Great Bell of Dhammazedi
Encyclopedia
The Great Bell of Dhammazedi is a bronze
bell
, believed to be the largest bell ever cast. It was cast on 5 February 1484 by order of King Dhammazedi
of Hanthawaddy Pegu
, and was given as a present to the Shwedagon Pagoda of Dagon
(today's Yangon
, Myanmar
).
advised him to postpone the date, because it was at the astrologically inauspicious
time of the Crocodile constellation
, and the resulting bell would not produce any sound. After the bell was completed, it reportedly gave an unpleasant sound.
According to texts of the time, the bell was cast of 180,000 viss (290 t) of metal which included silver
and gold
, as well as copper
and tin
. The bell was said to be twelve cubit
s high and eight cubits wide. Click here to see a drawing of the bell as it appeared while still at the Shwedagon Pagoda.
In 1583, Gaspero Balbi, a Venetian
gem merchant, visited ancient Dagon and the Shwedagon Pagoda. He wrote in his diary about the King Dhammazedi Bell. His description of the Great Bell said that it had writing engraved from top to bottom around its circumference that he could not decipher at that time:
in the early 16th century. Filipe de Brito e Nicote
, a Portuguese
warlord and mercenary
known as Nga Zinka to the Burmese, arrived in Lower Burma sometime in the 1590s. At that time, Syriam
(now known as Thanlyin) was the most important seaport in the Burmese Kingdom of Taungoo.
In 1599, de Brito led an Arakanese
force which sacked Syriam and Pegu (now known as Bago), the capital of Lower Burma. The King of Arakan
appointed de Brito as governor of Syriam. By 1600, de Brito had extended his power across the Bago River
to Dagon and the surrounding countryside. De Brito declared independence from the Arakanese king in 1603 and established Portuguese rule under Aires de Saldanha, Viceroy
of Portuguese India
.
In 1608 De Brito and his men removed the Dhammazedi bell from the Shwedagon Pagoda and rolled it down Singuttara Hill
to a raft on the Pazundaung Creek
. From here, the bell was hauled by elephants to the Bago River. The bell and raft were lashed to de Brito's flagship for the journey across the river to Syriam, to be melted down and made into ships cannons. The load proved to be too heavy however: at the confluence of the Bago and Yangon River
s, off what is now known as Monkey Point, the raft broke up and the bell went to the bottom, taking de Brito's ship with it.
Burmese forces under King Anaukpetlun
recaptured Syriam in September 1613. De Brito was executed by impalement
on a wooden stake, a punishment reserved for defilers of Buddhist
temple
s.
images of objects in the area for guidance. Making it even harder to find is the fact that there are also 3 shipwrecks in the area. The water is muddy and visibility is extremely poor under the surface. The Dhammazedi Bell is thought to be buried in 25 feet (7.6 m) of mud. The great Bell rests between the wrecks of two Dutch
East Indiaman ships: Komine and Koning David, along with small pieces of De Brito's galleon
.
In 2000, the Burmese government asked an English marine scientist named Mike Hatcher and his team to raise the bell; they wanted to see it restored to the Pagoda. Hatcher agreed to undertake the project, which has involvement from Japanese, Australian and American companies. Richard Gere
is involved in raising funds.
The project is not without its opponents: Some pro-democracy campaigners say the salvage operation might be misconstrued as an endorsement by the international community of Myanmar's military dictatorship, and should wait until talks with the regime have progressed or until such time as a democratic government is in place.
One of seven salvage projects forecast for Mike Hatcher and his team in 2001, Mike's team was slated to begin the search for the precise location of the Dhammazedi Bell in March that year. After a flurry of excitement stirred up by BBC's announcement of the project, however, it apparently did not get off the ground, perhaps due to complications involved in his discovery in June 2000 of a huge sunken wreck in Indonesian waters, with the largest collection of porcelain ever found.
If the project ever does go forward, divers will use some combination of sub-bottom profilers, personal mounted sonar, night vision devices, and copper sulphate detectors to locate the bell (since the mud around all that bronze would be expected to have a high concentration of copper sulphate). About nine months after the survey they expect to lift the bell from the river. To do this, they will have to build a small version of a North Sea Oil platform in the muddy rapids of the confluence of two rivers, and assemble a large crane to lift the bell out of the water. Once it is lifted, they will construct a railway to transport it uphill about half a mile to the Shwedagon Pagoda. This final operation will take about four months.
In July 2010, the Myanmar Times reported an Australian documentary film director Damien Lay to be another foreigner who had decided to take it up as his new project. Previous attempts to raise the bell, by both domestic and foreign teams since 1987, either failed or did not materialize. Some treasures from the Shwedagon, part of the loot, are also believed to be there guarded by nat spirits, and some locals have claimed to have sighted the bell surfacing on a full moon night.
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
bell
Bell (instrument)
A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
, believed to be the largest bell ever cast. It was cast on 5 February 1484 by order of King Dhammazedi
Dhammazedi
Dhammazedi was the 16th king of Hanthawaddy, who reigned from 1472 to 1492, and is considered one of the most enlightened rulers in Burmese history, and by some accounts "the greatest" of all Hanthawaddy kings. The former Buddhist monk, educated in the rival kingdom of Ava in his youth, was a...
of Hanthawaddy Pegu
Hanthawaddy Kingdom
The Hanthawaddy Kingdom was the dominant kingdom that ruled lower Burma from 1287 to 1539. The Mon-speaking kingdom was founded as Ramannadesa by King Wareru following the collapse of the Pagan Empire in 1287 as a nominal vassal state of Sukhothai Kingdom, and of the Mongol Yuan dynasty...
, and was given as a present to the Shwedagon Pagoda of Dagon
Dagon Township
Dagon Township is located immediately north of downtown Yangon. The township comprises five wards, and shares borders with Bahan township in the north, Ahlon township in the west, Mingala Taungnyunt township in the east, and Lanmadaw township, Latha township and Pabedan township in the south.Dagon...
(today's Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
, Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
).
Description
In 1484, prior to the casting of the bell, King Dhammazedi's astrologerAstrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
advised him to postpone the date, because it was at the astrologically inauspicious
Auspice
An auspice is literally "one who looks at birds", a diviner who reads omens from the observed flight of birds...
time of the Crocodile constellation
Draco (constellation)
Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin for dragon. Draco is circumpolar for many observers in the northern hemisphere...
, and the resulting bell would not produce any sound. After the bell was completed, it reportedly gave an unpleasant sound.
According to texts of the time, the bell was cast of 180,000 viss (290 t) of metal which included silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
and gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, as well as copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
and tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
. The bell was said to be twelve cubit
Cubit
The cubit is a traditional unit of length, based on the length of the forearm. Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in Antiquity, in the Middle Ages and into Early Modern Times....
s high and eight cubits wide. Click here to see a drawing of the bell as it appeared while still at the Shwedagon Pagoda.
In 1583, Gaspero Balbi, a Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
gem merchant, visited ancient Dagon and the Shwedagon Pagoda. He wrote in his diary about the King Dhammazedi Bell. His description of the Great Bell said that it had writing engraved from top to bottom around its circumference that he could not decipher at that time:
Theft from Shwedagon Pagoda
European explorers and merchants began to make contacts in Lower BurmaLower Burma
Lower Burma is a geographic region of Burma and includes the low-lying Irrawaddy delta , as well as coastal regions of the country ....
in the early 16th century. Filipe de Brito e Nicote
Philip de Brito
Filipe de Brito e Nicote or Nga Zinga was a Portuguese adventurer and mercenary in Rakhine service.Born to French father in Lisbon, Portugal, de Brito first traveled to Southeast Asia as a cabin boy. He eventually served under the King of Arakan, and became governor of Thanlyin in 1599...
, a Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
warlord and mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
known as Nga Zinka to the Burmese, arrived in Lower Burma sometime in the 1590s. At that time, Syriam
Thanlyin
Thanlyin is a major port city of Myanmar, located across Bago River from the city of Yangon. Thanlyin Township comprises 17 quarters and 28 village tracts. It is home to the largest port in the country, Thilawa port.-History:...
(now known as Thanlyin) was the most important seaport in the Burmese Kingdom of Taungoo.
In 1599, de Brito led an Arakanese
Rakhine people
The Rakhine , is a nationality in Myanmar forming the majority along the coastal region of present day Rakhine State or Arakan State. They possibly constitute 5.53% or more of Myanmar's total population but no accurate census figures exist. Rakhine people also live in the southeastern parts of...
force which sacked Syriam and Pegu (now known as Bago), the capital of Lower Burma. The King of Arakan
Rakhine State
Rakhine State is a Burmese state. Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between...
appointed de Brito as governor of Syriam. By 1600, de Brito had extended his power across the Bago River
Bago River
Bago River is a river of southern Burma. It flows through Bago and Yangon. It arises in the hills of the Pegu Range and flows into the Myitmaka River which below that point is called the Yangon River.-References:...
to Dagon and the surrounding countryside. De Brito declared independence from the Arakanese king in 1603 and established Portuguese rule under Aires de Saldanha, Viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
of Portuguese India
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
.
In 1608 De Brito and his men removed the Dhammazedi bell from the Shwedagon Pagoda and rolled it down Singuttara Hill
Singuttara Hill
Singuttara Hill is a small hill in Yangon, Myanmar , crowned by the Shwedagon Pagoda, the most famous pagoda in the country.-Tapussa and Bhallika:...
to a raft on the Pazundaung Creek
Pazundaung Township
Pazundaung Township is a township located in the southeastern part of Yangon, Myanmar. The township consists of ten wards, and shares borders with Botataung township in the west and the south, Mingala Taungnyunt township in the northwest, Thaketa township in the north and the Pazundaung Creek in...
. From here, the bell was hauled by elephants to the Bago River. The bell and raft were lashed to de Brito's flagship for the journey across the river to Syriam, to be melted down and made into ships cannons. The load proved to be too heavy however: at the confluence of the Bago and Yangon River
Yangon River
The Yangon River is formed by the confluence of the Pegu and Myitmaka rivers and is a marine estuary that runs from Yangon emptying into the Gulf of Martaban of the Andaman Sea...
s, off what is now known as Monkey Point, the raft broke up and the bell went to the bottom, taking de Brito's ship with it.
Burmese forces under King Anaukpetlun
Anaukpetlun
Anaukpetlun was the sixth king of Toungoo dynasty of Burma, and was largely responsible for restoring Burmese kingdom after it had famously collapsed at the end of 16th century. In his 22-year reign between 1606 and 1628, Anaukpetlun completed the reunification efforts of the Burmese kingdom begun...
recaptured Syriam in September 1613. De Brito was executed by impalement
Impalement
Impalement is the traumatic penetration of an organism by an elongated foreign object such as a stake, pole, or spear, and this usually implies complete perforation of the central mass of the impaled body...
on a wooden stake, a punishment reserved for defilers of Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s.
Current status
Numerous individuals have tried to save the bell, thus far without success. Professional deep sea diver, James Blunt, has made 115 dives to find the bell, using sonarSonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
images of objects in the area for guidance. Making it even harder to find is the fact that there are also 3 shipwrecks in the area. The water is muddy and visibility is extremely poor under the surface. The Dhammazedi Bell is thought to be buried in 25 feet (7.6 m) of mud. The great Bell rests between the wrecks of two Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
East Indiaman ships: Komine and Koning David, along with small pieces of De Brito's galleon
Galleon
A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...
.
In 2000, the Burmese government asked an English marine scientist named Mike Hatcher and his team to raise the bell; they wanted to see it restored to the Pagoda. Hatcher agreed to undertake the project, which has involvement from Japanese, Australian and American companies. Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
is involved in raising funds.
The project is not without its opponents: Some pro-democracy campaigners say the salvage operation might be misconstrued as an endorsement by the international community of Myanmar's military dictatorship, and should wait until talks with the regime have progressed or until such time as a democratic government is in place.
One of seven salvage projects forecast for Mike Hatcher and his team in 2001, Mike's team was slated to begin the search for the precise location of the Dhammazedi Bell in March that year. After a flurry of excitement stirred up by BBC's announcement of the project, however, it apparently did not get off the ground, perhaps due to complications involved in his discovery in June 2000 of a huge sunken wreck in Indonesian waters, with the largest collection of porcelain ever found.
If the project ever does go forward, divers will use some combination of sub-bottom profilers, personal mounted sonar, night vision devices, and copper sulphate detectors to locate the bell (since the mud around all that bronze would be expected to have a high concentration of copper sulphate). About nine months after the survey they expect to lift the bell from the river. To do this, they will have to build a small version of a North Sea Oil platform in the muddy rapids of the confluence of two rivers, and assemble a large crane to lift the bell out of the water. Once it is lifted, they will construct a railway to transport it uphill about half a mile to the Shwedagon Pagoda. This final operation will take about four months.
In July 2010, the Myanmar Times reported an Australian documentary film director Damien Lay to be another foreigner who had decided to take it up as his new project. Previous attempts to raise the bell, by both domestic and foreign teams since 1987, either failed or did not materialize. Some treasures from the Shwedagon, part of the loot, are also believed to be there guarded by nat spirits, and some locals have claimed to have sighted the bell surfacing on a full moon night.