Bago
 Bago
is one of the most famous ancient sites in Myanmar.
According to the Shwemawdaw history, king Thamala is said to
be a founder of Bago (Hanthawaddy) in 825 A.D. King
Razadarit succeeded in occupying Bago in 1385. And he
extended his territories around the fields from Bago. He
built the Yanaungmyin pagoda on the site to prevent his
enemies from ever trading there. He built enshrines at the
Shwemawdaw pagoda. He was also the builder of the Danoke
pagoda near Twante. At Kamathameinpaik (Minkanyo) near
Payagyi railway station north of Bago, he was buried.
Binnyakyan (1450–1453) raised the height of the Shwedagon
pagoda to 302 feet. Queen Shinsawpu had intended to build a
new Bago. The ramparts of her residence at Yangon are now
the bunkers of the golf course near Pyay Road. She was
buried nearby, west of the Pyay Road, for there is a
monastery on the Bagaya road which living memory was called
the Shinsawpu Tomb monastery.
 Dhammazedi
(1472-1492) was the most famous king in Bago. He built two
huge copper bells and two large monasteries and many pagodas
of which the principals are the Shwegugyi pagoda and the
Kyaikpon pagoda at Bago. He received a measure of unit from
the standard of Kalyani ordination hall from Sri Lanka. So
he built “the Kalyani Sima” ordination hall near Bago. He
recorded these events on ten inscribed stones, called the
Kalyani inscriptions. At Kangyigon, a mile from Ingabu Inma
Township in Hmawbi district, there are traces of an old
stockade and the fishermen worship a Nat spirit called Po
Yutpi (King Takayutpi 1326-39).
Bago jars are the most famous as its native product in
Myanmar. Hyper wine made from the “dani” palm in great Bago
jars were exported from Taninthayi to India. Bago jars are
first mentioned in 1350 by a Mohamedin trader.
Bago ceased to be a sea port at about 1600. After 1600,
Sittaung River was silting up. It was described as a narrow
channel to Bago.
Near a monastery at Hinthakone, half a mile north east of
the Shwemawdaw Pagoda, there is a stone pillar as a bathe
field between Buddhists and Hindu strangers by the
traditional point out view.
 As
Vasco de Gama opened the sea route in 1498, Bago was the
most important capital at that time. The Kings, Bayintnaung
and Anaukpatlun realizing that geopolitical situation, Bago
was made to offer their assistance in all respects.
Hanthawaddy was the strongest and the most interesting
capital of not only in Myanmar but also in South East Asia.
Travelers never tired of describing about it. Bago River
with full of crocodiles, the walls, the watch-towers, the
gorgeous palace, the great processions with elephants and
grandees in shining robes, the shrines filled with images of
mostly gold and gems, the friendly hosts and armed men and
the apparition of the great king in a great hall.
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