Kaylartha Pagoda

Kaylartha Kitchen

Kaylartha Mountain is situated 3 miles (4.8 km) from Taungson, Mon State, and can be driven up to by truck. The range is part of the or Eastern Arakan Yoma Mountains. It is at a distance of 184 kilometres (114 mi) from Yangon and 136 kilometers north of Mawlamyine, the capital of Mon State. The summit is above 1,600 feet (490 m). Monkeys live atop the mountain and are fed by pilgrims.

Canopy of ancient Bodhi Tree atop Kaylartha Mountain in Mon State, Myanmar

Monkey searching for food near the Kaylartha Monastery, December 2018

At the top of Mount Kaylartha stands a pagoda said to house a hair of the Buddha.[2] It is believed that in the Tharthanar Era (111), the Gautama Buddha arrived at the Kaylartha Mountain, Thuwunna Bonmi. He stayed at a monastery built by King Tissa Dama Thiha Yaza. The Buddha preached sermons to the public for seven days. During that time, he became close with the Hermits Tissa and Thiha and the local hermit of Kaylartha Mountain. They requested that he leave behind some relic to be revered by the people in his place after he left to return home. Buddha agreed and gave six of his hairs to hermits from Kyaiktiyo, Zinkyaik (to Tissa), Mount Zwegabin (to Thiha), Kaylartha, Kuthaerayone and Melan. A pair of belu brothers from Kyaikhtisaung also received a hair. All the hermits and belus enshrined the hair in great stones.[3][4][5][6]

The Hermit of Kaylartha, whose name was Tila of Dokkhalun,[7] discussed how to go about enshrining the hairs and building pagodas around them with Hermits Tissa and Thiha and Indra Sakka, who had supported Thiha in constructing a pagoda on Mount Zwegabin. He enshrined the hair relic in the pagoda atop Kaylartha Mountain, and was advised by Indra Sakka.

The hermits communicated with each other by shining lights atop their respective mountains at nighttime. Tissa, who stayed atop Zinkyaik Mountain, did not see light coming from Mountain Kaylartha and wondered what might have occurred. He went to Kaylartha Mountain and found the body of the Kaylartha Hermit. The body was burnt and buried, while the head, which was not burnt nor decomposed, held one of Buddha's hairs in its braid. It was returned to Mok Soe Taung Pagoda and joined the original two hair relics there.[8]

The Kyaikhtisaung Sayadaw restored nine Buddha hair relic pagodas during his lifetime, with Kaylartha Pagoda being one of them.[9] He built a compound around the pagoda and paved a road up to the top. It is now a popular spot for tourists and locals and had a resident abbot and monastery at the summit of the mountain.

In 2016, a rock and quarry project aimed at producing rock suitable for road paving was suspended on Kaylatha Mountain. On October 19, the Hluttaw state representative of Belin Township Constituency No. 1, Dr. Khin Naing Oo, sent a letter of opposition regarding the preparation for a mining project on the forest reserve to the President and various other respective government departments. The project was headed by Rock Well Mining Co., Ltd.. U Ohn Win, minister of the Natural Resource and Environmental Conservation Ministry, visited the area nine days later on October 28. He witnessed the field work taking place and decided to suspend the work. A temporary ban was placed from mining on the historic site. Eventually, quarry projects were permitted to operate only along the boundaries of the Kaylatha Mountain nature conservation area (45 acres of land) as they had historically been quarry sites.[10][11]