Mahazedi Pagoda
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| Mahazedi Pagoda | |
|---|---|
မဟာစေတီ | |
 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Buddhism |
| Sect | Theravada Buddhism |
| Region | Bago Region |
| Location | |
| Municipality | Bago |
| Country | Myanmar |
  Shown within Myanmar | |
| Geographic coordinates | 17°20′21″N 96°27′15″E / 17.339151°N 96.454237°E |
| Architecture | |
| Founder | Bayinnaung |
| Groundbreaking | 15 November 1559 (original structure) Wednesday, 2nd waning of Nadaw 921 ME[note 1] |
| Completed | 2 January 1561 (original) Thursday, 2nd waning of Pyatho, 922 ME[note 2] |
Mahazedi Pagoda (Burmese: မဟာစေတီ) is a prominent Buddhist pagoda in Bago, Myanmar.
The pagoda was built by King Bayinnaung to house a gold and jewel-encrusted tooth relic of the Buddha.[3][4] The tooth relic was a replica from Dharmapala of Kotte, the king of the Kingdom of Kotte, who gifted the tooth, along with an alms bowl and his daughter.[5][6][4] The construction of the pagoda began in November 1559, and was completed six months later in May 1560.[1] The footprint of the pagoda was 100 taung (45.72 m (150 ft)) in diameter, and the height was 150 taung (68.58 m (225 ft)), without the hti ("umbrella spire").[1] The hti spire was raised atop the pagoda for the first time on 2 January 1561.[2]
The relics arrived in 1576.[4] In 1599, King Anaukpetlun conquered Bago and removed the relics to Taungoo.[4] In 1636, King Thalun removed the relics to Inwa, enshrining them at the Kaunghmudaw Pagoda in Sagaing.[4] Throughout its history, the pagoda has been destroyed by several earthquakes along the Sagaing Fault, on 13 September 1564, 1583, and 8 October 1888, and completely leveled in 1930.[7][3] Mahazedi Pagoda was rebuilt in the 1950s.[6]
