Yenangyaung 3

Of the many Buddhist payas (pagodas) in Yenangyong, the most interesting is the one on the top of a hill that collapsed a few months back.  For payas entomb treasures, and ancient ones contain what is known only by legend, or not at all.  For to deconstruct a paya and look within is accursed.

The gilded brick cracked and finally collapsed, of its own accord.  Revealed within what had been perhaps five stories high was another paya, ornate and of marble, perhaps two stories high - like a Russian Doll - along with caskets of jewels, the beads and buttons and teeth of old, once revered, now forgotten monks, and perhaps a thousand of lead and silver figures - the king and his court, in miniature.

The paya is being rebuilt, but in cave form, rather than solid, so that the marble paya within remains accessible.  This is permitted.  But the jewels and figures and beads and buttons and teeth will be bricked back into the structure, both kept and forgotten, both treasured and lost, within.