Did you know that the sight of the "gravity defying" Kyaiktiyo Pagoda (pictured) or Golden Rock, in the Mon State of Myanmar, has been described as "enough to inspire a religious conversion"?

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Mynmar (Erstwhile Burma), also known as Golden Rock), is a well-known Buddhist pilgrimage site in Mon State, Myanmar. It is a small pagoda (7.3 m (24 ft)) built on the top of a granite boulder covered with gold leaves pasted on by its male worshippers.

The Golden Rock itself is precariously perched , believed to be on a strand of Lord Buddha's hair. The balancing rock seems to defy gravity, as it perpetually appears to be on the verge of rolling down the hill. The rock and the pagoda are at the top of Mt. Kyaiktiyo. Another legend states that a Buddhist monk impressed the celestial king with his asceticism and the celestial king used his supernatural powers to carry the rock to its current place, specifically choosing the rock for its resemblance to the monk's head. It is the third most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in Mynamar (Burma) after the Shwedagon Pagoda and the Mahamuni Pagoda.

The legend associated with the pagoda is that the Buddha, on one of his many visits, gave a strand of his hair to Taik Tha, a hermit. The hermit, who had tucked it in the tuft of his hair safely, in turn gave the strand to the king, with the wish that the hair be enshrined in a boulder shaped like the hermit's head. The king had inherited supernatural powers from his father Zawgyi, a proficient alchemist), and his mother, a naga serpent dragon princess. They found the rock at the bottom of the sea. With the help of the Thagyamin, the king of Tawadeintha Heaven in Buddhist cosmology, found the perfect place at Kyaiktiyo for locating the golden rock and built a pagoda, where the strand was enshrined.It is this strand of hair that, according to the legend, prevents the rock from tumbling down the hill. The boat, which was used to transport the rock, turned into a stone. This is also worshiped by pilgrims at a location about 300 metres (980 ft) from the golden rock. It is known as the Kyaukthanban Pagoda or stupa (literal meaning: stone boat stupa).

The boulder, which gleams golden and is popularly known as the Golden Rock, and on which the small Kyaiktiyo Pagoda has been built, is about 25 feet (7.6 m) in height and has a circumference of 50 feet (15 m). The Pagoda above the rock is about 7.3 metres (24 ft) in height. The boulder sits on a natural rock platform that appears to have been naturally formed to act as the base to build the pagoda. This granite boulder lies on an inclined plane and the area of contact is extremely small. The golden rock or boulder and the rock table on which it is resting are independent of each other; the golden rock has an overhang of half its length and is perched at the extreme end of the sloping surface of the rock. There is a sheer vertical drop in the rock face, into the valley below. A lotus shape is painted in gold leaf, encircling the base of the rock. It appears as though the boulder will crash down at any moment.

A staircase leads to the pagoda complex that houses several viewing platforms, pagodas and shrines for nats (folk deities worshipped in Burma in conjunction with Buddhist shrines). At the peak of the pilgrimage season, during November to March, an atmosphere of devotion is witnessed at Kyaikhtiyo pagoda.

Men cross over a bridge across an abyss to affix golden leaves (square in shape) on the face of the Golden Rock, in deep veneration. However, women are not allowed to touch the rock so cannot cross the bridge.

Source: Extracts from the article posted by me in Wikipedia on 11 April 2010.