Pitakataik

Pitakataik (Burmese: ပိဋကတ်တိုက်; also spelt bidagat taik and pitaka taik) is a library of Buddhist scriptures, including the Tipiṭaka, found in Buddhist societies in modern-day Myanmar (Burma).

History

The pitakataik dates to the pre-colonial era. During the Pagan Kingdom era, Anawrahta commissioned a square-shaped pitakataik that measured 51 square feet (4.7 m2), built in the style of a temple with a central plinth surrounded by a corridor, located 150 feet (46 m) from the Tharabha Gate.[1] Subsequent monarchs, including Kyansittha, Htilominlo, and Kyaswa, continued the tradition of building pitakataiks during their reigns, ushering in a tradition of royals and laypersons alike commissioning pitakataiks.[1] By the First Toungoo Empire era, the pitakataik was considered a requisite edifice for a royal capital, and was built in Bayinnaung's capital of Hanthawaddy (now Bago, Myanmar).[1]

During the Mrauk U period, 48 pitakataik were established within the compounds of pagodas and monasteries.[2] They remain one of the few buildings that survive from that period.[2] Of these, the Khain-Kaik Pitakataik, built by Min Phalaung in 1591 and located north of Htuparon Pagoda, is the best preserved.[2]

By the Konbaung dynasty, the pitakataik was one of the seven integral structures (နန်းတည် သတ္တဌာန) whose foundations had to be laid in establishing a royal capital, demonstrating its importance.[3] A royal pitakataik was built in each of the Konbaung kingdom's royal capitals, including Amarapura, Inwa, and Mandalay.[1] According to an contemporaneous British account in 1795, the Pitakataik at Amarapura was described as the largest library between the Danube and China.[4]

During the establishment of Mandalay as a royal capital, King Mindon Min commissioned the construction of a pitakataik at the foot of Mandalay Hill.[1] Copies of Tipiṭaka texts were relocated from the Amarapura Pitakataik and deposited at the newly constructed library in January 1864.[1][5] In October 2013, the Sitagu Sayadaw announced a donation to rebuild the Mandalay Pitakataik, along with the Thudhamma Zayat and Maha Pahtan Ordination Hall, with the consultation of Tampawaddy U Win Maung.[6]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pitakataik.

References
  1. Pay Phyo Khaing; Weerataweemat, Sonyot (2016). "สถาปัตยกรรมพระไตรปิฏกและคติกษัตราธิราชพุทธศาสนาในรัชสมัยพระเจ้ามินดง". สิ่งแวดล้อมสรรค์สร้างวินิจฉัย (in Thai). 1: 37–58.
  2. Yian, Goh Geok; Miksic, John; Aung-Thwin, Michael (2017-10-30). Bagan and the World: Early Myanmar and Its Global Connections. ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. ISBN 978-981-4786-02-7.
  3. U Thaw Kaung: The Learned Librarian of Myanmar. Myanmar Book Centre. 2005. p. 50.
  4. Harris, Ian (2013). William M. Johnston (ed.). Encyclopedia of Monasticism. Routledge. p. 757. ISBN 9781136787157.
  5. မင်းထက်အောင်(မန်းကိုယ်ပွား). "ရတနာပုံမန္တလေးရွှေမြို့တော်ကြီး သမိုင်းစာမျက်နှာသစ်ဖွင့်လှစ်နိုင်ခဲ့ပြီ". News and Periodical Enterprise (in Burmese). Ministry of Information. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  6. ခင် ဆုဝေ (27 February 2013). "သတ်တဌာန နရောတောျသုံးခုအား ရှေးမူမပကြျ ပွုပွငျမညျ". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
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