Kaylartha Pagoda
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Kaylartha Pagoda ( my, ကေလာသစေတီတော်) is a
Buddhist 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 ...
Pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...
that sits atop the summit of Mount Kaylartha in
Mon State Mon State ( my, မွန်ပြည်နယ်, ; mnw, တွဵုရးဍုင်မန်, italics=no) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It lies between Kayin State to the east, the Andaman Sea to the west, Bago Region to the ...
,
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 ...
. Local legend claims that at the foot of Kaylartha Mountain sat the ancient Kingdom of the Gold.


Geography

Kaylartha Mountain is situated from Taungson,
Mon State Mon State ( my, မွန်ပြည်နယ်, ; mnw, တွဵုရးဍုင်မန်, italics=no) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It lies between Kayin State to the east, the Andaman Sea to the west, Bago Region to the ...
, and can be driven up to by truck. The range is part of the or Eastern Arakan Yoma Mountains. It is at a distance of from Yangon and 136 kilometers north of
Mawlamyine Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...
, the capital of Mon State. The summit is above . Monkeys live atop the mountain and are fed by pilgrims. The Pagoda and surrounding monasteries are located within the
Kelatha Wildlife Sanctuary Kelatha Wildlife Sanctuary ( my, ကေလာသ တောရိုင်းတိရစ္ဆာန် ဘေးမဲ့တော, alternatively spelt as Kaylartha Widlife Sanctuary) is a protected area in Myanmar stretching over . It was estab ...
.


History

At the top of Mount Kaylartha stands a
pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...
said to house a hair of
Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
. It is believed that in the Tharthanar Era (111), the
Lord Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
arrived at the Kaylartha Mountain, Thuwunna Bonmi. He stayed at a monastery built by King Tissa Dama Thiha Yaza. The Lord Buddha preached sermons to the public for seven days. During that time, he became close with the Hermits Tissa and Thiha and the local hermit of Kaylartha Mountain. They requested that he leave behind some relic to be revered by the people in his place after he left to return home. Lord Buddha agreed and gave six of his hairs to hermits from Kyaiktiyo, Zinkyaik (to Tissa), Mount Zwegabin (to Thiha), Kaylartha, Kuthaerayone and Melan. A pair of belu brothers from Kyaikhtisaung also received a hair. All the hermits and belus enshrined the hair in great stones. The Hermit of Kaylartha, whose name was Tila of Dokkhalun, discussed how to go about enshrining the hairs and building pagodas around them with Hermits Tissa and Thiha and Indra Sakka, who had supported Thiha in constructing a pagoda on Mount Zwegabin. He enshrined the hair relic in the pagoda atop Kaylartha Mountain, and was advised by Indra Sakka. The hermits communicated with each other by shining lights atop their respective mountains at night-time. Tissa, who stayed atop Zinkyaik Mountain, did not see light coming from Mountain Kaylartha and wondered what might have occurred. He went to Kaylartha Mountain and found the body of the Kaylartha Hermit. The body was burnt and buried, while the head, which was not burnt nor decomposed, held one of Buddha's hairs in its braid. It was returned to Mok Soe Taung Pagoda and joined the original two hair relics there.


Restoration

The Kyaikhtisaung Sayadaw restored nine Buddha hair relic pagodas during his lifetime, with Kaylartha Pagoda being one of them. He built a compound around the pagoda and paved a road up to the top. It is now a popular spot for tourists and locals and had a resident abbot and monastery at the summit of the mountain.


Mining

In 2016, a rock and quarry project aimed at producing rock suitable for road paving was suspended on Kaylatha Mountain. On October 19, the
Hluttaw The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စု လွှတ်တော် lit. Assembly of the Union) is the ''de jure'' national-level bicameral legislature of Myanmar (officially known as the ''Republic of the Union of My ...
state representative of Belin Township Constituency No. 1, Dr. Khin Naing Oo, sent a letter of opposition regarding the preparation for a mining project on the forest reserve to the President and various other respective government departments. The project was headed by Rock Well Mining Co., Ltd..
Ohn Win Ohn Win ( my, အုန်းဝင်း; born 11 November 1951) is a Burmese forester and incumbent Minister for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (Myanmar). Prior to his appointment as the Minister, he served in t ...
, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, visited the area nine days later on October 28. He witnessed the field work taking place and decided to suspend the work. A temporary ban was placed from mining on the historic site. Eventually, quarry projects were permitted to operate only along the boundaries of the Kaylartha Wildlife Sanctuary (450 acres of land) as they had historically been quarry sites.


References


Bibliography

* * {{Buddhism topics Buddhist relics Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Myanmar Pagodas in Myanmar