Belief and Practices: Place-based Study at Kyauktawgyi Pagoda
Kyauktawgyi Pagoda is located in Taungthaman Village tract: which includes Semi Tun Village, Taungthaman Village, Oh Bo Village, Htantaw Village. Kyauktawgyi Pagoda is surrounded by these villages, and children from nearby villages come and play at the pagoda. Elder peoples use to come to the pagoda to avoid the heat of the sun during the summer and to avoid flooding during the rainy season. Besides, the villagers of Semi Tun and Htantaw use to pass through the pagoda from one village to another. When the villagers buy the new motorcycles or new cars they come to the pagoda to pay homage and they pray for their motorcycles and cars to be safe. In addition, visitors from far, especially from Taungmyo (Amarapura) and Mandalay, visit the pagoda. They visit the Buddha mainly for the purpose of merit making. Moreover, foreign visitors often come. They are not only interested in the mural paintings inside the pagoda, but also because the pagoda is made of marble.
Students studied place-based interview with two women who had visited Kyauktawgyi Pagoda:
One of them said that they came today to pay homage the Kyi lay Kyi (four great Pagodas). Kyi lay Kyi means four pagodas which names include Kyi (Gyi). At the name of Kyauktawgyi pagoda, gyi is included and it is one of the four great pagodas. The four great pagodas are Shwegugyi Pagoda, Pathodawgyi Pagoda, Taungmingyi Pagoda, and Kyauktawgyi Pagoda. They explained that they are from Mandalay and they do not use to come very often to Kyauktawgyi Pagoda. They made a vow to pay homage Kyi lay Kyi (four great Pagodas) during one day to overcome their difficulties or bad luck. Now they are coming to four great pagodas. They also said “We believe in the paying homage to Kyi lay Kyi. If we have stress or difficulties in our business, we come to pay homage to four great pagodas including Kyauktawgyi. The Four Great Four (Pagodas) can make our business to be successful."
Thus, they believe that Kyauktawgyi Pagoda is a place to pray for their wishes.
Kyauktawgyi Pagoda
Taungthaman Village
Mandalay
Myanmar (Burma)