Thagyamin

Thagyamin is the indigenized form of Sakka, king of the Tāvatiṃsa heaven and chief of the gods of Buddhist cosmology, whom the Mon share with their Burmese neighbours. In the Shwedagon origin legend he descends from the heavens to reveal the buried Siṅguttara Hill, sanctified by relics of the three earlier Buddhas, so that Gotama's eight hairs may join them. Within the broader nat pantheon and its Mon antecedents, studied by H. L. Shorto, Sakka presides as the celestial overlord who legitimizes the earthly enshrinement of the relics.

Domains

• kingship of the devas
• protection of the sasana

Powers

• reveal the lost hill of the former relics

Epithets

• Lord of Tāvatiṃsa — King of the Heaven of the Thirty-ThreePe Maung Tin and G. H. Luce (trans.), The Glass Palace Chronicle (Oxford University Press, 1923) (secondary)

Relations

• ally: OkkalapaSakka aids King Okkalapa in the enshrinement of the hair relics.Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma (Bangkok: River Books, 2011) (secondary)

Sources

• Sakka, called Thagyamin in the vernacular, is king of the Tāvatiṃsa devas and, in the Shwedagon origin legend shared by Mon and Burmese, guides the recovery of Siṅguttara Hill so the Buddha's hairs may be enshrined.: Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma: Myth and Folklore in an Evolving Spiritual Realm (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)