Tuyin Taung Zedi (2217)

Tuyin Taung Zedi is one of the four zedis in which King Anawrahta enshrined the four replicas of the sacred. Tooth of the Buddha, which he received as religious gift from King Dhatu Sena of Sri Lanka.

At the base of the zedi are 32 figures of elephant and like Lawka Nanda zedi, it has an octagonal platform. The structure is bell shaped. Tuyin Taung is the original name of the Bagan Period. In course of time the name has become corrupted to sound “Tu Ywin Taung” or “Ta win Taung”.

That the original name is Tuyin Taung is confirmed by the inscription on one of three inscribed stone slabs housed in a shed by the side of Tuyin Taung zedi. In the inscription on the middle slab, there is a line “….as Saw Rahan Ordination Hall on the Tuyin Taung fell into ruin ….”. There is another reference in the Sulamani Inscription in which a line runs, “When His Majesty proceeded to the Tuyin in the east…” yet another reference is found in Swedaw Inscription on the summit of Tuyin Taung Hill. It runs: “Nga Yike Thin donated 4 pes of glebe land to a zedi on the summit of Tuyin Taung.”

Tuyin Taung Hill is a sand stone Hill of about 25 million years old.

There are quarries at Tuyin Taung Hill from which stone bricks were carried by human chains to the construction site of Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan. Pious devotees lined up a 7 mile distance and stone bricks were passed on by hands till they reached the site. Fossilized prints of leaves found between some lithic layers prove the age of Tuyin Taung Hill to be 25 million years. Some of these fossilized prints are on display in the courtyard of the museum.

Glimpses of Glorious Bagan, Universities Historical Research Centre, Yangon, Myanmar, The University Press, 1996

Pictorial Guide to Pagan, Ministry of Culture, Yangon, Myanmar, The Printing and Publish Corporation, Reprint 1975

The Pagodas and Monuments of Bagan, Vol. 1, Translated by Dr Khin Maung Nyunt, Ministry of Information, Yangon, Myanmar, Graphic Training Centre (G.T.C), 1995

The Pagodas and Monuments of Bagan , Vol. 2, English Text by Dr Khin Maung Nyunt, Ministry of Information, Yangon, Myanmar, Graphic Training Centre (G.T.C), 1998

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