Sule Pagoda, Yangon

The Sule Pagoda is a Burmese stupa located in the heart of downtown Yangon, occupying the centre of the city and an important space in contemporary Burmese politics, ideology and geography.

According to legend, it was built before the Shwedagon Pagoda during the time of the Buddha, making it more than 2,600 years old. Burmese legend states that the site for the Shwedagon Pagoda was asked to be revealed from an old nat who resided at the place where the Sule Pagoda now stands.

The Sule Pagoda has been the focal point of both Yangon and Burmese politics. It has served as a rallying point in both the 1988 uprisings and 2007 Saffron Revolution.

Maha Bandula Park.
The Maha Bandula Park or Maha Bandula Garden is a public park, located in downtown Yangon, Burma.

The park is surrounded by some of the important buildings in the area such as the Sule Pagoda, the Yangon City Hall and the High Court.
After 1948, the Independence Monument, an obelisk in commemoration of Burmese independence from the British in 1948, was installed at the center of the park, replacing the statue of Queen Victoria. The statue of Queen Victoria was brought back to England after Myanmar Independence.
See more at Maha Bandula Park - Wikipedia.

Immanuel Baptist Church.
Immanuel Baptist Church is a Baptist church in central Yangon at the corner of Mahar Bandoola Garden Street and Mahar Bandoola Road opposite Yangon City Hall.

Built in 1885 by an American missionary, the church was destroyed during World War II but rebuilt in 1952.
In the early 1960s over 90 percent of the congregation were Burmese, including ethnically Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Burmese.
See more at Immanuel Baptist Church (Yangon, Burma) - Wikipedia.

Sule Pagoda seen from the east.
The Sule Pagoda is located in the heart of downtown Yangon, occupying the centre of the city and an important space in contemporary Burmese politics, ideology and geography.

Eastern Stairway.
The stairs lead to the elevated platform where the stupa is located.

Relief map of India (left) and Indochina (right).

Ticket office.
Foreigners have to pay a ticket to enter the place.

The ticket is a sticker.
The ticket is a sticker to be displayed in a visible place.

Eastern Pavilion.
At the top of the stairs are the three Buddhas of the east direction.

Around the stupa, each of the four cardinal points has three Buddhas.

Turn left to begin the circumambulation of the stupa.
Parikrama is the clockwise circumambulation of sacred entities, and the path along which this is performed, as practiced in the Indic religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.

In Buddhism, it refers only to the path along which this is performed.
Typically, in Indic-religions the parikrama is done after completion of traditional worship (puja) and after paying homage to the deity.
Parikrama must be done with dhyana (spiritual contemplation and meditation).
See more at Parikrama - Wikipedia.

Small shrine in front of the stupa.
Behind the small shrine we can see the stupa.

The stupa from the southeast.
The Sule Pagoda incorporated the original Indian structure of the stupa, which initially was used to replicate the form and function of a relic mound.

However, as Burmese culture became more independent of the Indian influences, local architectural forms began to change the shape of the pagoda.
It is believed to enshrine a strand of hair of Lord Buddha that the Buddha himself is said to have given to the two Burmese merchant brothers, Trapusa and Bahalika.
The dome structure, topped with a golden spire, extends into the skyline, marking the cityscape.

Victory column (left).
Tagundaing refers to an ornamented victory column or flagstaff, typically 18 to 24 m (60 to 80 feet), found within the grounds of Burmese Buddhist pagodas and monasteries (kyaungs).

These ornamented columns were raised within religious compounds to celebrate the submission of local animistic spirits (nats) to the Dhamma, the Buddhist doctrine and inspired by the Pillars of Ashoka.
A mythical hintha (or more rarely a kinnara) is generally found perching atop the column, while the base of the column may be decorated with Thagyamin.
Vasudhara, the earth goddess, may also be found at the base.
See more at Tagundaing - Wikipedia.

Southern pavilion.
South pavilion with the southern triad of Buddhas.

Shops and stalls selling products to visitors.

Saturday corner.
The Burmese zodiac employs eight signs in a seven-day week, with each sign representing its own day, cardinal direction, planet (celestial body) and animal; it is known as the "Mahabote zodiac".

Cardinal direction: Southwest. Burmese: Sanay. Sanskrit: Sani. English: Saturday. Planet: Saturn. Sign (Myanmar): Naga.
See more at Burmese zodiac, Weekdays - Wikipedia.

Buddha Pujaniya Festival of Sule Pagoda.
In Myanmar, Magha Puja is observed on the full moon day of Tabaung, the final month of the Burmese calendar.

Magha Puja (also written as Makha Bucha Day) is a Buddhist festival celebrated on the full moon day of the third lunar month in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka and on the full moon day of Tabaung in Myanmar.
It is the second most important Buddhist festival after Vesak; it celebrates a gathering that was held between the Buddha and 1,250 of his first disciples, which, according to tradition, preceded the custom of periodic recitation of discipline by monks.
On the day, Buddhists celebrate the creation of an ideal and exemplary community, which is why it is sometimes called Sangha Day, the Sangha referring to the Buddhist community, and for some Buddhist schools this is specifically the monastic community.
It is an occasion when Buddhists go to the temple to perform merit-making activities, such as alms giving, meditation and listening to teachings.
See more at Māgha Pūjā - Wikipedia.

Entrance door to the stupa.
According to Burmese legend the site where the Sule pagoda now stands was once the home of a powerful spirit (nat) named Sularata (the Sule Nat).

The king of the Nats, Sakka, wished to help the legendary king Okkalap build a shrine for Lord Buddha's sacred hair-relic on the same site where three previous Buddhas had buried sacred relics in past ages.

Hintha bird.
The hintha (equivalent to hamsa) is widely depicted in Burmese art, considered to be a ruddy shelduck in its culture, and has been adopted as the symbol of the Mon people.

In parts of Myanmar, the hintha iconography is more like a hen than a duck, reflecting the local fauna.
The hamsa is deemed sacred in the Buddhism, as a symbol of wisdom.
See more at Hamsa (bird) - Wikipedia.