Page 114 - Experience Thailand and More

WHAT TO DO

AND SEE

Mahamuni Temple
3 kilometers south of the city centre on the road towards Amarapura
Open daily from 6.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m.

The best time to come is at 4.00 am. when the venerated, nearly
four-meter-tall seated “Great Sage” Buddha image has its face
ceremoniously polished. Reverence towards the Mahamuni seems to
permeate through the pagoda, even during the walk through one of the
four, long, congested passages crammed with stalls. While thousands
of faithful Myanmar Buddhists are attending this rite, outside, the paya
with its multi-tiered gold roof sparkles in the dark and then as daylight ascends. Throughout the
pagoda, the soft chanting of the faithful softly fills the air.

It is said this image is over 2000 years old and one of five of true likenesses of the Gautama
Buddha. It was seized from Mrauk U by King Bowdapaya who had it dragged to Mandalay in
1784. This legend is depicted in a series of 1950 paintings on display at the northeast corner
of the courtyard. Below the serenely smiling face of the Buddha image, his somewhat feminine
torso has grown more than six inches thick and knobby over the years as men, women are not
permitted, affix gold leaf as an act of devotion.
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