Mrauk U: Public protest has saved the golden Buddha statue along with other artifacts for a second time after authorities tried to take the religious and cultural heritage pieces from Arakan's ancient city of Mrauk U to the Burmese capital Naypyidaw.
A local resident who was involved in the protest said a team of authorities led by deputy director of the archaeological department and general administrator of Mrauk U Township attempted to take the statues and artifacts a second time on 17 July, after calling upon 50 town elders at the Ratana Man Aung Monastery where the objects are being kept in exhibition for devotional offerings.
A local resident who was involved in the protest said a team of authorities led by deputy director of the archaeological department and general administrator of Mrauk U Township attempted to take the statues and artifacts a second time on 17 July, after calling upon 50 town elders at the Ratana Man Aung Monastery where the objects are being kept in exhibition for devotional offerings.
He said the township administrator has told the elders that they came to take the artifacts on orders from the president and chief minister, and they would later plan to take them through the trustees of the pagoda.
The golden Buddha statue, along with many other kinds of statues and artifacts, was found on 30 May, 2011, from the shrines of Lokamezu Pagoda that is situated at the Bawdi Shwe Gu Hills two furlongs north of Mrauk U Town and is currently under renovation.
On 3 June, 2011, the authorities tried to take the golden statue to Naypyidaw for the first time but were unsuccessful after many townspeople blocked their vehicles and demanded they leave the statue in its native town. Since then, the golden statue, along with other statues and artifacts, has been kept for devotional offerings in the Ratana Man Aung Monastery.
A town elder who is a trustee of the pagoda also said the authorities are attempting to take the artifacts, especially the golden statue, by any means.
"They may take away the golden statue in particular some day by force or any way they can. They have been forcing us to hand over the statue and other artifacts to the local archaeological department because they are antiques and related to the department. Now the abbot of the monastery is on travel and he will be back on 24 July. After discussion with the abbot and townspeople we have to reply and tell them if we can hand over the statues and artifacts to the department," he said.
He said no one in the town will agree to hand over the statues and artifacts, which are their invaluable heritage, to the department, as they understand the authorities will take the objects to Naypyidaw.
According to other sources, the Burmese regime often takes historical heritage objects that are found in the town and other ancient places in Arakan State to mainland Burma in order to eliminate Arakanese heritage.
Last year, 70 golden coins and one ruby ring that were found at the Phara Paw Pagoda in Mrauk U were taken from the local archaeological department to Naypyidaw under the pretense of examining their authenticity, but those antiques were never returned to the department in Mrauk U and no one knows their whereabouts.
The artifacts found in the repositories of the Lokamezu Pagoda that are now being stored at the Ratana Man Aung Monastery include one gold statue, 23 bronze statues, 200 statues of relics repository, two marble statues, two stone statues, one votive tablet, golden containers for relics, a foot-high bronze showcase, two golden artifacts, two bronze artifacts, and one glazed mud artifact.
The golden Buddha statue is nearly a foot high and weighs 4.64 viss, and the local archaeologists believe the statue was cast in the early 8th century CE in Arakan.
11 April 2013 at 02:12
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