Written by Admin on August 8, 2013. Posted in News, Travel and Leisure
The Shwedagon Pagoda
standing magnificently on
Singuttara Hill in Yangon
is a credit to Myanmar.
However, due to limited
scientific research on it and
its antiquity, its history is
still shrouded in legends
and uncertainty.
Myanmar
and Mon chronicles and
oral traditions claim that
two merchant brothers
Taphussa and Bhallika from
Ukkalapa of Rammanadesa
in Lower Myanmar crossed
the ocean, came upon the
newly-enlightened Buddha
in Majjhimadesa, got his
eight hair relics and built
the Shwedagon Pagoda
with the enshrinement of
them on their arrival back
at their town. But some
modern scholars, with
the shoulders shrugged,
reject this deeply-ingrained
traditional claim on the
pretext of the then difficult
and forbidding maritime
access between India and the
eastern coast of the Bay of
Bengal. Therefore, if it can
be proved that there existed
some maritime contacts
between the eastern and
western coasts of the Bay
of Bengal and Ukkalapa
town in Lower Myanmar
during the life time of the
Buddha, this persistent agelong
Shwedagon Pagoda
tradition should be regarded
as possible at the very
least and the blame put
on the traditionalists by
the modern scholars for
their acquiescence in this
tradition will be dislodged.
To be able to explore the
answer to this challenging
problem, it is required
to examine the materials
contained in the tradition.
It
is found under the scrutiny
of this tradition that it is a
patch-work of Pali texts and
their commentaries and local
traditions. The names of
Taphussa and Bhallika first
appeared in the Anguttara
Nikaya. The Vinaya Pitaka
(Mahavagga Pali) makes
mention of their meeting
with the newly-enlightened
Buddha on the way between
Rajagaha and Ukkala and
their establishment in
Dvevacika (taking refuge
in the Buddha and the
Dhamma).
Its commentary
compiled by Buddhaghosa
adds the Buddha's giving his
hair relics to them and their
enshrinement of them in a
shrine on a hill at the gate
to their town Asitanjana. It
is noticed that the Pali texts
and their commentaries do
not describe the voyage
made by the two merchant
brothers and place Ukkala
on the eastern coast of
the Bay of Bengal.
Only
the Shwedagon Pagoda
Stone Inscription erected by
King Dhammaceti in 1485
A.D started to mention the
oceanic voyage of these
two brothers in a ship to
Majjhimadesa. However,
this stone inscription was
put up about 1000 years
later than Buddhaghosa's
time( Buddhaghosa was
alive during the 5th Century
A.D). Therefore, the validity
of this epigraphic record is
weaker than Buddhaghosa's
work, thereby precipitating
traditionalists into lapsing
into silence.
However, erudite Ven.
Cakkapala, better known as
Taung Pauk Sayadaw, came
to their rescue by voicing the
two claims in his magnum
opus entitled "Buddha s
asanikapathaviwun
Kyan". The first one is
that the two brothers from
Ukkala town of Orissa on
the north-western coast of
India made a commercial
contact with Ukkalapa town
in Ramannadesa of Lower
Myanmar, bringing the hair
relics obtained from the
Buddha via their town Ukkala
in India, and enshrined them
in the Tigumba Ceti.
The
second is that one or two
hundred years before the
enlightenment of the Buddha,
Mon Daings, the earliest
of the three types of Mon
immigrants from India, came
over to Lower Myanmar
and entered the Yangon
River and built a town at a
confluence of three creeks,
which became subsequently
known as Ukkalapa. The
above claims suggest that
there were two Ukkala towns–
the original Ukkala in Orissa,
India and the later Ukkalapa
in Lower Myanmar.
The
two brothers were probably
the descendants of these
Indian Mon immigrants.
They, bringing the hair relics,
went back to Ukkalapa of
Myanmar via Ukkala in India
which was the nativity of their
forefathers. It is also accepted
that the original town of
Ukkalapa was Trihakumbha,
which was already inhabited
by Mon-khmers who had
reached Lower Myanmar
long before the birth of Christ
from Yangtzi River Valley
in China through Vietnam,
Cambodia and Thailand.
With the increasing number
of Indian immigrants in it,
its name would have changed
to Ukkala first and Ukkalapa
then, adding a suffix"pa".
( Indian immigrants used to
borrow their Indian names
but they changed slightly later
in Myanmar. For example,
"Ravi" changed to "Irravati
and then to Ayeyawady",
"Orissa" to "Ussa" and then
to "Ukkala", etc )
This Indian Mon
immigration is corroborated
by the Mon nursery songs
which say that three types
of Mon-Mon Daing, Mon
Da and Mon Na-migrated
to Trikumbha (Yangon),
Bilungy u n ( I s l and of
Demons) and an ancient
laterite city near Mt. Kelasa
in Lower Myanmar from
the Gange River Valley,
the Godhi River Valley and
Talingana between one or
two hundred years prior to
the birth of the Buddha and
one thousand years ago.
It
is said that the Monkhmers
from the Yangtzi River
Basin started to spread over
South-east Asia including
Vietnam, Cambodia,
Thailand, Myanmar,etc
and to India through Yunnan
before 2000 B.C. These
Mon-khmers are called
Monda in India( According
to the 1931 Census, Monda
speakers still numbered 4.3
million in India). Coedes
states that when Aryans and
Dravidians pressed into India
between the ten and twenty
centuries before the birth
of Christ, some aboriginal
peoples (including Mondas)
were pushed into the South
India and thence to Southeast
Asia. Therefore, the
immigration of forefathers of
Taphussa and Bhallika from
India before the time of the
Buddha can be acceptable.
Coedes says in his book
"The Indianized States of
South-east Asia", that glass
beads of Indian origin were
abundantly discovered in
Neolithic strata in Further
India (South-east Asia).
So it is undeniable on the
strength of the discovery
of these solid evidences
that the communication
between India and Southeast
Asia must have taken
place since Neolithic
Period. Therefore, there is
no inherent impossibility in
a voyage across the Bay of
Bengal during the life time
of the Buddha.
Moreover, the Buddha
in the Mahaniddesa Pali
says that Indian merchants
reached a series of sea-ports
such as Tigumpa, Takkola,
Takasila, Kasamukha,
Purapura, Vensunga, Javam,
Tammali, Vanga, etc.
Modern scholars identify
Tigumpa (Trihakumbha)
with Yangon and Vesunga
with Taikkala near Thaton
in Lower Myanmar, Takkola
with Takaupa and Tammali
with Ligor in the Malay
Peninsula, Purapura with
Dhannavati in Rakhine and
Javam with Java Island in
Indonesia. Another Pali
text named "Milindapanha
", one of 18 treatises of
the Khuddaka Nikaya
also makes mention of the
names of the ancient seaports
between the coast of
India and China reached
by Indian merchants long
before the advent of the
Christian Era such as Vanga,
Takkola, Sovira, Surat,
Alexandria, Kolapattana,
Suvannabhumi, China,
etc. Vanga is identified
with Bengal, Sovira with
Gujarat, Kolapattana
with Coromandal, Surat
with Kat h iawar and
Suvannabhumi with
somewhere in Lower
Myanmar or Indonesia.
The Suyonandi Jataka also
describes that a minister
of king Benares reached
Nagadipa Island after his
shipwreck in the ocean.
Modern scholars apply this
island to Nicobar Island in
the Andaman Sea. In view of
this extract, it can be said that
there must have been some
maritime contacts between
India and the eastern coast of
the Bay of Bengal during the
life time of the Buddha. This
can also further strengthen
the truth of the traditional
claim of Taphussa and
Bhallika.
A Greek pilot by the
name of Hippalus discovered
the periodic alteration of
the Monsoon winds in
about 45 B.C. Only after
that, people could traverse
the high sea under the
favourable Monsoon winds.
The above extract from the
Mahaniddesa Pali and the
Milindapanha shows that
Indian merchants coasted
along the India continent
and the coasts of the Bay of
Bengal long before the birth
of Christ. It is, therefore,
thought that Taphussa and
Bhallika merchant brothers
might have plied between
India and Lower Myanmar
on littoral voyages.
So they
had to hug the coast and
to stop over at Jetthadipa
(Chaduba Island off Rakhine
coast where two relics had to
be paid to Myosa as tax and
those relics were enshrined
by King Candasuriya in a pagoda which was
subsequently known as
Sandaw Shin Pagoda in
Pauktaw township) and at
Nagaris Cape near Pathein
(where two relics were also
stolen by Jeyyasena Naga
king) and made a coastal
voyage along the Dala
Tawgytan sea-coast (where
a series of nine Sandawgyo
cetis, pagodas welcoming
the hair relics, were built).
This coastal voyage made
by the two brothers can
also serve as a prima facie
evidence explaining that their
sea journey might have taken
place before the advent of
Christian Era,that is, before
the discovery of the periodic
alteration of Monsoon winds.
Besides, with regard
to the existence of the
Shwedagon Pagoda and
commercial contacts between
Lower Myanmar and India
thousand years ago and before
the full development of the
Ayeyawady Delta, , Dr.Htin
Aung, in his book " A History
of Burma", says:
"… There is no inherent
impossibility in the legend ,
first because the particular
spur on which the pagoda
now stands was high above
water level long before
the Irravati (Ayeyawady)
formed its delta thousand
years ago, and second
because there must have
been at least coastal trade
between the opposite shores
of the Bay of Bengal…"
A c c o r d i n g t o
Mr.Chibber, writer of
"Geology of Burma", it is
known that the Ayeyawady
Delta started to be formed
some 300,000 years ago but
developed fully over one
thousand years ago. In view
of this, it can be assumed
that Singuttara Hill where
the pagoda today stands and
must have been existent long
before one thousand years
ago and so must have been
the maritime traffic between
Lower Myanmar and India.
Some scholars are
baffled at the name of
the town of Taphussa and
Bhallika, for it appears in
different names- Ukkalapa,
Trikumbha, Pokkharavati
and Asitan jana. The
commentaries mention
their town as Pokkharavati
and Asitanjana but Mon
and Myanmar chronicles
and Pali texts mention it
as Ukkala or Ukkalapa.
Mon an d Mya nma r
chronicles also describe
it as Trikumbha. In India,
Asitanjana is an old name
for Ukkala. In Myanmar, it
is traditionally believed that
Trikumbha (later Ukkalapa),
Pokkharavati and Asitanjana
are the three of the four
towns encircling Singuttara
Hill where the Shwedagon
stands. Trikumbha lies
to the north of the hill,
Pokkhravati to the south
and Asitanjana to the east.
Trikumbha is identified with
Myogon, Pokkharavati with
Twantay and Asitanjana
with Thanlyin. Therefore,
it can be assumed that the
town of the two brothers
might be either Twantay
or Thanlyin or Myogon.
But Forchhammer says
that Ukkala comprised the
regions south and southwest
of the Bago Yoma and the
low land extending from the
foot of the Shwedagon Hill
westwards to the Irravati
(Ayeyawady) River up to the
7th century A.D. So Ukkalapa
can be said to have extended
from the foot of the Bago
Yoma up to the Ayeyawady
River. The archaeological
excavation conducted at
Tadargalay n o r th of
Singuttara Hill around 1920
yielded an ancient ruined
building, bronze Buddha
images, bronze mirror plates
and rings and votive tablets
datable to between the 5th and
the 12th centuries A.D. It is
convinced by some scholars
that it was the site of an old
town, probably of Ukkalapa.
At any rate, it does not
matter which one was the
native town of the Taphussa
and Bhallika-Trikumbha or
Pokkkharavati or Asitanjana
or the old town at Tadargalay,
it will fall in the domain of
Ukkalapa. It is, therefore,
justifiable to say that these
two brothers were the natives
of Ukkalapa which might
have been in existence in
Lower Myanmar during
the life time of the Buddha
.Very recently, many fingermarked
bricks have been
discovered in the environs
of a Sandawgyo pagoda
named Phayagyi( which are
believed to have been built
to welcome the eight hair
relics of the Buddha brought
by Taphussa and Bhallika)
in Kawhmu Township. The
finger-marked bricks are
tentatively dated to Maurya
Period (3rd century B.C
to 1st century A.D). This
archaeological discovery
moved the tradition of the
Shwedagon pagoda some
steps close to the truth. (Only
the spade of archaeologists
can determine its exact
location and the date of its
founding).
In brief, in the absence
of contemporarily decisive
evidence, it is difficult to
conclude that there were
maritime contacts between
India and Myanmar during
the lifetime of the Buddha.
However, on the strength of
the glass-beads of Indian origin
discovered in Neolithic strata
in South-east Asia , the littoral
voyages of Indian merchants
made along the coast of the
Indian continent and the
eastern coasts of the Bay of
Bengal mentioned in the Pali
texts such as Mahaniddesa
Pali, Milindapanha, and
Suyonandi Jataka and recent
discovery of the finger-marked
bricks in the neighbourhood
of the Phayagyi Pagoda, one
of the Sandawgyo pagodas,
in Kawhmu Township , it
can be surmised convincingly
that Taphussa and Bhallika
might have brought back the
Buddha's hair across the
ocean to Ukkalapa somewhere
in the environs of Singuttara
Hill and enshrined them in the
Shwedagon Pagoda.
References
Anguttara Nikaya, Department of Religious Affairs,
Yangon, 1994
Mahaniddesa Pali, Department of Religious Affairs,
Yangon, 1992
Mahavagga Pali, Vinaya Pitaka, Department of Religious
Affairs, 1992
Buddhaghosa, Ven. Jataka Atthakatha, Vol.III, Yangon,
Department of Religious Affairs, 1959
Shwe U Min Sayadaw, Mahavagga Atthakatha, Yangon,
1330 M.E
Cakkapala, Ven., Buddhasasanapathaviwun Kyan,
Yangon, 1958
Chibber, H.L, Geology of Burma, London, Macmillan and
Co.Ltd, St.Martin Street, 1934
Coedes,C, The Indianized States of South-east Asia,
University Press of Hawaii,1971
Htin Aung, Dr. A History of Burma, U.S.A, Columbia
University Press, 1967
Nagasena, Ven. Milindapanha, Yangon, Department of
Religious Affairs, 1999
Shwe Naw, U, Chronicle of the Mons and Collection of
Histories of Their Pagodas,Yangon, 1899
Interview with U San Win who led a field trip made to
Kawhmu and Twantay Townships during June 2013
Post Writer : Dr. Saw Mra Aung from The new Light of Myanmar
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/a-study-on-the-history-of-the-shwedagon-pagoda/
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