Fifteen days after the devastating earthquake in Myanmar that caused significant loss of life and destruction, military leader Min Aung Hlaing, along with his wife Kyu Kyu, son Aung Pyae Sone, and daughter Khin Thiri Thet Mon, visited the Shwebonpwint Pagoda in Taunggyi to perform ritual ceremonies including the installation of a new umbrella on the pagoda. On April 11, the Min Aung Hlaing family traveled to Taunggyi and donated a golden robe weighing 6 ticals of pure gold to the pagoda. Both the umbrella installation and the golden robe donation were performed as ritual ceremonies intended to ward off misfortune.
The family members participated in a ceremonial circumambulation of the pagoda platform with the new umbrella. Following the March 28 Sagaing earthquake, Min Aung Hlaing had ordered nationwide recitations of the Ratana Sutta every evening at 7 PM from April 8 to April 16. These recitations were mandated at military frontline posts, ministry offices, and military battalions. The pagoda ceremony in Taunggyi was the latest in a series of ritual activities undertaken by the military leadership. The devastating earthquake had left Naypyidaw region in ruins, after which Min Aung Hlaing and his family invited their trusted Wacipate monk to their residence in Naypyidaw to perform various ritual ceremonies.
According to the military council’s news release, the chairman of KBZ Group, Aung Ko Win (also known as Saya Kyaung), was also present at the umbrella installation ceremony at the Shwebonpwint Pagoda in Taunggyi. The military leader and his family have been conducting continuous ritual ceremonies since the earthquake that devastated much of Naypyidaw, turning parts of the capital into what observers described as resembling a ruined city. These ceremonies have included various religious and supernatural practices believed to provide protection and ward off further disasters, though they have done little to address the actual needs of earthquake victims or the broader crisis facing the country.
