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its inside decorated with a forest of fake trees and a beautiful blue dome showing star
constellations.
The king of Nepal contributed sacred relics for the zedi relic chamber and General Ne
Win had it topped with an 11-level hti - two more levels than the hti at Shwedagon.
Dargah of Bahadur Shah Zafar MAUSOLEUM
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(Ziwaca St, Dagon; 8am-8pm) A place of pilgrimage for Indians, Muslims and
others interested in the history of the Raj, this functioning mosque houses the mausoleum
of India's last Mughal emperor. Bahadur Shah Zafar II was exiled to Rangoon along with
his wife (who is also buried here) and family in 1858 following the failed Sepoy Rebelli-
on in Delhi. The ex-emperor, who had a reputation as a talented Urdu poet, died four
years later in November 1862.
William Dalrymple, who chronicles Bahadur Shah Zafar's life in The Last Mughal,
writes of how his shrouded corpse was hastily buried in an anonymous grave in his pris-
on enclosure, so that, as the British Commissioner in charge insisted, 'No vestige should
remain to distinguish where the last of the Great Mughals rests.'
A mausoleum was later built on the location of the prison, but the grave itself re-
mained a mystery until 1991 when workmen discovered it 3½ft underground during ex-
cavations for a new structure at the site. Today it is covered in silks and strewn with
sweet-smelling petals.
Chaukhtatgyi Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE
(Shwegondine Rd, Tamwe; 6am-8pm) Housed in a large metal-roofed shed, this beautiful
65m-long reclining Buddha is hardly publicised at all, even though it's larger than a sim-
ilar well-known image in Bago. The statue's placid face is topped by a crown encrusted
with diamonds and other precious stones.
Close to the Buddha's feet is the small shrine to Ma Thay, a holy man who has the
power to stop rain and grant sailors a safe journey.
Attached to the temple complex is the Shweminwon Sasana Yeiktha Meditation
Centre where large numbers of locals gather to meditate. It's not hard to find someone to
show you around the adjoining monasteries.
Ngahtatgyi Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE
(Shwegondine Rd, Tamwe; admission $2/K2000; 6am-8pm) Virtually across the street from
Chaukhtatgyi Paya is a gorgeous 46ft-tall seated Buddha image at the Ngahtatgyi Paya.
 
 
 
 
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