By Nat Ye Hla

PEGU, or Bago, was the capital of the Hanthawady Kingdom, located about 50 miles north-east of Yangon.

Being an ancient city ruled by successive monarchs, it remains rich in traditional art and culture, including ancient pagodas.

Myanmar’s first replica of Bodhgaya, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment, was built in the city during the reign of King Dhammacedi more than 530 years ago.

The Mahagodhi Temple, or Shwegugyi Pagoda, is located near the entrance to the city on the Yangon-Mandalay old highway.

According to a stone inscription, King Dhammacedi sent Buddhist monks, artists and architects to the Buddgaya in Biha State, India in AD 1477 to study and measure the Budhgaya, where the Buddha attained the enlightenment, and built the pagoda when they arrived back in the city two years later.

The temple built by King Dhammacedi was reduced to ruins due to earthquakes and the lack of conservation measures in successive eras.

Today, we can see brick foundations and two to three small pagodas, which circled the main pagoda.

Ceramics tiles of Mara’s Army

Researchers estimate that 200 to 300 glazed tiles were used to decorate the pagoda, which formed part of a famous series of tiles or plaques placed in niches around the enclosed wall of Shwegugyi Pagoda.

The ceramic titles, formed part formed part of a larger series illustrating the Buddha's triumph over evil and the rout of Mara's army who attempted to disturb the Buddha from his meditation to achieve enlightenment, was placed around the base of the Shwegugyi pagoda.

The ceramic tiles depict the warriors from Mara’s army, including the daughters of Mara.

Each tile is unique and distinguished from the others by the heads of animals surmounting the human bodies of the warriors, and by the weapons held in their hands.

But, ‘no more than 100 are traceable today’ of which around fifty are in public collections mostly in foreign museums. A few surviving examples are housed in the National Museum in Nay Pyi Taw and one broken tile is in the museum of the Shwemawdaw Pagoda in Bago.