Thanboddhay's million Buddhas and the Chindwin's ancient riverbanks
Monywa is the capital of Sagaing Region in upper Myanmar — an overlooked city on the Chindwin River that harbours some of Myanmar's most extraordinary Buddhist sites in complete obscurity. Thanboddhay Pagoda is unlike anything else in the country: its exterior encrusted with thousands of miniature stupas, every surface painted in white, gold, and ochre, and its interior walls covered from floor to ceiling with 582,357 Buddha images of every size — a number that gives the place its nickname, 'the pagoda of a million Buddhas.' Nearby Bodhi Tataung has a 116-metre standing Buddha (the world's la…
The Monywa area has been continuously inhabited since at least the Pagan Empire period. It sits along the Chindwin River, which was a key trade and transport route linking upper Myanmar with Assam and the broader region. The city grew under the Konbaung dynasty (18th–19th centuries) as a regional centre for jade and cotton trade. During World War II, the Battle of Monywa (1942) saw fierce fighting as the Japanese advance trapped British forces; the Chindwin became the avenue of a chaotic Allied retreat into India. The region is predominantly Burmese with significant Chin hill tribe population…