Photos from open sources of
The Great Bell Dhammazedi was the largest bell, ever created by man. Its height was about six meters, width – more than three and a half meters, and weight – about three hundred tons (the world famous Moscow Tsar Bell weighs two hundred tons). More precisely, this is a man-made miracle, as many believe, before still exists, so talk about it in the past tense, perhaps not entirely correct.
The great bell was cast in about 1480 by order of the king Dhammazedi, who ruled the medieval state of Hantavadi, on whose territory today is Myanmar. Amazing the item became a gift from the King of the local Shwedagon Pagoda. Initially, the ruler did not plan any gift, but his submitted by mistake collected unnecessary tax from the people, and then Dhammazedi decided to spend the “extra” money from the treasury to create record bell for glorifying Buddha.
The mysteries of the great bell
Shortly before the planned casting, the royal astrologer advised Dhammazedi to postpone the date of manufacture of the bell, since work began at an unfavorable time when to the planet influenced by the constellation Crocodile. The adviser was convinced that otherwise In this case, the bell will turn out to be defective and will not ring. Ruler obeyed this advice, and the date of casting was moved to a later date term. When the signal instrument was first hit, the sound turned out to be not the most enjoyable. According to the king’s adviser, this happened because the bell is still cast in violation of some astrological requirements. However, further ringing the bells became more harmonious.
The metals used to create the Great Bell of Dhammazedi are copper, tin, gold and silver. This masterpiece is also encrusted with sapphires. and emeralds.
In 1583, a Venetian writer appeared in the Shwedagon Pagoda and Gasparo Balbi, a merchant who was incredibly hit by a bell. The traveler was impressed not only by unprecedented size and rich signal tool decorations, but also mysterious characters that have been engraved on the product. In his camping Balbi’s diary wrote that the whole bell is covered with obscure hieroglyphics, which would be enough for a thick book.
A photo from open sources
The merchant talked with the local people, including the monks, and found out that none of them are able to read the mysterious lettering. It turned out that the locals simply did not know this language, and eyewitnesses of the creation of the bell have long been in heaven.
Higher forces defended the bell
In 1608, the Arakan invaders decided to melt the bell and cast ship guns from the obtained metal. Great bell Dhammazedi was removed from the pagoda and dragged to the Seatown River on elephants. There the bell was loaded onto the raft, and the raft was tied to the flagship. The ship did not even sail to the middle of the river, when the raft could not bear the weight bells and went to the bottom, pulling after him and the ship. According to Buddhists, higher powers did not allow the bell to be melted on weapons.
Since then, this masterpiece is considered lost. According to some historical sources, during the low tide the bell was visible in the river until the end of the nineteenth century. Today there is an opinion what if the great bell dhammazedi really rests at the bottom Situown, nowadays it is buried under several meters of silt. Of course, repeated attempts were made to find him, however they turned out to be inconclusive, because the water here is very muddy, and at the bottom there are also many wrecks of sunken ships.
Over the past quarter century, experts came down with equipment to Seatown at least eight times, but in vain. Due to the bell is considered a national treasure of Myanmar and one of symbols of the Buddhist faith, it can be assumed that attempts to find it will be undertaken in the future. Especially since modern technology is quite capable of doing this, the main thing is that found sponsors.
Time
