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Destination in Myanmar
History of Mandalay
 Mandalay,
as the center of Myanmar culture, was outstanding in the past,
it holds the stage now; and it will continue to be a place of
pride in the future. It is situated about 600 kilometers north
of Yangon on the Ayeyarwaddy river, is, with about half a
Million inhabitants Myanmar's second largest city. Mandalay is
the historical old capital, a capital of Myanmar culture,
Buddhist Sasana and Myanmar traditional arts and crafts, with
the life span of one hundred and forty two years, a city which
abounds in historical sites, cultural memorials and Buddhist
edifices. Accordingly, it is the richest historical landmark
next to Bagan. Despite the wonderful sound of its name, inviting
associations to an archaic fairy tale kingdom, Mandalay is
neither very old nor particularly beautiful. But Mandalay was
the capital of the last, independent Burmese kingdom, which in
1886 was finally conquered by British colonial forces. The town
had been founded only 29 years earlier in 1857 by King Mindon,
making it the capital of an independent kingdom for less than 30
years.
In 1857 Mandalay was set up in an empty area, because, according
to an ancient prophecy, in that exact place a town would come
into existence on occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.
The city was named after the Mandalay Hill, which is situated at
the northeast corner of the present city. The hill has for long
been a holy mount and it is believed that Lord Buddha prophesied
that a great city, metropolis of Buddhism, would be founded at
its foot. It was King Mindon who fulfilled the prophecy. King
Mindon decided to fulfill the prophecy and during his reign in
the Kingdom of Amarapura he issued a royal order on 13 January,
A.D 1857 to establish a new kingdom. The Ceremony of Ascending
the Throne was celebrated in July, 1858. The royal city and the
kingdom was demarcated. The whole royal city was called Lay Kyun
Aung Mye ("Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and the royal
palace, the Mya Nan San Kyaw ("The Royal Emerald Palace"). The
kingdom was called the Kingdom of Yadanabon, along with other
name Ratanapura, mean " The Bejeweled Site ". Later it was
called Mandalay after the Mandalay Hill, 2.5km far to the north
east of the royal palace, and today the name still exists.
 The
name " Mandalay " is a derivative of the Pali word " Mandala ",
which means " a plainsland " and also that of the Pali word "
Mandare ", which means " an auspicious land ". At that time a
transfer of the capital not only meant leaving an old town and
erecting a new town in a different place. As all secular
buildings of that time, including the royal palaces, were built
from wood, a transfer of the capital meant the complete
dismantling of the houses of the old settlement, which then were
loaded on carts and the backs of elephants to be reconstructed
at the place chosen for the new town. But in 1782 the town was
packed up and moved about 8 kilometers to the Northeast, to the
aforementioned Amaraputra. In 1823 the entire capital was
dismantled again and rebuilt 8 kilometers Southwest in Ava. But
in 1838 Ava was damaged by an earthquake, and was therefore in
1841 packed up again and once more transferred to Amarapura. But
this was not of duration either, as only 16 years later the
entire town was moved again this time 12 kilometers to the
Northeast to the present Mandalay. The rhyming couplet easy to
memorize the year of building the royal city is " Okkyit-Kyaw
Aye / Mandalay " or " Aung Kyaw Chan Aye / Mandalay " ( i.e, M.E
1221 ).
The city's layout of the construction is the same at that of the
earlier Kingdom of Amarapura, and from the bird's eye-view, it
has the structure of geographical squares and rectangular
shapes, with streets and roads crossing one another at right
angles. There are four parts dividing the city, namely,
Ashe-pyin ( East Part ), Anok-pyin (west Part), Taung-pyin
(southern part) and Myauk-pyin (Northern Part), with 54 plots.
With the Ground-breaking ceremony, King Mindon laid the
foundation of Mandalay on the 6th waning day of Kason, M.E 1221,
(A.D 1857). The King simultaneously laid the foundations of
seven edifices: the royal city with the battlemented walls, the
moat surrounding it, the Maha Lawka Marazein Stupa, the higher
ordination hall named the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein, the Atumashi (
the Incomparable ) monastery, the Thudhama Zayats or public
houses for preaching the Doctrine, and the library for the
Buddhist scriptures. At the time of building, the royal moat was
68.58m wide and 3.35m deep, and was fed with water from the
Yadana Nadi, now called the Ye Ni Canal. In 1995 the moat was
dug anew and the banks were laid neatly and firmly with rocks.
There existed 20 gardens, a huge earthen wall and 57 doors
palace.
 There
existed 5 bridges spanning over the moat and 12 bridges. At
present, there are four spanning bridges, namely the U-hteik
Bridge to the east the Kyaw Moe Bridge to the south, the Kye Mon
Bridge to the west and the Lay Thein Bridge to the north. When
King Mindon passed away, his son King Thibaw ascended the
throne, and in M.E 1247, Myanmar fell under the British colony.
It was the old capital ruled by two successive kings the one
where the last of Myanmar's monarchs reigned. After the British
had conquered Mandalay in 1886 they turned the royal palaces of
Mandalay into their military headquarters and christened the
complex Fort Dufferin. During World War II the Japanese
installed a military camp in the same place, which then was
bombed by the allies, until nothing was left of the ancient
palace buildings. Mandalay today is a striking phenomenon
composed of modern and classic images with the ancient cultural
beauty of the royal palace and the moat surrounding it, and the
natural impressionistic beauty of the Mandalay Hill,
harmoniously added with new architectural phonography of modern
houses and brick buildings. The former palace ground is known by
the name of Fort Mandalay. Of the ancient palaces a few concrete
replica have been built and further reconstructions are being
conducted. |
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