Burmese pagodas are stupas that typically house Buddhist relics, including relics associated with Buddha. Pagodas feature prominently in Myanmar's landscape, earning the country the moniker "land of pagodas."
Burmese pagodas are enclosed in a compound known as the aran ( from Pali ÄrÄma), with gateways called mok ( from Pali mukha) at the four cardinal directions. The platform surrounding a Burmese pagoda is called a yinbyin.