Members of the Sangha led by State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee Chair Mandalay’s Bhamo Monastery Abbot Abhidhaja Maha Rattha Guru Abhidhaja Agga Maha Saddhamma Jotika Dr Bhaddanta Kumara Bhivamsa and Chancellor of Sitagu International Buddhist Academies Abhidhaja Maha Rattha Guru Abhidhaja Agga Maha Saddhamma Jotika Maha Dhamma Kahtika Bahujana Hitadhara Shwegyin Nikaya Chairman Shwegyin Sangharaja Sitagu Sayadaw Dr Bhaddanta Nyanissara together with well-wishers led by leading donor State Administration Council Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing attended the ceremony at which the Maravijaya Buddha image was lifted to be placed on the jewelled throne in Buddha Park in Dekkhinathiri Township of Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory on the morning of 26 January.
The process of lifting the Buddha image combined with parts 1, 2 and 3 to be placed on the jewelled throne by using a steel tower crane started from 8:10 am on 26 January. The image was lifted to 26° as well as the 31 feet high position from the reclining position on 26 January, 51° as well as the 52 feet high position on 27 January, 68° as well as the 63 feet high position on 28 January and 90° as well as the 75.5 feet high position at 9 am on 29 January. The whole lifting-up process took 72 hours and 50 minutes.
The conveyance of the 90° lifted image onto the jewelled throne continued at 11:16 pm on 29 January and it was getting close to the jewelled throne at 10:17 am on 30 January when the distance was 81 feet, and the process took 11 hours and one minute.
The 90° lifted Buddha image combined with parts 1, 2 and 3, which was conveyed near the jewelled throne, was lifted to 9 inches in height to be placed on the jewelled throne at 1:35 am on 31 January and it was successfully placed on the throne at 11:34 am on the same day. The process took about nine hours and 59 minutes.
Those from the Myanmar Engineering Council and military engineers took seven months in building a steel tower installed with eight cranes to lift the image to be placed onto the throne after combining the carved parts of the image and building a steel basket for conveying the image to avoid damage, using some 3,800 tonnes of iron wares.
Although the Myanmar engineers did not have the technology and experience in lifting large and heavy mass before, they applied their work experiences to do so with utmost effort after creating the designs and checking the work process with the use of modern technologies in building the Maravijaya Buddha image.
Eight cranes from the steel tower successfully lifted the steel basket carrying the Buddha image combined with three parts and the image weighing 2,367.5 tonnes and placed the image on the jewelled throne. All the construction tasks and lifting tasks aim to enable the people to peacefully pay homage to the Buddha image, take meditation and view Tri Pitaka treatises preached by the Lord Buddha. — MNA/KTZH
