On September 1, the MRTV-4 (Myanmar Radio and Television) website announced that Kaw Goon Cave, located near Kaw Goon Village in Pa-an Township, Karen State, was nominated as a cultural zone in a speech given by an official from the Department of Archeology, National Museum and Library.
The historic Kaw Goon Cave is a natural limestone cave famous for its Mon cultural-style clay Buddha images and votive tablets.
“According to my studies, there are 23 lines of Mon language inscribed on the stone saffron robe of a standing-style Buddha image. After thorough reading, I speculate that the stone inscription could be from the sixth or seventh century AD. Now, the inscription can’t be read. It is too blurred. The Department of Archeology had made an earlier copy of the inscription, [and] I did my reading from that copy,” said Nai Maung Toe, a Mon historian and retired staff of the Union of Myanmar Ministry of Culture.
The Mon inscription reads, “This Buddha image was built while I, the queen of Mote-ta-ma, was staying in the town of Duwop. All Buddha images in the town of Duwop and its rural regions were built by me and my fellows.”
Clay Buddha images line the natural limestone inner wall of Kaw Goon Cave, which is decorated with three-inch, three-and-half-inch, four-inch, six-inch, and eight-inch votive tablets of the Buddha image.
“The inscribed stone walls of Kaw Goon Cave in [what used to be] the old city of Wel-kha-ru, Be-Linn Township, were previously maintained by the Department of Archeology. Now, the Kaw Goon Cave has been nominated as a cultural zone, so I think the [caves] can be maintained in more modern ways,” continued Nai Maung Toe.
According to records, the Department of Archeology, National Museum and Library has maintained the ancient Kaw Goon Cave since 1958, managing annual repairs and project maintenance. Staff was appointed by the Department to also guard and restore nearby Ya-tae-pyan Cave.
The State-run newspaper published five additional sites nominated as cultural zones by the Ministry of Culture, including the old city of Da-nya-waddy in Kyauk-taw Township, Arakan State; the Wai-thar-lee old city in Marauk-U Township, Arakan State; Myaung-mya old city in Myaung-mya Township, Irrawaddy Division; Thar-ga-ra old city in Long-lon Township, Thaninthayi Division; and A-myint-ywa (high village) and A-naint-ywa (low village) of Tone-pan-hla in Chaung Oo Township, Sa-gaing Division.
In designated cultural zones, it is legally prohibited to construct housing, roads, irrigation canals, electricity poles and antennas, and mining sites, or to establish new plantations or lakes.
