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Bagan
temples such
as the Abeyadana
is a good example for a beautiful and
rather simple temple structure, embedded
into a "sea" of other temple and pagodas
it is easy to reach and explore the
architecture,
more.
A Bagan
monastery
is almost as famous the the
temples and pagodas, this is,
among others, at Sale, a bit
outside the ancient city. There
are many monasteries in the
area, they have been built over
centuries, most have a combined
wooden and brick architecture,
more.
Bagan
murals or wall paintings
in the temples show sacral
scenes and what happen everyday.
Very often Jakata
Stories of
Buddha's live adorn the walls
and ceilings,
more.
History is closely
connected with King Anawrahta
who made Kyaukse the granary of northern Myanmar.
He made administrative reforms, dividing the kingdom
into districts and appointing officers to look after
all affairs and to collect fair revenue. For
security, he established 45 out-posts along the
border of his kingdom. In religion and culture, Anawrahta did not encourage the shabby customs of
Aris, nor the popular celebrations of nat-pwe's. He
looked for a true faith and, in 1056 A.D., read
more.
The Bagan
museum
containing exhibits illustrating the
iconography, architecture and religious
objects. Along the verandahs of
the museum are inscribed stones
collected from the vicinity. They record
religious endowments of the Bagan
Myanmar period
in different languages. Burmese, Mon, Pyu, Tamil, Siamese and Chinese,
more.
Bagan
pictures and videos
give a much better impression
than any text we have uploaded
some of our videos to youtube
and some are also available in
the video section through the
main menu at left,
more.
Bagan
images
Anawrahta
Kingdom of Bagan,
this was the King who made the
city breathing and famous.
Some
Bagan history,
with over two
thousand religious edifices and ruins, is an archaeological
treasure not only of the
Myanmar people but also of the whole of
civilization. This ancient place still stands after so many years of waste
and decay as a unforgettable sight,
depicting the greatness of human endeavors and aspirations.
Around 2000 temples and stupas, are spread over just four
square miles bordering the eastern bank of the
Ayeyarwady -
Irrawaddy river in the dry zone of
Central Myanmar. The city had been the capital of
Myanmar for two and a half centuries (1044-1286 A.D.) when the Myanmar empire, so to speak, reached the zenith of
its power for the first time.
Actually the founding of the city
(a group of 19
villages) took place quite early in the dim past
(about 107 A.D.), but the illustrious dynasty of
temple-builders, which
made the city strong and famous, started only in 1044
A.D. (i.e. 22 years before the Battle of Hastings in
Britain). The story of the city may
be told in two parts, before King Anawrahta
and after.
Rome, or any other city, wasn’t built in a day and
for this city to come into being, it had taken a long
time to receive the tradition and influence of three
former dynasties — Tagaung, Thaton and Tharekhittaya.
At the start (107 A.D.) at Yone-hut kyun it
might just have been a strong fortress or garrison
town. The founder, King Thamodarit, paid tribute to
his Pyu descent by giving his fortress city the name Paukkan or Pyu Gama (which simply means a Pyu
Village.) In everyday usage, the name
changed to Bagan.
But Myanmar cities used to have at least two
names, formal and informal. (Shwebo of the last Konbaung Period had five names.) So, in formal
declarations, ir was was described gradual as Arimaddana Pura, meaning the “City of
Conquerors”, and as the name suggested, the
first group of kings had quite a hard time just
taming and conquering the wild environment. It is said that
from the dense forests around the Irrawaddy River, wild
beasts and fabulous birds like
rocs harassed the people.
Even wild vegetation of ground
bushes overran the paddy fields in the countryside. Brave
knights like Pyu Saw Hti
(the 3rd, king) appeared to do away with the wild
ones. Thus, Hnget-pyit-taung pagoda (where the great
roc was shot) and Bit Phaya (where the wild gourd
was cleared away) stand today in memory
of those early struggles against natural
enemies. Even the palace sites of the
kings had to change four times, though
all were in the same vicinity but all
possibly would have never existed
without the mighty Irrawaddy River.
The
present site at the Irrawaddy,
with walls and Tharaba
Gate, was the fourth city built during the reign of
King Pyinbyu in 849 A.D. He was the 34th. king of
the dynasty and at that time the city had started to
prosper having commercial relations with Shans and
Chinese in the east, Assam and Manipur in the west
and the land of Pyus and Mons in the south.
As regards religion, people of early
times, with
some Pyus and other natives of the north mixed up,
had diverse interests. Horse-riding Aris (monks)
with pugilistic habits and other malpractices had
migrated from N.W. India and they gained
considerable sway over common people. Then during
the reign of Thin-ie-kyaung (344-384 A.D.), the 7th.
king of the dynasty, Mahagiri Nats came to Mt. Popa
(also page 57) and nat-worshipping was popular among
all classes. Thus the city before Anawrahta, for nearly a thousand
years (107-1044 A.D.), had no cultural
progress, though its position as a kingdom could be
considered to have been established.
This glorious place surely owes a great deal to the Mons
of Thaton and Pyus of Tharekhittaya. In fact, it
was born out of the two. A very similar style and building
method of the pagodas and temples can be found in
Cambodia.
A Bagan hotel
is almost always a positive surprise, the area has the highest density of
excellent hotel in the country.
Not only the high end hotel have everything needed plus a good service, even
the mid range and budget hotels are quite
ok. One subject should be kept in mind, since the electricity supply is real
bad (government matter) the high end hotels
have
generators which take over when the electricity drop, most of the lower
priced hotels don't have their generator. The
government tries at least to supply electricity during evening and night
which works quite ok. Most hotels have restaurants
and the Golf Resort has (as the name indicates) even a golf club just
beside the hotel buildings means golf and
pagodas. All high end hotels have a good swimming pool and usually a dinner
buffet around the pool. During high season
they bring dance and acrobatic shows at dinner time, they are doing a good
job to make the tourists feel good, more. |