Dhamma Talaka Pagoda

Shared with visiting monks by the exiled former king Thibaw Min of Burma, the relics had been passed into Dr Rewata Dhamma’s keeping in 1964.

The interior focuses upon a gold-painted shrine on which there is a large marble statue of the Buddha in meditation posture, sculpted in Burmese style in Mandalay.

Teak doors on three sides of the building are carved with temple guardians and two traditional lion statues at the arcade’s entrance provide protection from evil elements.

The inner dome supports a gold-painted stepped spire in the same style as the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, rising to an ornate umbrella feature above which is mounted a crystal bud.

[4] The pagoda complex is administered by the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Trust,[5] which was originally set up in 1982 when Dr Rewata Dhamma converted a house in a street nearby into a monastery and meditation centre.