Myanmar (Burma)

Bagan (Pagan)

11th-13th centuries

Fisher, pp.183-186

Myanmar

• Present capital is Yangon (Rangoon)• People: Mon, Burmese, Karen, and Shan• Old capitals: Pagan (11th-13th centuries)

Amanrapura, Mandaley (18th-19th century)• Sources of history: The Great Chronicle composed

in 1829 by a committee of scholars; the Glass Palace Chronicle (translated into English in 1923, covered largely Pagan period)

Bagan period

• King Aniruddha (Anawratha) (r. 1044-77)

• King Kyanzittha (c. 1084-1111): legends had it said that he was boren as brahmin who worshipped Kassapa Buddha

• Bagan was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1283

Religion

• Religion: Theravada Buddhism (from Sri Lanka), Mahayana Buddhism (from Pala region in India), and Hinduism

• Animism calls Nats: Spirits of people who had died violent, unjust deaths; 37 nats; Mt. Popa is their abode

• Nats revolve around land, sky, and water spirits and links to agriculture;

• built small wooden enclosure containing images; offering of food and drinks (offering of the Taungbyon brothers are soft drink and liquor and fried chicken)

Nat shrine

Taungbyon brothers

Taungbyon brothers and their mother

Religious structures

• Stupa: Bupaya dated to 9th century; decorated with stucco or ceramic tiles

• Temple: Generally a single story in the early period. Later temples include large edifices of two stories or a series of pyramidal tiers surmounting the base; most constructed with bricks; decorated with stucco on the exterior and painting in the interior;

• Ananda temple (early 12th century); continues today as a center of worship

• Buddha images mainly made of brick, coated in stucco and painted; carved from sandstone, covered with lacquer and gilt; bronze

• More than 13,000 stupas and temples may be dated to the Pagan period.

Bupaya pagoda

Ananda Temple

• Built during the reign of King Kyanzittha (r. 1084-1111)• Greek Crossed (Cruciform) plan; square shape;

topped with a tapering pagoda (172 feet from the base)

• Four standing Buddhas; each enshrined in a nich• Interior has life scenes of the Buddha (389 scenes)

and last ten jatakas

Ananda temple, Bagan

Colossal Buddha image, Ananda temple

Andagu Tablet

Shwedagon pagoda

• Most important shrine in Myanmar (14th century; rebuilt several times) (344 feet high)

• Legendary history dated it to the founding in the life of the Buddha

• Encased within it is said to be a golden barge, studded with jewels, in the form of a mythical bird; the golden vessel encloses eight sacred hairs of the Buddha (gave to two merchants, Taphussa and Bhallika from Myanmar)

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon