The Land of a Thousand Temples

Pagodas & Stupas of Bagan, Mayanmar

Editor Dr Uday Dokras- PART I of III

This paper is based on and is a reproduction of 3 research papers-1 blog

1. Symbolism Of Stūpas In Bagan (1000-1300 AD)-Paper read at the 9th Research Conference of Myanmar
Academy of Arts and Science held in Yangon University on 22 October 2009. Dr Zin Tun Tint,Journal of
the Myanmar Academy of Arts and Science, Vol. III, No.8, 2010, Page- 31
2. Architectural Aspects Of Stupas During The Reign Of King Narapatisithu In Bagan, Myanmar " Dr. Thet
Oo Ph.D (Architecture) Associate Professor and Head, Department of Architecture, West Yangon
Technological University, Yangon, Myanmar [email protected] Dr. Maung Hlaing Professor and Head
Department of Architecture Yangon Technological University, Yangon, Myanmar
3. Bagan, Myanmar – The Land of Stupas and Temples- Jeffrey Donenfeld, 2013-05-15
4. https://baganpaper.com/symbolism-of-stupas-in-bagan/

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The monumental architecture and plastic arts of Bagan are directly related to the religious
dedications. Within three or four centuries, the style and significance of Bagan visual art works
was gradually progressed, compromising between indigenous and exotic ways of
craftsmanship. The first phase of Bagan art work can be correlated with Pala style and the
traces of Indic art and architecture. The second phase can be measured with the lofty
monuments and changing spatial arrangement of the urban plan. The third phase of Bagan is
more distinctive with the clustering of small monuments and complexes of Buddhist
monasteries. The fourth phase is the monuments after decline of Bagan dynastic power. The
four phases of Bagan visual arts each contain secular evidence of Bagan. Most Bagan visual
art emphasized religious themes and elite society. Secular evidence can also be seen in
epigraphy such as slaves, relatives, artisans, office staff. In visual art, there are three
categories: (1) architecture; (2) sculpture and (3) painting. The transitions in artistic style
contain information of secular ways of life in Bagan. In this study, the household archaeology
of Bagan is defined from secular depictions in the plastic arts.

Bagan studies are mostly concerned with the Buddhist canonical evidences. During the
fifty years of Bagan studies, religious evidences have been studied to have information about
Bagan Buddhist societies and urbanization. Architecturally the most buildings are concerning
the Buddhist religious dedications with the exception of palaces and city walls.
To know the Bagan, there are a lot of stone inscriptions and ink glosses about the
donation and the donors. Some were inscribed the Buddhist jataka and texts. No more secular

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 writing about Bagan societal factors can be seen. A few scripts can rarely be found as the
names on the brick. Exceptionally the large quadrangular stone inscriptions were inscribed
about the ceremony of king Klancacsa’s palace construction in details about social classes
including this ceremony.

Deciphering the Bagan inscriptions can give some information about rural and ordinary people
concerning the secular ways of life in Bagan Period. Although the kings’ and elites’ donations
were mostly inscribed, the evidences of farmers, labourers, craftsmen and serfs were usually
involved as the donated belongings.1 So, epigraphic evidences show the traces of Bagan daily
life in secular ways.
According to the epigraphic evidences, Bagan people could follow the kings’ political ways
founded by the references of religious dedications. Most of the people involved in the list of
donation as serfs, craftsmen and chiefs to maintain the donated properties. Secularity of Bagan
society could not be drawn on the murals and records of royal and religious dedications. On
the other hand, the secular ways of life can be traced with the references of visual and
epigraphic monuments.1

There are brick temples and stupas dotting the landscape. In peoples gardens and beside roads,
there are small ones, as small as a few feet high. And looming in the distance are temples
hundreds of feet high. There are stupas of every size, shape, and variety. Each one has a name,
and a unique story to it. Walking around the area is bewildering, with so much packed into such
a compact area.

Bagan is an ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of Burma (Myanmar). From the 9th to
13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the
regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom’s height between the
11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were
constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas
still survive to the present day.

___________________________________________________________

1. Secular Evidence in the Visual Art of Bagan Pyiet Phyo Kyaw Lecturer, Department of Archaeology,
University of Yangon

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Architecture
Bagan stands out not only for the sheer number of religious edifices but also for the magnificent
architecture of the buildings, and their contribution to Burmese temple design. The Bagan temple
falls into one of two broad categories: the stupa-style solid temple and the gu-style (??) hollow
temple.
A stupa, also called a pagoda, is a massive structure, typically with a relic chamber inside. The
Bagan stupas or pagodas evolved from earlier Pyu designs, which in turn were based on the
stupa designs of the Andhra region, particularly Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in present-day
southeastern India, and to a smaller extent to Ceylon. The Bagan-era stupas in turn were the
prototypes for later Burmese stupas in terms of symbolism, form and design, building techniques
and.even.materials.

Originally, an Indian/Ceylonese stupa had a hemispheric body (Pali: anda, “the egg”) on which a
rectangular box surrounded by a stone balustrade (harmika) was set. Extending up from the top
of the stupa was a shaft supporting several ceremonial umbrellas. The stupa is a representation of
the Buddhist cosmos: its shape symbolizes Mount Meru while the umbrella mounted on the
brickwork represents the world’s axis. The brickwork pediment was often covered in stucco and
decorated in relief. Pairs or series of ogres as guardian figures (‘bilu’) were a favourite theme in
the Bagan period.

The original Indic design was gradually modified first by the Pyu, and then by Burmans at Bagan
where the stupa gradually developed a longer, cylindrical form. The earliest Bagan stupas such
as the Bupaya (c. 9th century) were the direct descendants of the Pyu style at Sri Ksetra. By the
11th century, the stupa had developed into a more bell-shaped form in which the parasols
morphed into a series of increasingly smaller rings placed on one top of the other, rising to a
point. On top the rings, the new design replaced the harmika with a lotus bud. The lotus bud
design then evolved into the “banana bud”, which forms the extended apex of most Burmese
pagodas. Three or four rectangular terraces served as the base for a pagoda, often with a gallery
of terra-cotta tiles depicting Buddhist jataka stories. The Shwezigon Pagoda and the
Shwesandaw Pagoda are the earliest examples of this type. Examples of the trend toward a more
bell-shaped design gradually gained primacy as seen in the Dhammayazika Pagoda (late 12th
century) and the Mingalazedi Pagoda (late 13th century).

Hollow-temples
In contrast to the stupas, the hollow gu-style temple is a structure used for meditation, devotional
worship of the Buddha and other Buddhist rituals. The gu temples come in two basic styles:
“one-face” design and “four-face” design—essentially one main entrance and four main
entrances. Other styles such as five-face and hybrids also exist. The one-face style grew out of
2nd century Beikthano, and the four-face out of 7th century Sri Ksetra. The temples, whose main
features were the pointed arches and the vaulted chamber, became larger and grander in the
Bagan period.
Innovations
Although the Burmese temple designs evolved from Indic, Pyu (and possibly Mon) styles, the
techniques of vaulting seem to have developed in Bagan itself. The earliest vaulted temples in
Bagan date to the 11th century while the vaulting did not become widespread in India until the
late 12th century. The masonry of the buildings shows “an astonishing degree of perfection”,

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where many of the immense structures survived the 1975 earthquake more or less intact.[21]
(Unfortunately, the vaulting techniques of the Bagan era were lost in the later periods. Only
much smaller gu style temples were built after Bagan. In the 18th century, for example, King
Bodawpaya attempted to build the Mingun Pagoda, in the form of spacious vaulted chambered
temple but failed as craftsmen and masons of the later era had lost the knowledge of vaulting and
keystone arching to reproduce the spacious interior space of the Bagan hollow temples.[20])
Another architectural innovation originated in Bagan is the Buddhist temple with a pentagonal
floor plan. This design grew out of hybrid (between one-face and four-face designs) designs. The
idea was to include the veneration of the Maitreya Buddha, the future and fifth Buddha of this
era, in addition to the four who had already appeared. The Dhammayazika and the Ngamyethna
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Pagoda are examples of the pentagonal design.
Pagodas, also known as stupas, are other prominent architectural features of Bagan. While
temples are meant to welcome the faithful, stupas are usually solid and have no entrance; instead
they often house important relics, preserved pieces of the body of the Buddha or other Buddhist
figures.

Bagan is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of
Myanmar. The Bagan-era stupas in turn were the prototypes for later Burmese stupas. The over
2,000 relatively intact temples and pagodas are located in the plains of the ancient city of Bagan.
Bagan is in Mandalay Region (near the border with Magway Region), located in central plain
Myanmar. The city is situated on the Irrawaddy River's eastern bank, about 180 southwest of the
Mandalay Region. According to archaeologists and scholars, the Shwedagon Pagoda was built
by the Mon people, an ethnic group from Myanmar. Construction is believed to have started in
the.6th.century.

1.Bagan, Myanmar – The Land of Stupas and Temples- Jeffrey Donenfeld, 2013-05-15

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From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, and the
political, economic and cultural nerve center of the Pagan Empire. During the kingdom's height
between the 11th and 13th centuries, the wealthy Pagan rulers commissioned thousands of
temples to be built in the Bagan plains.

Bagan was the capital city of the Pagan Kingdom, the first Burmese kingdom, from 1044 until
1297. Today the area is home to more than 2,500 Buddhist stupas, temples and monasteries – the
largest and densest concentration of Buddhist monuments in the world – but at the kingdom's
height there were over 10,000.26-Jun-2015
Also known as the Land of a Thousand Temples, the ancient kingdom of Bagan in Myanmar is
symbol of Burmese religion, history and culture. This lesson gives a crash course on the history
of the Bagan kingdom as well as facts about important architectural works of its ancient capital.
Towering above the plains of Mandalay and cradled by the Irrawaddy River in the heart of the
modern-day nation of Myanmar, the treasures of the ancient kingdom of Bagan have survived for
centuries. Once a major power in Southeast Asia, Bagan is home to over two thousand Buddhist
temples standing as symbols of Burmese history and culture.
Ancient capital city of Bagan can be found in the Mandalay region of a country which calls
itself Myanmar, and is recognized as such by the United Nations. However, some major world
powers, including the United Kingdom and United States, officially refer to the nation by its
former name - Burma. The reasons for the two names are tangled in the country's complex
political history, but in short, the name ''Myanmar'' is favored by the military junta that
controlled the country from the late 80's until the 2010's, and ''Burma'' is favored by the pro-
democracy opposition. For the purposes of this lesson, the term ''Myanmar'' will be used to refer
to the country, and the term ''Burmese'' will be used to refer to the language, people and culture
of the nation.Lesson
The kingdom of Bagan began its ascendancy under King Anawrahta in the 11th century,
though there was construction at the site in previous centuries. Two factors led to Bagan's rapid
growth. First, the Burmese defeated the rival Mon kingdom in battle under King Anawrahta,
allowing him to consolidate his power as their ruler. Second, King Anawrahta converted to
Buddhism and had a sudden need for temples, and lots of them.
The century that followed is remembered as the Golden Age of Burmese Temple Building and
also earned Bagan the nickname ''Land of a Thousand Pagodas.'' By the end of the 13th century,
more than 4,000 religious structures were built in and around the kingdom's capital city. Though
many temples have been damaged and destroyed by natural and manmade forces since then, over
2,000 temples and other structures survive until modern day, rivaling the more famous
archaeological sites of Angkor in nearby Cambodia.

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 The temples of Bagan

The people of Bagan practiced a form of Buddhism called Theravada Buddhism. Theravada

Buddhism emphasizes the importance of finding enlightenment through one's own means and
places a heavy emphasis on monastic life. It is the most common form of Buddhism practiced in
Southeast Asia.
The two main types of architecture found throughout Bagan are temples and stupas.
Bagan temples are unique among Southeast Asian architectural styles. They are characterized by
central, square structures built around shrines, with interior passages supported by vaulted arches
radiating outward, creating the shape of a cross.
Kiln-fired brick and stucco make up the interior of the temples. Archaeologists know that the
bricks were made outside of Bagan and shipped in via the Irrawaddy River because each brick
carries a stamp of the village in which it was made.
The outer structure of the temples' soaring, pointed towers are meant to reflect the shape of Mt.
Meru, the mythical home of the Hindu gods, which is also held sacred by Buddhists as the center
of the world.

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The Ananda Temple ( SEE my PAPER II on the Art and Architecture of the Stupa of Ananda)
The Ananda Temple is by far the most famous temple at Bagan. It is one of the largest temples in
Bagan and is considered by some to be a masterwork, with a reputation as the ''Westminster
Abbey of Burma.'' The Ananda Temple is perfectly symmetrical, and its whitewashed exterior
walls and gilded spire create a striking appearance. Statues of Buddha can be found in each of its
four corners.

The temple is built in a transitional style, featuring architecture associated with both the Mon and
Burmese, reflecting the important historic transition of power from one to the other. Though the
Ananda Temple is nearly 1,000 years old, it has remained in constant use by Buddhists since it
was built, and is an important symbol of Burmese culture.

First, the Burmese defeated the rival Mon kingdom in battle under King Anawrahta, allowing
him to consolidate his power as their ruler. Second, King Anawrahta converted to Buddhism and
had a sudden need for temples, and lots of them.Who built the Bagan temples?King Anawrahta
On the banks of the Irrawaddy River, more than 3,000 temples stretch across a 30-square-mile
plain in Bagan, Myanmar (formerly Burma). Most were constructed between 1057 and 1287
during a building frenzy initiated by King Anawrahta, who formed the first Burmese kingdom in
1044.In the Rigveda, the Bhaga is named as one of the Adityas, the seven (or eight) celestial sons
of Aditi, the Rigvedic mother of the gods. In the medieval Bhagavata Purana, the Bhaga
reappears with the Puranic Adityas, which are by then twelve solar gods.

As you may know, Bagan is famous for its thousands of old pagodas and stupas stretching into
the horizon. Bagan was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan from the 9th to the 13th centuries, a
period in which some 50 Buddhist kings ruled the Pagan Dynasty.
More than 3,500 ancient Buddhist pagodas, temples, and other religious structures occupy
approximately 16 square miles of Old Bagan within the larger Bagan Archaeological Zone. Most
of the structures were built between 800 and 1,000 years ago, when Bagan was a royal
capital.How many kings were in the Bagan dynasty?

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55 kings-According to the chronicles, Bagan was founded in AD 107 by the Thamoddarit and
ruled by a line of 55 kings.

Materials: The region around Bagan was once covered with trees. However, most of them were
cut down for firewood. The builders of the temples at Bagan were able to get mud from the river
for brick-making, but needed hot fires to set the bricks.Who built the Ananda Temple?
Kyansittha
On the occasion of 900th anniversary of its construction celebrated in 1990 the temple spires
were.gilded.

Symbolism of Stūpas in Bagan (1000-1300 AD) ... The most charming custom of Myanmar

Buddhist devotees is pagoda building which they constructed on the peak .the Land of a
Thousand Temples, the ancient kingdom of Bagan in Myanmar is ... main types of architecture
found throughout Bagan are temples and stupas.The stupa (“stupa” is Sanskrit for heap) is an
important form of Buddhist architecture, ... Once individuals come to fully understand The Four
Noble Truths,, located on the banks of the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River, is home to the largest
and densest concentration of Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas, ...

Dhammay... Pagoda

The Bagan dynasty, the first dynasty in the history of Myanmar, flourished from the 11th to 13
centuries and built the foundation of Myanmar culture. ... Even under succeeding dynasties,
Bagan prospered as a key point for water traffic. Many pagodas were maintained by successive
kings.

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 Symbolism Of Stūpas In Bagan (1000-1300 AD)
Paper read at the 9th Research Conference of Myanmar Academy of Arts and Science held in Yangon University on 22
October 2009. Dr Zin Tun Tint,
Journal of the Myanmar Academy of Arts and Science, Vol. III, No.8, 2010, Page- 31-

The study of stūpa symbolism in Myanmar with special reference to Bagan is best understood in
the context of its development during the 11th to 13th century AD. The stūpa building of Buddhist
devotees were taken as contributory towards the long life of the Religion until the end of 5,000
years after the Mahāpatinibbāna. The stūpa or tope is a dome-shaped structure which was a
development of the low sculptural tumulus or cairn of earth of the prehistoric period, in which
bricks were substituted for earth and stones with a view to durability. The word “tope” is a
corruption of the Pali thupa and the Sanskrit stūpa, a mound or tumulus. Stūpa or tope is
therefore a name common to each kind of tumulus; whether it is the solid structure dedicated to
the Supreme Being, or masonry mound erected over the relics of Buddha, or of one of his
eminent followers. The Myanmar Buddhists, like other orientals, live more in the future than in
present, and the extraordinary number of pagoda all over the country attests to their anxiety to
attain bliss in the next world as well as to the stronghold which Buddhism has over them. This
paper will present from the preachings of Lord Buddha and traditions of Buddhist devotees to
hypothesis regarding the conception and symbolism of Buddhist stūpa. A stūpa itself even,
architecturally speaking, is not without conception and symbolism associations.
https://baganpaper.com › symbolism-of-stupas-in-bagan

SYMBOLISM OF STŪPAS IN BAGAN (1000-1300 AD)

There are numerous pagodas and shrines all along the length and breadth of Myanmar. In
Myanmar with the exception of the villages which generally have only one or at the most two
pagodas, the towns and cities are certainly found adorned with numerous Buddhist shrines.
The most charming custom of Myanmar Buddhist devotees is pagoda building which they
constructed on the peak of mountains or hills throughout Myanmar and adorned it with
whitewash and gold.

Mount Popa

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Kaunghm Pagoda/ Sachi Stupa in India at RIGHT

Probably it derives from Pali thūpa and Sanskrit stūpa, the name for an ancient Buddhist
monument in the form of the social dome. That reminds one of Sanchi Stūpa, 2nd century BC,
Śrīksetra Bawbawgyi, 4th century AD, Arimaddana (Bagan) Ngakywenadaung, c. 10th century
AD, Siripaccaya Lawkananda, 11th century AD , and finally Jeyapura (Sagaing) Kaunghmudaw,
17th century AD.

Dome-shaped Stūpas

1. Bawbawgyi
2. Ngakywenadaung

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3. Lawkananda

Mesopotamian Ziggurat///Kaunghmudaw Pagoda

Ziggurat
Anthropology tells us on the other hand that in primitive civilization, long before the emergence
of culture and formed religions, mound-worship like tree-worship was a widely prevalent form
of piety.
Heights had a mystic sacredness to primitive mind as is evidenced by the Sumerian and
Babylonian ziggurats built to imitate natural mounds, the Jewish custom of seeking high places
for performance of worship and sacrifice, etc.
A Ziggurat is a temple tower of the ancient Mesopotamian valley and Persia (Iran). The Ziggurat
may have been built as a bridge between heaven and earth.
The temples of the Sumerian were believed to be a cosmic axis, a vertical bond between heaven
and earth.
The stūpa developed as the nucleus of Buddhist faith and worship, but its origin cannot be
regarded as Buddhist for evidence of its roots date back to c. 2000 BC.
Burial mounds containing relics were raised from earth and rock according to an age old custom
that had survived from as early as Neolithic times.
These burial mounds were also common during the life time of the Buddha and he instructed his
disciples to erect them at cross-roads to commemorate great kings, sages and heroes.
In Mahāprinnirvāna Suttanta, Lord Buddha addressed to Ānanda regarding the worthy of a stūpa:
Ānanda, there are four persons who are worthy of a stūpa being built to their honour. Who are
these four?
 A Ththāgata, Homage-worthy, Perfectly Self-Enlightened, is worthy of a stūpa.
 A Pacceka Buddha is worthy of a stūpa.
 An Ariya disciple of a Thatāgata is worthy of a stūpa.
 A Universal Monarch (Cakravartin) is worthy of a stūpa.

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The highest objects of worship for the Buddhist are the Triratana or the Three Jewels:
(1) the Buddha, (2) the Dhamma and (3) the Sangha.
According to the Mahāprinnirvāna Suttanta there are also other objects of worship.
These are the relics of holy persons like the Buddha, the Pacceka Buddhas, the Arhats, and
the Cakravartins over which great monuments were erected by a ‘grateful posterity.
In the majority of cases, these relics are what are called dhātus which can be conveniently
grouped into three classes.
These three kinds of sacred memorial (cetiya) are considered, –
(i) a relic of Lord’s body (sārīrika),
(ii) an object with which the Lord in his life-time was physically associated (paribhogika, i.e.,
‘something used’), and
(iii) a likeness which represented the Lord (uddesika). Uddesika memorial is meant a Buddha-
image.
The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon – is said to contain relics of all four Buddhas of the present
kalpa (Gabā).
At the end of the Seven Weeks, the two brothers Tapussa and Bhallika, took refuge in the
Buddha and the law, and received the eight hairs from the Lord at the foot of the Rājāyatana tree,
they brought them to Yangon, where the king and the spirits bestirred themselves and deposited
the Hairs at Dagon Pagoda on Singhuttara Hill.
There also Kakusandha the Buddha has enshrined his water-pot, Konagamana the Buddha his
staff, and Kassapa the Buddha his bathing-cloth. The relics of the Four Buddhas are enshrined in
Shwedagon Pagoda
The chief corporeal relics are ‘those which are properly called Śarīras, i.e., the remains of a
corpse after cremation’.
After Bhddha’s attaining Nirvāna in the land of Mallās at Kusinagara, about BC 480, eight cities
or principalities are said to have contended for the hanour of possessing his mortal remains, and
the difficulty was met by assigning a portion to each of the contending parties, who are said to
have erected stūpas to contain them in each of their respective localities.
In addition to these relics, there are others, the tooth relics, one of which is worshipped in
Heaven, another in Gandhāra and one each in KalinHga and the land of the Nāgas respectively
Regarding the conceptions of the stūpa building there are many evidences of epigraphs during
the zenith time of stūpa building in Bagan period.
Every donor of religious buildings in Bagan period who inscribed their religious dedication on
sand stone slabs.
In stone inscriptions they are usually mentioned the name and address, rank or occupation of the
donor, aims and objects of dedication, description of the dedicated object, the expenditure
incurred, prayer for merit of dedication, etc.
The most distinctive prayers of Bagan period religious donors are the curses to fall upon those
who vandalized the dedicated object and the donor’s sharing out of his religious merit to all
sentient beings.
Besides the donors also prayed at the same time that he or she (the donor) wanted to behold the
Metteyya Buddha and the vandal may not behold Metteyya Buddha.
To the Theravādin, Metteyya is the equivalent of the Mahāyanist’s future Buddha Amitabha.
Most Buddhist devotees desired to be reborn as humans at the time when Metteyya will descend
to the earth to preach the dhammacakra, the ultimate sermon.

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The stūpa is a Buddhist building, but the field of the analytical enquiry has been extended
beyond the borders of Buddhism to include the symbolic formulations of Brahmanism.
All of the religious buildings including stūpa were designed to replicate elements of the
Brahmanic-Buddhist cosmos in an effort to promote harmony between the gods and man.
At the centre of the Buddhist Universe is Mount Meru.
At various heights on the Mount Meru are ranged the six blissful seats or Deva-loka (Heavens),
such as the Tushita and TavatimHsa, where deva (celestials) are known to dwell.
Tushita is the fourth Deva-loka, where all Bodhisattvas are reborn before finally appearing on
earth as Buddha.
Mount Meru and the surrounding  seven mountains with the seven seas,

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Mount Meru and the surrounding  seven mountains
(Mural painting at Winido, Bagan)

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unt Meru is encircled by seven concentric mountain chains separated by seven seas.
Around Mount Meru lay the Four Great Islands (Mahādipa) facing the cardinal points of it.
Of them, the southern one, Jambudīpa, is the most important. Man lives on Jambūdipa, the
Southern Continent.

It is only on Jambudipa that Buddhas can be born to free mankind from suffering and the
constant round of rebirths.

Every structural and decorative detail of religious architecture in Myanmar originally had
symbolic meaning. The main edifice may be considered a manifestation of Mount Meru, home of
the gods, centre of the Universe.

Like the Mesopotamia Ziggurat, the basic concept of the stūpa was an architecture diagram of
the cosmos.Just as these concepts of Mesopotamian and Vedic origin determined the form and
function of the stūpa-mound, so the architecture of the surrounding railing and the actual ritual of
veneration may be traced to pre-Buddhist solar cults.

The ground plan of the railing, with the gateways at the four points of the compass describing the
revolving claws of a swastika, is no accident, but a purposeful incorporation of one of the
most ancient sun symbols.

A reminiscence of solar cults may certainly be discerned in the prescribed ritual of

circumambulation, in which the worshipper, entering the precinct by the eastern gateway, walked
round the mound in a clockwise direction, describing thereby the course of the sun through the
heavens.So almost all of worshipper in Myanmar who entered into eastern gateway of the stūpa
and walked round the stūpa in a clockwise direction to pay  homage to the stūpa.
Besides regarding the building of the stūpa there are Four Enlightened Buddhas of present Kapal
in cardinal points of the stūpa.

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So these Four Buddhas set up in four shrines or niches of stūpa:
1. Kakusanda facing in the East,
2. Konagamana facing in the South,
3. Kassapa facing in the West,
4. Gautama facing in the North by the clockwise direction.

Those pagodas or temples are four sided, with the four Buddhas seated or standing, back to back,
against or within its four faces, with single or double corridor surrounding the whole.
In some of the ancient pagodas at Bagan, like the Petleik and Seinnyet Nyima, which were built
in 11th century, the four Buddhas of the present cycle are enshrined in niches cut on the upper
portion of the bell-shaped dome, Maitreya, the coming Buddha, having no votaries in Myanmar.

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Source: Hudson, Bob, The Origins of Bagan; The Archaeological  landscape of Upper Burma to AD 1300, Ph D Dissertation
(University of Sydney, 2004)

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The interesting point of the cosmological conception of stūpa building in Sriksetra is, as pointed
out by Bob Hudson:  Three tall stūpas, the Bawbawgyi, Payagyi and Payama are situated
respectively to the south, north-west and north-east of the city wall. The Bawbawgyi is almost
cylindrical, and the Payagyi and Payama have been described as sugarloaf shaped. There is a
third “sugarloaf” stūpa, the Myinbahu. It has been suggested that these four buildings or at least
the better known three, guarded, in the cosmological sense, the extremities of the city.

The symbolism of stūpa was described by Taw Sein Ko in his book The Burmese Sketches :
The stūpa rests on five receding terraces representing the five-fold division of Mount Meru , or
on a triple basement representing the three worlds of Scene (Kāmaloka), form (Rūpaloka), and
formlessness (Arūpaloka), the Buddha being “tilokamahita”, or the “Revered of the three
worlds”. The form of the plinth or basement is always square, and symbolizes the abode of
the Mahārājās or Catu-lokapālas , the Guardian Spirits of the world. Then comes the “shittaung”
or octagonal band encircling the building, which represents the Tushita (Tôkthita) heaven, the
abode of all Bodhisats or Buddhas in embryo. . . some of the ancient pagodas at Bagan, small
niches facing the cardinal points. In each niche sits enshrined the small figure of a Buddha in a
preaching attitude. The figures represent Kakusandha, Konagamana, Kassapa, and Gotama.
In the conception of the Buddhist cosmology the Catu-lokapālas, the four guardian nat devas
looking after the world from the four cardinal points.

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The rare evidence of the Catu-lokapālas symbolism of pagoda building in Myanmar can be seen
at the upper terrace of the Kyaik-kasan pagoda, Thingun kyun township, Yangon.

Catu-lokapālas-Kyaik-kasan pagoda, Thingun kyun township, Yangon-(Southwest

Corner).He earliest stūpa of the life-time of Gautama was Cūlhāmani Zedi which located
in Tāvatimsa Heaven.

1. When the Embryo Buddha cut off his hair and threw it in the air, it was Sakka (or
Thagyā, from the Sanskrit Sakrā, Lord of TāvatimHsa) who caught it and enshrined it in
his Cūlhāmani cetiya .
2. The stūpa had many variant forms. They are classified under the three categories:
3. The dome-stūpa
4. The terrace-stūpa
5. The tower stūpa

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Pic at right shows Angkor Vat is one of the famous temple-mountains of the ancient Khmer . It
lies well to the south of the other great temples, and does not face east but west.

In conclusion, this paper dealt with the symbolism of stūpa. So also details of stūpa after Buddha
attaining nirvāna are described here. In building stūpas, benefits are meant for a better life in
thereafter and these merits are shared to all sentient beings. The builders of stūpas prayed that
they be able to behold Metteyya Buddha and cursed that those who were against their deeds be
not able to obeisance Metteyya Buddha. The cosmological conceptions of stūpa building in
Śrīkśetra and of relic holding pagodas erected by Anawrahta is discussed. Another conception of
stūpa building was cosmic mountain. According to the cosmic mountain the stūpas are
constructed on the peak of mountains and hills. Besides the stūpas are erected the form of
stepped pyramid. The paper explained the symbolism of the stūpa in detail according to the both
1
Buddhist and Brahmanic traditions.

Dr Oo studied the architectural aspects of stupas that were built during the reign of King Narapatisithu
along Bagan dynasties depending on four factors such as (i) Reflection in the form (ii) Spatial
compositions (iii) Structural aspects and (iv) Decorative aspects. The contribution of this study is the
architectural and technological achievements of Myanmar Religious Architecture that reached its peak
during the reign of King Narapatisithu (1174-1211 A.D). Myanmar had impressed on special features and
their own style from the Indian style

The stupas are classified according to their development of Form such as Stupas with bulbous shape,
Stupas with octagonal basement, Stupas with rectangular basement, Stupas with circular basement, Stupas
with pentagonal basement and Sinhalese type Stupas. Most of the stupas with circular basement, bulbous
shape, rectangular basement, pentagonal basement and octagonal basement in the Bagan period were
apparently evolved from the hemispherical stupa like Sanchi and Amaravali of India.
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1.https://baganpaper.com/symbolism-of-stupas-in-bagan/

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Among them, Dhammayazika Stupa is surpassing example of the Bagan stupas. It was more required in
skill for management, estimating, drawing and construction. According to cosmic metaphor and symbol
of the five Buddhas, the geometrically guided layout is the finest expression of the Bagan. There were
altogether the stupas that built in Bagan and the Dhammayazika Stupa is the zenith of Myanmar Religious
Architecture. They showed entirely the different appearance of the whole structures from the Indian
monuments. They may be traced to the Indian origin by signifying the philosophy of the fine arts. This
research paper is studied that the architectural typology of Bagan monuments adopted to conform
Myanmar style. Furthermore, the research paper is expressed those stupas during the reign of King
Narapatisithu were the most outstanding and famous levels compared with other stupas along Bagan
periods.1
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1. Architectural Aspects Of Stupas During The Reign Of King Narapatisithu In Bagan, Myanmar " Dr. Thet Oo Ph.D
(Architecture) Associate Professor and Head, Department of Architecture, West Yangon Technological University,
Yangon, Myanmar Dr. Maung Hlaing Professor and Head Department of Architecture Yangon Technological
University, Yangon, Myanmar ASIA PACIFIC SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APSA) CONFERENCE
TRANSFORMING SOCIETIES: CONTESTATIONS AND CONVERGENCES IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

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