Abbot of Kyakhatwaing Pariyatti Monastery dies

 

 New Delhi (Mizzima) – U Jotipala, 90, the abbot of Thiri Mingala Kyakhatwaing Pariyatti Monastery, died of lung disease on February 1 in Pegu. He was a monk for 70 years.

U Jotipala, 90, the abbot of Thiri Mingala Kyakhatwaing Pariyatti Monastery.

His body will be cremated on February 9 at the Shwe Aung Yway Pagoda and his ashes will be scattered, said an abbot at the monastery.

Jotipala was paralyzed during his final days and could not move. Fluid built up in his lungs, and his heart beat became irregular, said a monk at the monastery. 

Government leaders, officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, laymen and donors came to the monastery to pay homage to the body.

During the Saffron Revolution in 2007, a recording of a monk urging the junta to suppress disobedient monks, students and soldiers was distributed on the Internet. Many people believed that the speaker was Jotipala.

In November 2007, some residents in Pegu put up notices in front of their homes which said, ‘We will not offer food to the monks from Kyakhatwaing Pariyatti Monastery’.

Ashin Htavara, who participated in the Saffron Revolution, said, ‘He was very well respected before the Saffron Revolution. But during the revolution, he tarnished his image. Some monks left the monastery because he supported the junta’.

Jotipala was born in Nirvana Village in Kawa Township in Pegu Division in 1921. He was the fifth child of Pho Thone and Ohn Pwint, and he had eight siblings.

He wrote 42 religious books, and he established 45 monastery branches.

Currently, more than 500 monks reside and study at the Thiri Mingala Kyakhatwaing Pariyatti Monastery.