The Maha Wizaya Pagoda ( my, မဟာဝိဇယစေတီ; pi, Māhavijayacetiya) is a pagoda located on Shwedagon Pagoda Road in Dagon Township,

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

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 ...

. The pagoda, built in 1980, is located immediately south of the

Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...

on Dhammarakhita Hill. The enshrined relics were contributed by the King of Nepal, while the pagoda's

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 ...

(umbrella) was consecrated by

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

, the country's former leader. The construction of this particular pagoda is believed by some scholars to have been a form of

merit-making Merit ( sa, puṇya, italic=yes, pi, puñña, italic=yes) is a concept considered fundamental to Buddhist ethics. It is a beneficial and protective force which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts, or thoughts. Merit-making is important ...

on the part of

. The pagoda was built to commemorate the convening of the First Congregation of All Orders for the Purification, Perpetuation and Propagation of Sasana in 1980, which formed 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 ...

, a governmental regulatory body of Buddhist monks.

References

{{Buddhist sites in Myanmar Buddhist temples in Yangon