues of the Buddha, models of sacred images Of the four classes, ''dhammazedi''s and ''udeikthazedi''s are the most prevalent, since they are routinely erected by donors as a work of

merit Merit may refer to: Religion * Merit (Christianity) * Merit (Buddhism) * Punya (Hinduism) * Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity Companies and brands * Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria * Merit Energy Company, ...

. Burmese zedis are typically constructed with bricks, covered with whitewashed stucco. Prominent zedis are gilded with gold. Burmese zedis are crowned with a spired final ornament known as the

hti HTI may refer to: * Hti, the finial ornament placed on pagodas and temples in Myanmar * HTI+, a former technician certification from CompTIA * Great Barrier Reef Airport, on Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia * Haiti, a country in the Caribbe ...

, which is hoisted in a traditional ceremony (ထီးတော်တင်ပွဲ, ''htidaw tin pwe'') that dates to the pre-colonial era.

References

External links

Myanmar Pagoda Image from YahooBurmese Pagoda from Google
{{Religion in Myanmar Buddhist buildings

Terms

Types

See also

References

External links