The World’s Largest Bell

The World’s Largest Bell

King Dhammazedi's bell may or may not be lost forever, but even if it is, the world's largest accessible and ringing bell is still not in Russia.

That title is owned by Burma's Mingun Bell, which rings near the city of Sagaing, at the Mingun pagoda, some 11 km (7 miles) upriver from Mandalay, in the center of Burma, on the opposite bank of the Ayeyarwaddy and accessible only by river. A 45-minute boat trip to Mingun is very pleasant with plenty of life on the river to see.

This bell was cast by King Bodawpaya on 28 April 1808 and is about 13 feet tall. It weighs 55555 peik-thar, or 90.55 metric tons (about 200 US tons). (Peik-thar are a traditional unit of weight equalling 3.6 lbs (1.63 kg)— that's what the five characters that look like 9's on the side of the bell in the picture to the right mean.)

The pagoda itself was the main jewel in the crown of an ambitious building campaign sponsored by King Bodawpaya (ruled 1782-1819). The largest brick temple in Asia, its outline broods over the western bank of the Irrawaddy River from the hamlet of Mingun. Its base is 256 feet square and it rises some 150 feet. It is now viewed as little more than a curiosity, enhanced by dramatic fissures in its wall created by an earthquake in 1839-- visitors can even climb to the top by a modern stairway mounted on the most ruined corner fo the monument, though no access to the summit existed originally.

The Mingun is Asia's, and indeed, the world's, largest bell. Cast by Bodawpaya to complemlent the huge pagoda, it stands in its original location some 50 yeards to the northeast of the pagoda. The pagoda is still considered unfinished, since it is without a tower, but historians believe King Bodawpaya may have intended to sacrifice height for girth from the very beginning, and thus it may have been considered finished by the king himself. Pagodas were built to venerate sacred objects interred beneath them-- in fact, the word "pagoda" derives from *dagaba* (relic chamber), a term adopted into English after it was encountered in Buddhist Sri Lanka.

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