POPA: A shrine perched on an extinct volcano in Myanmar once bustled with pilgrims praying to the flower-eater Popa Maedaw, but civil war cut off the complex from worshippers.
Now, prayers have died down at the Taung Kalat shrine, the plains around it, a combat zone and worshipers mostly blocked from access by fighting and checkpoints manned by all sides of the conflict.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since 2021, when the military overthrew the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy and sparking nationwide protests.
The junta’s crackdown on dissent sparked renewed fighting with ethnic minority armed groups on the border and sent thousands to join newer “people’s defense forces” formed to fight the army.
“There aren’t many young people here anymore,” said one shop owner on the road that winds through dense forest to the summit of Mount Popa, an extinct volcano.
“They went to join the PDF.
The plains surrounding Mount Popa are home to the Bamar ethnic majority and have been largely untouched by decades of previous conflict between the military and minority armed groups in the remote jungles and hills.
Now the area of rolling fields of sesame, pulses and beans – dotted with the golden spiers of Buddhist pagodas – is a battle zone.
PDF fighters use home-made mines to ambush military convoys and regularly assassinate local officials accused of collaborating with the junta.
The junta has armed and trained civilian militias, and its troops are accused of destroying villages and massacring residents suspected of supporting the PDF.
Warring parties use checkpoints along the roads they control to collect “taxes” from travelers.
En route to neighboring Myingyan district, a group of villagers told AFP to turn around.
“The situation is bad when you go this way,” said one.
In May, PDF fighters killed dozens of people, including civilians, in a raid on a pro-military village in Myingyan, according to local media reports.
A few days later, north of the second city of Mandalay, a well-known monastery abbot was shot dead by security forces at a checkpoint.
The junta initially blamed PDF fighters, but later said its forces were to blame.
Taung Kalat Shrine honors Popa Maedaw, one of dozens of nats, or guardian spirits, that exist alongside Buddhism in Myanmar.
Devotees believe it has the power to grant wishes.
They also believe that she was a flower-eater who was transformed into a beautiful woman when she fell in love with a royal emissary – and that she later died of a broken heart when the monarch ordered the murder of her beloved.
Up the shrine’s steep staircase, the tiles record donations to the shrine from high-ranking officers from the military that has ruled Myanmar for most of its history since independence from Britain.
One of Popa Maedaw’s statues is said to commemorate Aung San Suu Kyi, the representative of Myanmar’s democracy and the army’s most famous enemy.
Ahead of the 2020 election, officials from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party held a private ceremony at the Taung Kalat shrine to claim victory, according to senior party sources.
The NLD later won a landslide victory, defeating its army-backed rival.
The military made unsubstantiated claims of massive fraud and retook power in February 2021, sparking a fourth year of civil war.
In an effort to crush the insurgency in Myanmar, the military announced in February a draft of men aged 18-35 to bolster its ranks.
At the Taung Kalat shrine, a woman from Pyin Oo Lwin town made an offering for the success of her small business, holding a sheaf of notes on her forehead as a priest recited a mantra.
Pyin Oo Lwin, about six hours away by car, is home to a military academy for training elite officers.
In recent days, ethnic minority fighters have battled junta troops to within about 50 kilometers (30 miles) of the city.
At the base of the shrine, there were few customers to buy the flower offerings, toys or T-shirts displayed in the stalls.
Some offered slings and sticks to ward off the hordes of monkeys that live on Mount Popa, and offerings from pilgrims.
Now the collections are small, the primates are becoming more aggressive, said one vendor selling water and juice bottles on the staircase.
“When other visitors came here and fed the monkeys, they were fat and strong,” she said. “They are thin now because not many visitors come.
