Okkalapa
Mon · mortal · Mon traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
King Okkalapa is the legendary sovereign of Ukkala, the delta district that became Dagon and then Yangon, whose reign frames the Shwedagon origin legend. When the merchant brothers Tapussa and Bhallika returned from India bearing eight hairs given by the Buddha, it was Okkalapa who, guided by Sakka to the buried Siṅguttara Hill of the former Buddhas, enshrined the relics and raised the golden stupa. He belongs to the deep legendary past rather than to any dated dynasty, standing as the founder-king of the Mon and Burmese relic tradition of Lower Burma.
Domains
- kingship
- relic enshrinement
Powers
- enshrine the eight hair relics on Siṅguttara
Relations
- ally: ThagyaminAided by Sakka in recovering Siṅguttara Hill.Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma (Bangkok: River Books, 2011) (secondary)
- ally: TapussaReceived the hair relics the merchant brothers brought from India.Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma (Bangkok: River Books, 2011) (secondary)
- ally: BhallikaReceived the hair relics the merchant brothers brought from India.Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma (Bangkok: River Books, 2011) (secondary)
Sources
- Okkalapa is the legendary king of Ukkala, the district of the Shwedagon, in whose reign the Buddha's hairs were enshrined on Siṅguttara Hill.: Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma (Bangkok: River Books, 2011) (secondary); Pe Maung Tin and G. H. Luce (trans.), The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma (Oxford University Press, 1923) (secondary)