Kuthodaw Pagoda ကုသိုလ်တော်‌ဘုရာ - Worlds Largest Book on 729 Marble Slabs - Mandalay Myanmar 2023

Kuthodaw Pagoda ကုသိုလ်တော်‌ဘုရာ literally Royal Merit, and formally titled Mahalawka Marazein မဟာလောကမာရဇိန်စေတီ is a Buddhist stupa, located in Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar), that contains the world's largest book.

It lies at the foot of Mandalay Hill and was built during the reign of King Mindon. The stupa itself, which is gilded above its terraces, is 188 feet (57 m) high, and is modelled after the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U near Bagan. In the grounds of the pagoda are 729 kyauksa gu or stone-inscription caves, each containing a marble slab inscribed on both sides with a page of text from the Tipitaka, the entire Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.

Mindon Min had the pagoda built as part of the traditional foundations of the new royal city of Mandalay in 1857. He was later to convene the Fifth Buddhist Synod in 1871, but wanted to leave a great work of merit by having the Tipitaka set in stone for posterity, meant to last five millennia after the Buddha. Construction began in 1860, its hti (umbrella or crown) mounted on 19 July 1862, and the inscriptions were laid open to the public on 4 May 1868.

In 2013, UNESCO plaque indicating that the Maha Lawkamarazein or Kuthodaw Inscription Shrines at Kuthodaw Pagoda, which contain the world's largest book in the form of 729 marble slabs on which are inscribed the Tripitaka, were inscribed on to the Memory of the World Register.

The temple is very unique. All of the small buildings containing the slabs with a page of the book are something you will see no where else. I would recommend anyone in the area to stop by and spend an hour or two at this temple.

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