If you want to visit a fascinating place which is off the & beaten track in central a Myanmar, Mt. Popa is the place for you. It is an extinct volcano c nearly 5000 feet in height Q and covered with a recently grown forest. The name Popa is believed to have derived from a pali word meaning flower, so Mt. Popa means a mountain of flowers.

Legend has it that King Anawrahta of Bagan had an Indian fast-runner by the name of Byatta who had to fetch fresh lowers from Popa -- at a distance of about 15 miles, I believe, --ten times daily!  Byatta fell in love with Mai Wunna -- Miss Gold -- a flower-eating ogress of Popa and they had two sons named Shwe Phyin Gyi (Big Gold Pot) and Shwe Phyin Ngai (Small Gold Pot).

Their names refer to the fact  that King Anawrahta gave his fast-runner two gold pots for washing the afterbirth of the babies -- a big one for the older baby and a small one for the younger (baby).But the two brothers grew up into wild, irresponsible young men who were eventually put to death for neglect of duty at  the construction of a pagoda.

There are some people however who maintain that the two brothers were innocent victimes of a palace intrigue. Whatever the case might be, you need not feel sorry for the two brothers for they have become objects of worship to a lot of people today and even festival is held in their honour every year.

It so happened that after their execution, their spirits begged the king for mercy and the latter granted them certain rights and territories to rule.The Taungbyon Festival held every year in their honour a few miles from Mandalay in the Myanmar 'month of Wagaung is well known for its bacchanal character and the freedom to talk to any lady as if she were your wife and most of them won't hesitate to pay you back in your own coin.

The festival is a must for those who want to study spirit-worship in Myanmar. A lot of people throughout the country worship the Shwe Phyin Brothers, most of them keeping in their shrine rooms a tray each of a coconut, one or two hands of bananas, a strip or two of red cloth and a few other accessories as offerings to the two brothers.The rise in their stature raised the status of their mother who is also worshipped as the QueenMother of Popa.

But there is a domestic spirit who is senior to them. He is Pabe Maung Tint Dai --Mr. Handsome the Blacksmith. He lived in the age of Tagaung, long before Anawrahta's  Bagan. He was so physically strong that even the King feared for his own safety and played a ruse to get rid of the strong  man.

He made one of Mg Tint Dai's sisters a queen and sent for him promising rich rewards that a royal brother-in -law deserved. When the unsuspecting blacksmit arrived at the royal city, he was promptly captured, tied to a golden champa tree and burnt to death.When his sister--the queen-heard what hppened,she also jumped into the fire and laid down her life.

Their spirits resided in that s tree and hexed the people and animals that came under it. At last, the King had the tree uprooted and floated down the Eyawadi River.The tree driflet down the river slowly and got to Bagan in the reign of king Thinlegyaung.

When the King heard about it, he had the tree salvaged and sculpted into the figures of the unfortunate brother and sister 
and enshrined them at Popa. Not only that, the King also visited Popa with his retinue once a year to pay his respects to the two spirits.That was how Mt. Popa came to be the centre of nat or spirit worship in Myanmar.

Mr. Handsome, the Blackmith,also came to be known as the Domestic Lord of the Great Mountain as he was or is the ruler of Mt. Popa and is worshipped by many households all over the country, in their homes. His worshippers never offer candlelight to him out of consideration for the way he met his death long ago, believing that he wouldn't want to have anything to do with fire again.

Besides being the centre of nat or spirit worship in Myanmar, Mt. Popa is worth a visit for another unexpected, but highly current reason -- it is shaping up as a battle-station in the fight against environmental decay which is threatening to engulf our mother earth in the near future. You see, it lies smack in the centre of the Dry Belt, the region well-known for its scanty rainfall and scarcity of water. The result is, it is surrounded by semi-desert areas which are expanding all c the time and threatening to degenerate into full- blown deserts.

Hence, Mt.Popa which is covered with trees is like an oasis in desert-like central Myanmar -- a green highland amid yellowish-brown plains. Standing out like an emerald on gold setting, Mt. Popa has inspired feelings of awe and romance since time immemorial. One of the earliest extant Myanmar poems which are very few in number is a very beautiful one dealing with it. The mountain was generally held in great respect by the people even before the advent of the Domestic-Lord -of-the--Great-Mountain and the Shwe-Phyin-Brothers as it has been believed to be a special abode of nats and a haunt of other supernatural beings like Weikzars and Zawgyis. 

Like most mountains, Mt, Popa is made up of a number of small mountains but only the main mountain and the table mountain are usually visited by the pilgrims. The table mountain is said to be a place where Weikzars, Zawgyis and Hermits crush and knead their magic pills. It was inaccessible to most people until ladders were fixed to it with great difficulty nearly a century ago.

Being a forest area, Popa has also been an abundant source of medicinal forest products. Where there are plenty of trees there are also lots of snakes and consequently Popa has produced famous snake-charmers !.Many snake-charmers claim to have captured their snakes themselves at Popa.

One thing you have to watch out for at Popa is its semi-tame monkeys that sometimes snatch food from the hands of visitors and run away. However they are not dangerous and it's an unusual experience and fun to be robbed by a monkey. Popa has not always been lush and green with trees as at present.

There was a time when the mountain was virtually denuded of trees as ignorant villagers felled them with abandon for timber and firewood. That act of wanton destruction was made possible by the fact that the internal insurgency was at its height then and the rule of law was weak and ineffective in the rural areas.

We have come a long way since then and today, the green-clad Mt. Popa stands as a symbol of victory and hope in the global life-and -death struggle against environmental deterioration. As the greenery around Popa spreads outwards slowly, but surely, the temperature in the region is falling and the rainfall is increasing gradually. Mt. Popa is said to have 99 springs originally many of which dried up during the treeless days.

But some of them are flowing again now that the area has been designated as a forest reserve and reforestation work is being carried out in a business like manner. As one of the most romantic enchanted and exotic    regions in Myanmar , Mt. Popa is definitely worth a visit specially during a natfestival and there shouldn't be any difficulty finding accommodations since there are many modern bungalows at the foot of the mountain some of which are unoccupied most of the time.