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Environment
The name Monywa comes from "Mon" meaning "cake
or snack food" and "Ywa" which is the Myanmar
word for village. There is a legend which says
that in the old days a Myanmar king fell in love
with a seller of cakes from this town and made
her his queen. The original name some say, is
Mon - thema- ywa or " Village of the woman cake
seller". There has been a big village at Monywa
from the Bagan Period. The classical name for
Monywa is Thalawadi. The chronicles mention that
Monywa was one of the places where King
Alaungphayar encamped for the night on his
campaign to Manipur in 1758. During the Myanmar
kings' time Monywa remained just a big village
as the administrative centre for the region was
at Ahlon. It was only a year after the
Annexation of 1886 that Monywa became the
Headquarters of the Lower Chindwin District. In
the last few years with the legalizing of the
border trade with India, Monywa has grown into a
bustling trading.
In Monywa
town, there are busy markets, popular
restuarants, a Degree College affiliated to
Mandalay University, a Technical High School,
and soon there will be an Institute of
Economics, the second after the one in Yangon.
Monywa Hotel, now privatised, has comfortable
four-room bungalows with attached amenities, all
air-conditioned. centre, second only to Mandalay
in the Upper Myanmar region.
Famous Places In MONYWA
Thanboddhay Pagoda
 If you are
travelling to Monwya by car you should stop
about 20 kilometres before you reach the town to
visit this most unusual Buddhist temple complex
on 37 acres of land which is part of the Mohnyin
Forest Monastery retreat. The pagoda was started
on 20th June 1939 and completed on 2nd March
1952.It was the brain-child of the famous
Mohnyin Sayadaw whose life-like effigy can be
seen nearby.
Some
visitors say that this Pagoda reminds them of
Borobodur, as it is similar in architectural
design. Unlike Borobodur this is a modern place
of worship, well maintained, and with
interesting samples of modern Buddhist art.
There are many different Buddha images, row upon
row in ascending tiers in niches along the
walls: the total number is 582, 257, an amazing
figure! Unlike most of the pagodas in Myanmar,
the entrance is not guarded by Chinthes, the
mythical lions, but by statues of a pair of
magnificant white elephants which are sacred and
auspicious in Buddhist symbolism.
Thanboddhay is the only pagoda with this unique
shape in the whole country. The square temple
base (each side about 166 feet) which
worshippers can enter is topped by receding
terraces, with myriads of small stupas (864 in
number) surrounding the central golden chedi,
132 feet in height.
Bodhi
Tahtaung and Po Khaung Taung
 From
Thanboddhay Pagoda you can go by car about five
miles along a good branch road to Po Khaung
Taung, a small range of hills in the Monwya
area. There you will see more unusual sights not
found in other parts of Myanmar.
First you
should stop for a while in the fast growing
forest of one thousand Bodhi trees (Ficus
religiosa); this Bo or pipal tree is sacred to
all Buddhists because Gaudama Buddha attained
Enlightenment while meditating under this tree.
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