Yangon
Bricks
bearing Anawrahta’s ‘seal’ in Sanskrit, have been found as
for apart as Paunglin in Minbu district and Twante, west of
Yangon.
Under the Minkyiswasawke (1368 – 1401 A.D), the Myanmar
base was Pyay but their line of advance was down the Hlaing
River to Dagon (Yangon).
In Yangon, the most famous of all not only in Myanmar but
all over the world is the Shwedagon Pagoda on the
Theinguttara Hill. It was merely 27 feet high originally.
King Binnya-U repaired the Shwedagon Pagoda, raising its
height to 66 feet in 1362 A.D. King Binnya-kyan (1453 – 1472
A.D) raised the height of the Shwedagon pagoda to 302 feet
and then King Sinbyushin (1763 – 76) raised the Shwedagon
Pagoda to the present height of 326 feet.
Queen
Shinsawpu (1453 – 1472) spent her evening life in Dagon. Her
additions made the Shwedagon Pagoda almost what we see now,
as she built the terraces measuring fifty feet high and
three hundred yards wide, with a great stone balustrade, a
circle of stone lamps and several encircling walls between
which she planted palm trees. While Portuguese De Brito
removed the great Damazedi Bell from Shwedagon Pagoda, it
sank in the Pazun Taung Creek. It is said to be possibly the
biggest bell all over the world.
There
is a monastery built by Queen Shinsawpu, which living memory
is called the Shinsawpu tomb monastery. It has been existed
on the Bagaya road.
Yangon, which succeeded Thanlyin in 1755, was a minor
centre in comparison with Calcutta. Then Yangon was one of
the ship building centers as the East Yangon was a stockade
until 1841.
In May 1755, Alaungpaya occupied Dagon from the Mon and
called it ‘Yangon’ “(End of strife)”.
In
sixteenth century, although Malabar and Surat teak was
preferred, Myanmar teak was known in India. It was the
finest wood imaginable for shipbuilding and it resisted sea
water. Yangon, which succeeded Thanlyin in 1755, was a minor
shipbuilding centre.
At the time of the Madras famine in 1877, the price of
paddy was first high. Yangon was the largest rice port in
the world at that time.
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