Botahtaung Pagoda

Botataung Pagoda ဗိုလ်တထောင်ဘုရား
Shown within Myanmar
Basic information
Location	Yangon
Geographic coordinates	16°46′06″N 96°10′19″E / 16.768449°N 96.171973°E / 16.768449; 96.171973Coordinates: 16°46′06″N 96°10′19″E / 16.768449°N 96.171973°E / 16.768449; 96.171973
Affiliation	Theravada Buddhism
Country	Myanmar

The Botataung Pagoda (Burmese: ဗိုလ်တထောင်ဘုရား [bòtətʰàʊɴ pʰəjá]; also spelled Botahtaung; literally "1000 military officers") is a famous pagoda located in downtown Yangon, Myanmar, near the Yangon river. The pagoda was first built by the Mon around the same time as was Shwedagon Pagoda—according to local belief, over 2500 years ago, and was known as Kyaik-de-att in Mon language. The pagoda is hollow within, and houses what is believed to be a sacred hair of Gautama Buddha.

The Botataung Pagoda was completely destroyed during World War II, and was rebuilt after the war.

According to Burmese tradition, it was on a hillock at this site that one thousand military officers of the king were drawn up as a guard of honor to welcome the landing in Burma of the relics of the Buddha brought over from India more than two thousand years ago. An account from ancient histories of the building of the Pagoda states that the Buddhist king Sihadipa gave one of his ministers a sacred hair from the Buddha's head and two body relics and this minister, renowned for his goodness and faith, consulted a famous religious leader and, on his advice, chose the Botataung Mount on the bank of Yangon River at a distance one thousand tars (7,000 cubits) in a South-Easterly direction from the Shwedagon Pagoda and there enshrined the sacred relics.

The pagoda was completely destroyed on 8 November 1943 when the RAF, which was bombing the nearby Yangon wharves also hit the pagoda. The pagoda was left in "blackened ruins".

Rebuilding of the pagoda started on the same day that the country gained independence from the UK: 4 January 1948. Part of the excavation process, a relic chamber was discovered. The chamber in size 20' x 20' and 6 in height gradually decreasing in size towards the top and appearing like a huge pot placed up-sided down to cover completely what lay inside.