The Gravity Defying Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Myanmar

The Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, otherwise known as the Golden Rock, is a famous Buddhist pilgrimage site in the town of Kyaiktiyo, located about 160 km from Yangon.

The site itself is quite phenomenal. A small 5.5 meter pagoda sits quite peacefully on a boulder that looks like it will roll off the cliff at anytime. Think Leaning Tower of Pisa and you can formulate an idea about The Golden Rock as a gravity defying piece of architecture.

Legend has it that Buddha’s spirit visited the area and offered a strand of hair to one of the town’s hermits named Taik Tha. The hermit later passed it on to his adopted son King Tissa. As a dying wish, Taik Tha asked the 11th century King to enshrine the hair in a boulder shaped like the hermit’s head. With the aid of the Spirit King, Tissa found a spot, and built a pagoda on the boulder and had the hair enshrined in it. The hair is what keeps the rock from tumbling down.

The Golden Rock attracts crowds of pilgrims offering fruits, food and incense to the Buddha. The area is even livelier during the full moon in March, otherwise known as Tabaung with thousands of candles lighting up the area.

The site is of religious importance to many, but to the casual eye, it is also a physics defying site. Peak pilgrimages occur from October through to March each year.

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Fact File: 

Exotissimo arranges a Golden Rock tour to the Kyaiktiyo pagoda.

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