Tripiṭaka tablets at Kuthodaw Pagoda

Stone tablets inscribed with the Tripiṭaka (and other Buddhist texts) stand upright in the grounds of the Kuthodaw Pagoda (kuthodaw means 'royal merit') at the foot of Mandalay Hill in Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma). The work was commissioned by King Mindon as part of his transformation of Mandalay into a royal capital. It was completed in 1868. The text contains the Buddhist canon in the Burmese language.

There are 730 tablets and 1,460 pages. Each page is 1.07 metres (3+1⁄2 ft) wide, 1.53 metres (5 ft) tall and 13 centimetres (5+1⁄8 in) thick. Each stone tablet has its own roof and precious gem on top in a small cave-like structure of Sinhalese relic casket type called kyauksa gu (stone inscription cave in Burmese), and they are arranged around a central golden pagoda.^[1]

UNESCO inscription

In 2013,

Tripitaka, were inscribed on to the Memory of the World Register

.

Royal merit

One of the stone inscriptions, originally in gold letters and borders, at Kuthodaw

The pagoda itself was built as part of the traditional foundations of the new royal city which also included a pitakat taik or library for religious scriptures, but

Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism inscribed on them in gold. One more was added to record how it all came about, making it 730 stone inscriptions in total.^[1]

The marble was quarried from

Burmese script, chiseled out and originally filled in with gold ink. It took a scribe three days to copy both the obverse and the reverse sides, and a stonemason could finish up to 16 lines a day. All the stones were completed and opened to the public on 4 May 1868.^[1]

Assembly and contents

The stones are arranged in neat rows within three enclosures, 42 in the innermost, 168 in the middle and 519 in the outermost enclosure. The caves are numbered starting from the west going clockwise (let ya yit) forming complete rings as follows:[1]

Enclosure	Cave number	Pitaka
inner	1–42	Vinaya Pitaka
middle near	43–110	Vinaya
middle far	111–210	111 Vinaya, Abhidhamma Pitaka 112–210
outer nearest	211–319	Abhidhamma
outermost perimeter	320–465	Abhidhamma 310–319, Samyutta Nikaya 418–465
outermost next in	466–603	Samyutta 466–482, Khuddaka Nikaya 561–603
outermost near	604–729	Khuddaka

Thirty years later in 1900, a print copy of the text came out in a set of 38 volumes in Royal

galley proofs checked against the stones.^[1]

Annexation, desecration and restoration

The British later invaded the North, the gems and other valuables were looted, and the buildings and images vandalised by the troops billeted in the temples and pagodas near the walled city and Mandalay Hill. When the troops withdrew from religious sites after a successful petition to

Shan prince), and Mobyè Sitkè (a general in the royal army). In the tradition of the time, when something needed repair, it was first offered to the relatives of those who had originally made the Dāna (donation) and they came forward and assisted in making repairs. The public was then asked for help, but the full original glory was not achieved.^[1]

The gold writing had disappeared from all 729 marble tablets, along with the bells from the hti (umbrella or crown) of each of the small stupas, and they were now marked in black ink, made from shellac, soot from paraffin lamps and straw ash, rather than in gold, and few of the gems still exist. Mobyè Sitkè also asked permission from senior monks to plant star flower trees (Mimusops elengi) between the rows of kyauksa gus.^[1] The inscriptions have been re-inked several times since King Thibaw had it done for the second time in gold. The undergrowth amongst the caves was cleared and paved through public donations appealed for in the Ludu Daily in 1968.^[1] The words of the Buddha are still preserved there, therefore making it a popular destination for devout Buddhists as well as scholars and tourists.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Ludu Daw Amar - English translation by Prof. Than Tun (1974). The World's Biggest Book. Mandalay: Kyipwayay Press. pp. 22, 9, 14, 50–52, 22, appendix, 53–55, 24–35, 33, 36.

External links

22°0′15.05″N 96°6′46.98″E / 22.0041806°N 96.1130500°E / 22.0041806; 96.1130500

[lda-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Ludu Daw Amar - English translation by Prof. Than Tun (1974). The World's Biggest Book. Mandalay: Kyipwayay Press. pp. 22, 9, 14, 50–52, 22, appendix, 53–55, 24–35, 33, 36.

[1]