Mandalay in the context of "Inwa"

Upper Myanmar (Burmese: အထက်မြန်မာပြည် or မြန်မာပြည်အထက်ပိုင်း, also called Upper Burma) is one of two geographic regions in Myanmar, the other being Lower Myanmar. Located in the country's centre and north stretches, Upper Myanmar encompasses six inland states and regions, including Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions, and Chin, Kachin and Shan States. By contrast, Lower Myanmar encompasses the southern and coastal-facing regions of Myanmar. Upper Myanmar is home to several distinct cultural regions, including the homeland of the Bamar in the low-lying central plains, and those of the Chin, Kachin, and Shan peoples in the highlands. Home to over 23 million people, the region's agricultural sector, natural resources, and shared borders with India, China, and Thailand have made Upper Myanmar a major economic hub. Four of Myanmar's ten largest cities—Mandalay, Taunggyi, Monywa, and Myitkyina—are located in the region.

The following is a list of cities and largest towns in Myanmar with populations above 5,000, according to UNFPA Myanmar. The capitals of states and regions in Myanmar are bolded. In Myanmar, the definition of a city is ambiguous with the Burmese term မြို့ ('myo') being translated as any urban area. The General Administration Department only explicitly defines the three cities of Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw.

Arakan (/ˈærəkæn/ or /ˌɑːrəˈkɑːn/; Burmese: ရက္ခိုင် [jəkʰàɪɴ], Rakhine: အာရက္ခ [à.ɹəkʰa̼]), formerly romanized as Aracan, is the historical geographical name for the northeastern coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, covering present-day Bangladesh and Myanmar. Historically known as "Arakan" for several centuries, the region is now generally associated with the geographically smaller Rakhine State, situated in western Myanmar. The people of the region were known as the Arakanese. When Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948, the Burmese part of the region was called Arakan State. The Burmese military junta changed its name to Rakhine State in 1989 – along with the country's name being changed from Burma to Myanmar, and its capital name from Rangoon to Yangon, while Burmese language name remained unchanged as မြန်မာ (Myanmar) and ရန်ကုန် (Yangon).

Arakan's first states can be traced to the 4th century. Arakan was one of the first Indianised kingdoms in Southeast Asia. It was home to the sacred Mahamuni sculpture of Buddha, which was later transferred to Mandalay by Burmese conquerors in the 18th century. For 356 years between 1428 and 1784, Arakan was ruled by the Kingdom of Mrauk U from the city of Mrauk U. In 1784, Arakan was annexed by the Konbaung Dynasty under the reign of King Bodawpaya.

Mandalay Region (Burmese: မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, pronounced [máɰ̃dəlé táiɰ̃ dèθa̰ dʑí]; formerly Mandalay Division) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering Sagaing Region and Magway Region to the west, Shan State to the east, and Bago Region and Kayin State to the south. The regional capital is Mandalay. To the south of the region lies the national capital of Naypyidaw. The division consists of eleven districts, which are subdivided into 28 townships and 2,320 wards and village-tracts.

Mandalay Region is important in Myanmar's economy, accounting for 15% of the national economy. It is under the administration of the Mandalay Region Government.

Monywa (Burmese: မုံရွာမြို့, MLCTS: muṃ rwa mrui.; pronounced [mòʊɰ̃jwà mjo̰]) is a city in Sagaing Region, Myanmar, located 136 kilometres (85 mi) north-west of Mandalay on the eastern bank of the River Chindwin. Monywa is one of the most economically important cities in Myanmar. It is also known as 'Neem City' because many of the city's streets are lined with neem trees.

Myitkyina (Burmese: မြစ်ကြီးနားမြို့, MLCTS: mrac kri: na: mrui., pronounced [mjɪʔtɕíná]; Jinghpaw: Myitkyina, [mjìtkjí̠ná]; Shan: ၸႄႈၼႃး) is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located 1,480 kilometers (920 mi) from Yangon, and 785 kilometers (488 mi) from Mandalay. In Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina is on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River, just 40 kilometers (25 mi) downstream from Myit-son (Burmese for confluence) of its two headstreams (the Mali and N'mai rivers). It is the northernmost river port and railway terminus in Myanmar. The city is served by Myitkyina Airport.

Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (Burmese: မြန်မာ့ဆက်သွယ်ရေးလုပ်ငန်း, romanized: Myanmá Hsekthwaeyè Loukngàn; abbreviated MPT) is a state-owned enterprise in Myanmar under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. MPT operates the country's postal system, running over 1,000 post offices throughout Myanmar. Local Express Myanmar Postal Parcel Service was introduced in Yangon and Mandalay on 1 April 1992 and its services now extend to over 120 townships. Until 2013, MPT was also Myanmar's only telecommunications operator.

Śarīra is a generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. Relics of the Buddha after cremation are termed dhātu in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. Śarīra are held to emanate or incite 'blessings' and 'grace' (Sanskrit: adhiṣṭhāna) within the mindstream and experience of those connected to them. Sarira are also believed to ward off evil in the Himalayan Buddhist tradition.