In 1872, King Mindon hosted the Fifth Great Synod of Buddhism in Mandalay, during which the great Buddhist scripture, known as the 'Tipitaka' was committed to stone. Some 2,400 monks worked to chisel the script onto 729 marble tablets, and a 'pitaka' pagoda was built to individually house each of the tablets at the base of Mandalay Hill's southeast stairway. This record of the 'Tipitaka" in stone is sometimes called "the world's largest book'. The picture shows a group of monks walking by a row of the 'pitaka' pagodas housing the marble tablets.