The Umin Thounzeh (Thirty Caves) situated in Sagaing Hill ... · Buddhist architecture. dhism...

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The Umin Thounzeh (Thirty Caves) situated in Sagaing Hill. The colonnade in crescent shape housing 45 Buddha sculptures is typical to Buddhist architecture.

Transcript of The Umin Thounzeh (Thirty Caves) situated in Sagaing Hill ... · Buddhist architecture. dhism...

The Umin Thounzeh (Thirty Caves) situated inSagaing Hill. The colonnade in crescent shapehousing 45 Buddha sculptures is typical toBuddhist architecture.

dhism attributes to the warm, gentle and gener-ous nature of the entire population. Violent crimesare rare, gold shops in Yangon and Mandalayhardly require special protection.

My three-week journey starts with a morning strollalong the moat surrounding the Fort Mandalay atthe very heart of the city. On my left side, thegolden rays in the morning caress softly this ma-jestic vermilion fortress. Gorgeous azaleas entwineat the foot of the wall that mirrors on the still wa-ter. On right side, thousands of bicycles make up

(Right): Vermillionroofs of the palaceinside the royal quarterin Fort Mandalay.Built in 1857, origi-nally as the palacecompound for KingMindon Min, the fortwas later occupied bythe British colonists asFort Duffrin, thegovernment house. Atthe end of the WWII,it was incineratedduring the fierce fight-ing between the Alliesand the JapaneseImperial Army.(Below): Palm treesand azaleas adorn themassive rampart ofFort Mandalay.

the city’s rush hour traffic.

With only one and a half centuries of history,Mandalay is an extraordinarily young city. Duringhis throne in mid-19th century, King Mindondecided to realise Buddha’s prophecy by estab-lishing a great city of Buddhism at the foot of theMandalay Hill. Instead of building a city, he liter-ally moved Myanmar’s ancient capital to thecurrent site from Amarapura some ten kilome-tres to the south. Sadly, however, when the Brit-ish conquered his kingdom shortly after, thepalace became the colonists’ governmenthouse, and the fort was renamed Fort Dufferin.

My passport is inspected at the U-hteik Bridge infront of the Fort’s east gate. Military camps and afew villages settling their families still occupymuch of the area behind the rampart. A longstraight avenue leads to the royal palace at thecore of the fort. The entrance is guarded by a cast-iron cannon.

I reach the top of the Nan Myint Saung Towerthrough the spiral staircase to take a command-ing view of the entire royal living quarter and partof the cityscape. Time has washed away the pomp

and circumstance of the dynasty. What left behindare the crimson palaces and other functionalchambers sitting calmly amid the fresh lawns anddense tamarind trees like miniatures. King Mindondismantled his all-wood palace in Amarapura, andreassembled it piece by piece at the current site.But his palace did not outlive himself by very long.Less than a hundred years later, the Japanese in-stalled a military depot here, causing a total incin-eration by the ally fire. The replication after thewar fell far short of the original grandeur, and cor-rugated iron sheets substituted slates for the pal-ace roofs.

Before concluding of my royal visit, I quench mythirst with the water in pottery jars provided bythe roadside at the east moat. Mandalay is a citythat retained even its smallest details of the tradi-tional lifestyle. On the way to Kuthodaw Paya(Temple), I happen to walk alongside with a pro-cession of monks in vermilion gowns and blackalms bowls – the elder in front, and the younger

at back, all bared-foot. In front of me, arrays ofbrilliant white stupas in the paya shine in the az-ure sky, and an ox cart rumble from the distance.As everything converges together, I felt as ifKipling stands by the roadside, calmly observingthis familiar scene as well as this strange moderntraveller.

Coming to Mandalay is not just paying a royalhomage to King Mindon. It’s also carrying out apilgrimage to the mountain to which the great cityis due. Like other pilgrims, I scale the sacredmountain with my bared feet via the 1,700-plus-step stairway. Astrologers and vendors fill thesides of this covered footpath, telling fortunes tothe devotees, and selling items from Buddha im-ages, ceremonial paper umbrellas, incenses tobooks, antiques and souvenirs. The perpetualsound of worship from the loudspeakers inun-dates my ears. The spirit of devotion was in theair.

Three generations join and pour water onto theBuddha’s figurine as a way of wishing good luck.