Bawditataung
Pagoda Festival is celebrated over two days in Monya alongside the Chindwin
River in Sagaing Division. Bawditataung means 1,000 Bodhi trees (different
spelling). Sure enough, near the festival there were 1000 of the trees and
beneath each was a stone statue of the Buddha seated beneath a stone umbrella.
Having climbed
1000 steps (or was it 5000?) we emerged from the pagoda into a panoramic view
of a standing Buddha, a reclining Buddha and a Buddha protected from the
elements by a Naga (or dragon) that reared over his head. The standing Buddha
is 1050 feet high. His cloak had regular oblong marks all over it. These turned
out to be windows climbing 33 floors. Some brave souls would climb them (inside
the image) but I resisted the temptation. This whole area of monastery, pagoda
and images was organised by a sayadaw
(abbot) in 1995. The project was finished in 2007, sadly just one year after
its benefactor died.
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