Sand pagoda

[1] The practice is common to Theravada Buddhists throughout mainland Southeast Asia, primarily in Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and Thailand.

The earliest extant reference to the sand pagoda building tradition is in Burmese literary works, namely a pyo verse poem composed by Shin Maha Silavamsa during the Kingdom of Ava era (c.

[2] However, Burmese oral tradition attributes the custom of building sand pagodas to the arrival of Ayutthayan royals, advisors and their retinue in the Konbaung Kingdom, which occurred two centuries later, following the fall of Ayutthaya in the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767).

[2] During Māgha Pūjā, known as the Full Moon Day of Tabaung, Burmese devotees in Upper Myanmar construct sand pagodas in honor of the Buddha.

In 1961, Burmese president U Nu performed a yadaya ritual to avert disaster in the country, by ordering the construction of 70,000 sand pagodas.