Kalay ( my, ကလေး), also known as Kale, is a town in the Sagaing Region of

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 ...

. It is located upstream from

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

and

Monywa Monywa (; ) is the largest city in Sagaing Region, Myanmar, located north-west of Mandalay on the eastern bank of the River Chindwin. Monywa is one of the largest economic cities in Myanmar. It is also known as Neem city because many of the cit ...

on the

Myittha River Myittha River ( my, မြစ်သာမြစ်) is a river of western Burma, a tributary of the Chindwin River. Course The Myittha originates in the Chin Hills and flowing northwards drains the Kale Valley. It flows into the Chindwin, one ...

, a tributary of the

Chindwin River , , image = Homalin aerial.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Chindwin at Homalin. The smaller, meandering Uyu River can be seen joining the Chindwin. , map = Irrawaddyrivermap.jpg , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption ...

. The town is the district headquarters of the

Kalay District Kale District (also called Kalemyo District) is the westernmost district in Sagaing Division of Myanmar (Burma). Townships Its administrative center is the city of Kalay (Kalaymyo). The district consists of three townships; * Kale Township * ...

. It has gained importance with trans border movement enabled between Myanmar and India following the

Tamu Tamu may refer to: * Texas A&M University or TAMU * Tamu, Myanmar ** Tamu District, Myanmar ** Tamu Township * Ta'mu, rice cooked in woven coconut leaves from the Philippines * Tamu Massif, an inactive underwater volcano in the Pacific * '' Helio ...

–Kalay section of India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway built by the

Border Roads Organization The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is a road construction executive force in India that provides support to and is now a part of the Indian Armed Forces. BRO develops and maintains road networks in India's border areas and friendly neighboring ...

of India under the Look-East Connectivity policy. Consequently, Kalay is now one of the fastest developing towns in Myanmar. Kalay has several notable prisons, to which people from all across the region are transported.

Etymology

The earlier name of the town ‘Karlaymyo,’ renamed now as ‘Kalaymyo,’ means “a town surrounded by four satellite towns” in the Burmese language. "Kalaymyo" means "town of children" in Burmese Language.

History

According to tradition, Kalay was established as a town on 3 February 966 (Sunday, the 5th of waning of Tabodwe 328 ME). A votive tablet unearthed in Kalay in 1983, with a

Mon language The Mon language (, mnw, ဘာသာမန်, links=no, (Mon-Thai ဘာသာမည်) ; my, မွန်ဘာသာ; th, ภาษามอญ; formerly known as Peguan and Talaing) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon peopl ...

inscription, refers to the "

Aniruddha Aniruddha ( sa, अनिरुद्ध ') is a character in Hindu mythology, the son of Pradyumna and Rukmavati, and the grandson of Krishna and Rukmini. He is said to have been very much like his grandfather, to the extent that he is con ...

, the Great King". During the Second World War, Kalay was an important regrouping point for the British during their retreat from Burma in 1942 because of the relatively easier access to India along the

Manipur River __NOTOC__ Manipur River ( my, မဏိပူရမြစ်), also called Kathe Khyoung (ကသည်းချောင်း), is a river in India's Manipur state that flows into Myanmar, where it merges with the Myittha River, a tributary o ...

(the alternative was to march through malarial forests from Kalewa to

). On September 19, 2007, 200 monks marched through the streets of Kalay as a part of the

2007 Burmese anti-government protests The Saffron Revolution ( my, ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး) was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September, and October 2007 in Myanmar. The pro ...

. Over the next few days, the monks were joined by thousands of people of the Chin ethnic group. On September 24, students marched from

Kalay University Kalay ( my, ကလေး), also known as Kale, is a town in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located upstream from Mandalay and Monywa on the Myittha River, a tributary of the Chindwin River. The town is the district headquarters of the Kalay D ...

with posters and protested, demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and two other political prisoners. In July 2015, a monsoon rain triggered a natural disaster, and a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

was declared in four regions of the country. The disaster caused a

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

in Kalay and surrounding areas. Kalay was devastated by the disaster.

Geography

Geographically, the distinctive feature of the town is that the Tropic of Cancer passes through it. This point has been marked by the milepost 55/56 near Kyansitgon village. Set in terrain that has an average elevation of above mean sea level, the town has a picturesque backdrop of the Laytha Hill in the east and the Chin Hills in the west. The city is drained by the Myittha River that flows in a south–north direction, the Nayyinzaya River that flows in a north–south direction, and the Manipura River (also called the Nunkathe River) from across the international border with India; the last-named river has its origin in Manipur state of the north-east India.

Climate

A tropical monsoon climate dominates the town. Temperature variations are significant, with summer months from March to May recording and the winter months in the range of . The average annual temperature is reported to be . The average annual rainfall is of the order of .

Demographics

The population of Kalay is estimated to be 400,000, comprising 35% Bamar, 55%

Chin The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible (List_of_human_anatomical_regions#Regions, mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm. Evolution The presence of a we ...

and 10% other nationalities and foreigners. The valley town, with its tranquil atmosphere, is inhabited in equal numbers by the Chin community and Bamars. The original settlers are Shans.

Economy

The economy of Kalay is dependent upon agriculture but it is also an industrial town. Cars, jeeps, trucks, fire engines, trailers, three-wheeled motorcycles are manufactured in the Kalay Industrial Estate. The town is the hub of trading activity with India across the border. Kalay Township is unable to meet its own food requirements, although it exports food to neighbouring towns and cities. It has under

paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *An List of ethnic slurs#P, ethnic slur for an Irishman Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird ...

, under peas, and under cooking oil crops. The irrigation dam in RāZāJo village will provide water to grow more crops under irrigated conditions. Kalay Township has teak, ironwood ('' Pterocarpus indicus''), the large timber tree '' Shorea obtusa'', '' Shorea robusta'' and many other species of tree.

Religion

The religious composition of Kalay and the surrounding township is listed as 55 percent

Buddhists 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 gra ...

(mainly

Theravada Buddhists ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

), 40 percent

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

(mainly Baptist) and the remaining 5 percent follow other religious practices. The district has 116 Buddhist monasteries, 508 churches, a mosque, two Hindu temples, two Buddhist seminaries for

nuns A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

, five Buddhist nunneries and a joss house ( Chinese communal temple ).

Social infrastructure

The basic social services of education (primary to high school level, and universities within close commutable distances from the town), health services (general hospital, military hospital and traditional medicines' hospital), modern telecommunication network (telephone, Internet, telecommunication satellite network etc.), Media network of news papers (simultaneous coverage of news with Yangon), TV and radio services are well established in the town. The town's electricity needs are met from the MāNePu Hydroelectric Project, which also helps promote industries.

Transportation

The strategic road between India and Myanmar, built with assistance from the Government of India, is the Tamu–Kalay road. The

, a parastatal organization of the Government of India, started construction of this road in 1997, which was opened by the Foreign Minister of India in 2001. This road has facilitated trans-border movement between India and Myanmar. Apart from this road, the town is well connected by a network of roads with Kalay,

Gangaw Gangaw ( my, ဂန့်ဂေါမြို့, ) is a town of Gangaw Township in Gangaw District in the Magway Division in Myanmar. Gangaw is also known as the City of Yaw, a certain region in Myanmar including Gangaw (), Tilin (), Saw () an ...

, Yagyi and Mandalay. The important road route during the rainy season is the Kalay-Gangaw-Monywa-Mandalay road and during winter it is the Kalay-Myoma-Yagyi-Monywa-Mandalay Route. Rail services also operate between Kalay and Gangaw. This line passes through the Pountaung Pounyar Tunnel. Inland water transport is also available up to Kalaywa, which is short of Kalay. On this route, Morlike, Homalin, Khunte, Mingin and Monywar are also accessible. There is an airport at Kalay, an extension of a British-built Second World War airstrip that was used to ferry troops and supplies into Myanmar during the British reconquest of Myanmar in 1945. The airport is located in the middle of the town. Myanmar National Airlines, Air Bagan, Air Mandalay and Air KBZ operate regular air services to and from Yangon, Mandalay and Kalaymyo. The airport is at an elevation of ; it has a wide and long runway with blacktopped surface. Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.

References

{{Sagaing Division . Populated places in Kale District Township capitals of Myanmar