Great Bell of Dhammazedi

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The Great Bell of Dhammazedi is believed to be the largest bell in the world.[1] It was cast in
1484 by the Mon monarch, Dhammazedi, and was located in Shwedagon Pagoda of Yangon,
Myanmar (formerly known as Burma).

Contents
[hide]

 1 Description
 2 Theft from Shwedagon Pagoda
 3 Current status
 4 References
 5 See also

[edit] Description
The bell was said to be twelve cubits high and eight cubits wide. The metal used for the bell
included silver and gold as well as copper and tin. It is believed to have weighed around 300
tonnes. Click here to see a drawing of the bell as it appeared while still at the Shwedagon
Pagoda.

Prior to the casting of the bell, During the time that the bell was to be cast, King Dhammazedi's
astrologer advised him to postpone the date, since he believed it was astrologically at the time of
"Crocodile Constellation", and there would not be any sound. After the bell was completed, it
reportedly gave an unpleasant sound.

During the 1500s, Gaspar Bulby, a Venetian gem merchant, visited the Shwedagon Pagoda and
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. Reference Book, History of Rangoon (Dagon) 1938 Library of Congress.

[edit] Theft from Shwedagon Pagoda

In 1602, Portuguese warlord and mercenary, Philip de Brito removed the Dhammazedi bell from
the Shwedagon Pagoda and carried it through the Bago River to his stronghold of Thanlyin (also
known as Syriam). However, the ship carrying the bell supposedly sank into Yangon River,
along with the bell. De Brito was impaled on a wooden stake when Burmese forces under
Anaukpetlun recaptured the town in September 1613.

[edit] 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 sonar images of objects in the area
for guidance.[2] 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 of mud. The great Bell rests between the East Indianman
Komine and Konning David, along with small pieces of the De Britos galleon.

In 2000, the Burmese government has asked an English marine biologist / archaeologist /
adventurer named Mike Hatcher and his team to raise the bell; they want to see it restored to the
Pagoda. Hatcher has agreed to undertake the project, which has involvement from Japanese,
Australian and American companies. Richard Gere, a committed and active supporter of
Buddhist ideals, is involved in raising funds. The project would undoubtedly inspire curiosity at
an international level. The German film company which will be shooting the expedition says,
"Should the salvage operation succeed, the reaction in the Buddhist world would be comparable
to finding the Holy Grail in the Christian West."

One of Burma's most sacred religious relics, it is believed that its restoration in the pagoda will
bring good fortune back to Myanmar. Certainly, recovery of King Dhammazedi"s Bell— the
offering of a devout king and his people to one of Myanmar"s most sacred shrines— would
restore a lost heritage to the Myanmar people. In more ways than one, in fact´ for the bell"s
inscription would provide valuable material for historical and linguistic scholarship.

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 (we speculate) 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 personal mounted sonar with night vision
goggles and copper sulphate detectors to locate the bell, since the mud around all that bronze
would 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.