SHWEZIGON PAGODA

           Its golden mass giving it an air of weight and stability, the Shwezigon derives its name from Jeyyabhumi, "Ground of Victory". Two great kings, noted for their patronage of the Religion, are associated with the Shwezigon: Anawrahta (1044-1077) and Kyansittha (1084-1113).
           Tradition has it that the holy tooth, collar-bone and frontlet relics of the Buddha are enshrined in the Shwezigon, the tooth presented by the King of Ceylon, the frontlet obtained from Thayekhittaya near modern Prome. The chronicles relate that Anawrahta placed the frontlet relic on a jeweled white elephant and, making a solemn vow, said, " Let the white elephant kneel in the place where the holy relic is fain to rest!" And it was there, at the place where the white elephant knelt, that Anawrahta built the Shwezigon, although he was to finish only the three terraces before he died.
           The chronicles go on to relate that on the accession of Kyansittha, the royal teacher Shin Arahan urged him to complete the Shwezigon. Kyansittha then marshaled all his people and quarried rock from Mount Tuywin in the east to build the pagoda. Marvelously, the pagoda was finished in seven months and seven days, and the chronicles record with some pride, "Shwezigon is famous in the world of men and the world of spirits as far as the world of Brahmas."

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