A visit to Tounggoo

By Maung Maung Aye

 

AT 11:43 a.m, our car which left Yangon at 7:30 a.m veered from Yangon-Nay Pyi Taw highway into the road leading to Toungoo. It was a 9-mile concrete road lined with shady Kukko trees. Behind the Kukko trees were greenery pea-plantations, some irrigated fields and some freshly ploughed for growing seasonal vegetables. Some clumps of toddy-palm trees were scattered higgledy-piggledy in the fields. I saw some rickety thatchroofed bamboo-stalls which sold toddy-juice on the road-side. I also found a donation-collecting marquee with some young girls holding tin-bowls in front. When our car went past the marquee, one of the girls ran after us. So I put a one-thousand kyat note into her bowl. I glanced towards Toungoo looming up some distance ahead and saw a medley of roofs among thick foliage of green trees with glittering pagodas towering above them.

 

Soon, I espied Toungoo University in a large shady campus on the right-side of the road. We dropped in on my elder sister who was posted as an administrative officer at the university for some minutes. At about noon, we came to Kyun-pat road ( Road which skirts round the moat), which was the city-circular road of Toungoo. We found large channels on the side of this road. It is said that these channels were the moats which surrounded the city-walls of Ketumati Toungoo. To my knowledge, ‘ Ketumati’ is a Pali word which means ‘ Possessor of banner’. This city was the capital of the Second Myanmar Empire. It was built by Mingyi Nyo in A.D 1510. He was succeeded by his son Tabinshwehti. When Tabinshwehti was assassinated by a Mon minister, his brother-in-law Kyaw Htin Nawratha acceded to the throne of Toungoo . He was better known as Bayintnaung and could establish dominance over some neighboring countries. During his reign, Myanmar power reached its zenith and Myanmar territory was the largest. Local chronicles also say that, before Ketumati Toungoo, towns such as Toungoo Nge, Toungoo Gyi, Myawadi and Dvaravati had emerged in its neighborhood.

 

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Our car weaved through the maze of roads and streets. As Toungoo was an ancient town,we felt the whole town wrapped in a sort of mysterious air.We also found some main-roads lined with large, shady perennial trees, providing coolness to the whole town. Toungoo was a blend of old and new looks.Some ancient buildings, especially pagodas and other religious structures, were found amongst modern buildings like supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, guest-houses, hospitals, offices, etc. This suggested that Buddhism would have thrived in Toungoo during its hey day and reminded us of undying glory of powerful Toungoo kings.

 

At about 1 p.m, we made a brief stop at “Laik” Restaurant in downtown Toungoo for lunch. As it is crammed with many people, we had to stand for some time to get a vacant table. Then we had lunch hastily and visited the Kandaw Gyi ( Royal Lake) Park across it. The Kandaw Gyi was an ancient lake with a wide expanse of green water surrounded by bunds studded with shady tall trees. We saw many picnickers having lunch under the trees, some posing for photographs and a few lovers having tete-atete sitting on benches in the far corners of the park. I learnt from a local that the residential quarter next to the Kandaw Gyi was called ‘ Rakhine-su’ meaning ‘ Unit of Rakhines’ because it was the place where Rakhine soldiers of King Minrajagyi ( AD 1593-1612 ) who came to Toungoo at the request of King Min Ye Thiha Thu to attack Hamsavati in alliance with him in A.D1599 encamped.

 

At about 1:30 p.m, we proceeded to the Shwe Sandaw Pagoda in downtown Toungoo. It was a ten-minute drive from the Kandaw Gyi. The roads were sheltered by large shady trees. Many people were plying to and fro on bicycles and motor-cycles. When we reached the pagoda, we found some pilgrimage-buses parked in front of the cause-way leading to the pagoda-platform. We paid homage to the pagoda and Buddha images housed in the shrine-rooms. Then we donated some cash to the members of the pagoda trustee-ship board. We saw some pilgrims paying homage to the Buddha images, some offering flowers and joss-sticks and some walking clockwise around the base of the pagoda. It is said this ancient pagoda was 120 cubits high and built by King Thihasuramahadhammaraja in A.D1578 and a Buddha’s hair-relic sent by Sinhalese King Dhammapala to King Bayintnaung was enshrined in it.

 

Then we went on to the Kaungmhudaw Pagoda on the outskirts of Toungoo, making a detour round busy parts of the town.. It is an ancient wish-fulfilled pagoda built by King Bayintnaung in A.D1551. It is said that he treaded the victorious ground (atmifajreif;) inside its precincts just before his going on the military expedition to Pyi in A.D 1551 and that he, therefore, seized Pyi with ease. When we came to that pagoda, we saw a file of people walking round the statue of King Bayintnaung erected in the north-eastern corner of the precincts. When I asked a pilgrim about the reason, I was replied that they were treading the victorious ground so that their prayers would be answered. So we joined them and walked round the statue.When we left the Kaungmhudaw Pagoda, it was already 3 p.m. So we, in spite of wanting to visit other ancient sites, had to abandon our desire and started on our home-bound trip.

 

In conclusion, it is found that Toungoo is a pleasant, thriving district-city located in a wide fertile plain bolstered up by the Paunglaung river to the east, the Khabaung river to the south, the Pan-be creek to the west and the Swar creek to the north. Besides, it is a hub of transport between Lower Myanmar and Upper Myanmar and dotted with many ancient buildings such as pagodas, ordination-halls, moats, ruined city-walls, colonial buildings like offices, monasteries, temples, mosques, etc. Moreover, it is a stop-over on the way to Thandaung Gyi, a hilly station where holiday-makers and tourists can enjoy a cloud-sea, cool weather and other beautiful countrified scenes. Therefore, the author think that if the ancient sites in and round Toungoo are to be exposed and preserved the original style, it will surely be a high potential for tourism.