Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple (Burmese: ကျောက်တော်ကြီးဘုရား) is a Buddhist temple located on Mindhamma Hill on Insein Township, Yangon, Burma.[1] The temple houses a 37 feet (11 m) feet tall Buddha called the Loka Chantha Abhaya Labha Muni (လောကချမ်းသာအဘယလဘ မုနိရုပ်ပွားတော်မြတ်ကြီး), which is carved out of a single piece of white marble quarried in Sagyin Hill, Madaya Township, Mandalay Region.[1] The image weighs approximately 560 tons.[2] The Buddha is carved making the abhayamudra (အဘယမုဒြာ), the gesture of fearlessness.[3]
The marble image was transported using a special railroad carriage, which was then placed on a 200 feet (61 m) long barge donated by the Metro Asia Myanmar.[3] The barge was pushed down the Irrawaddy River by three steamers, stopping along major towns before reaching Yangon.[3] The barge was accompanied by a fleet of decorated ceremonial boats.[3]
The marble image landed at Gyogon, Insein Township on 5 August 2000 to an audience of 500,000 people, including government officials from the State Peace and Development Council, including Chairman Senior General Than Shwe, his wife Kyaing Kyaing, and Secretary 1 General Khin Nyunt.[3] The image was then carried atop Mindhamma Hill using a special railway carriage requiring 4 locomotives, on 10 August.[3] The partially carved image was finished and erected at an auspicious location designated by astrologers (aung myay, lit.'victory grounds'), where it is currently housed.[4] The Buddha image was consecrated in February 2002.[3] This Buddhist project was reportedly a donation to sustain for future shine brightly to Buddha Sasanar .[3] The Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple was built near the site of the former Nine Mile Cemetery.[5]
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