Great Bell of Dhammazedi
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The Great Bell of Dhammazedi is believed to be the largest bell of the world. According to local chronicles, it was cast in the 15th century by the notable Mon monarch, Dhammazedi and was located in Shwedagon Pagoda of Yangon, Burma. In 1602 Portuguese warlord and mercenary, Philip de Brito removed the Dhammazedi bell from the Shwedagon Pagoda and carried it through the Bago River to his stronghold of Thanlyin (also known as Syriam). However, the ship carrying the bell supposedly sank into Rangoon river and the bell was not recovered since then. De Brito himself was impaled on a wooden stake when Burmese forces under Anaukpetlun recaptured the town in September 1613.
The bell itself was said to be twelve cubits high and eight cubits wide. The metal used for the bell included silver and gold as well as copper and tin. It is believed to have weighed around 300 tonnes. During the time the bell was started to be cast, an astrologer to the King Dhammazedi advised the king to postpone the date since he believed it was astrologically at the time of "Crocodile Constellation" and there would not be any sound. After the bell had finished, it gave unpleasant sound.
There were a number of times that people tried to save the bell. Professional deep sea diver, James Blunt has made 115 dives to find this bell. He used sonar images of objects in the area. It was pretty confusing as there were 3 ship wrecks in the area too. The water is muddy and zero visibility under water. Experts estimated that the great Dhammazedi Bell is 25 feet under mud. The great Bell rests between the East Indianman Komine and Konning David along with small pieces of De Britos Galleon.
During the 1500s Gaspar Bulby , a Venetian Gem Dealer visited the Shwedagon Pagoda and wrote in his diary about the King Dhammazedi Bell. His description of the Great Bell said that it had writing engraved form top to bottrom around the Bells crcumference that could not be deciphered at that time. Reference Book, History of Rangoon (Dagon) 1938 Library of Congress.
People of Myanmar are seeking any help to salvage the bell.
