The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.
Yangon, Yangon · 16.7744°, 96.1588°
An octagonal gilded stupa about 44 metres high at the centre of downtown Yangon, whose main structure was enlarged by Queen Shin Sawbu between 1453 and 1472. When Lt. Alexander Fraser laid out the colonial street grid in the mid-19th century he made the pagoda its hub, and it has since served as a rallying point in the 1988 and 2007 uprisings.
Legend says the nat Sularata, whose eyelids had to be propped open, showed King Okkalapa where three earlier Buddhas had buried relics, and the pagoda was raised there over a hair of the Buddha given to the merchants Trapusa and Bahalika.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-27 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Mon (Shin Sawbu)