Mahazedi Pagoda

Mahazedi Pagoda is a prominent Buddhist pagoda in Bago, Myanmar.

History

The pagoda was built by King Bayinnaung to house a gold and jewel-encrusted tooth relic of the Buddha. 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. The construction of the pagoda began in November 1559, and was completed six months later in May 1560. The footprint of the pagoda was 100 taung in diameter, and the height was 150 taung, without the hti. The hti spire was raised atop the pagoda for the first time on 2 January 1561.
The relics arrived in 1576. In 1599, King Anaukpetlun conquered Bago and removed the relics to Taungoo. In 1636, King Thalun removed the relics to Inwa, enshrining them at the Kaunghmudaw Pagoda in Sagaing. 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. Mahazedi Pagoda was rebuilt in the 1950s.