Pagodas
There are a lot of pagodas in Myanmar and all of them have interesting histories and amazing facts. I would like to tell you about some famous pagodas from Myanmar, also known as the Golden Land.
01. Shwezigon Pagoda
The Shwezigon Pagoda or Shwezigon Paya is a Buddhist stupa located in Nyaung-U, Myanmar. Shwezigon Pagoda. It is a solid, cylindrical structure resting on three square terraces, a prototype of Myanmar stupas. It has a bold waistband around the bell-shaped dome above which rises a series of concentric mouldings ending in a finial and crowned by an umbrella. Shwezigon Pagoda is one of the fifty-five encased pagodas in Bagan. The inner one was built by the father of King Anawrahta and covered with sandstones by the son of king Kyanzitthar. Around the terraces of the pagoda, there are, set in panels, enamelled plaques illustrating the scenes in the previous lives of the Buddha. It is believed to contain the frontal bone and a tooth of the Buddha and is thus held in great veneration by the Buddhists of the whole of Myanmar. On each of the four sides of the pagoda is a small temple that enshrines a standing Buddha, 13 feet high, of the Gupta school of art. On either side of the east approach to the pagoda is a square stone pillar with Mon inscriptions on all four sides dedicated by King Kyanzittha.
02. Ananda Temple
Ananda Temple Ananda Temple. Built by Kyanzittha in 1091 A.D., it is one of the finest and most venerated temples at Bagan. Tradition says that it was built according to the plan furnished by Indian Buddhist monks, which purported to be their cave temple in the Nandamula mountain held to be in the Himalayas. This temple symbolizes the endless wisdom (Ananta Panna) of the Buddha just as the Thatbyinnyu symbolizes the omniscience of the Tathagata. Hence the name Ananda, which changed later to Ananda, the name of Buddha's cousin. It is in plan a square of nearly 200 feet to the side and broken on each side by the projection of large gabled vestibules, which convert the plan into a perfect Greek cross. These vestibules are somewhat lower than the main mass of the building, which elevates itself to a height of 35 feet in two tiers of windows. Above this rise successively diminishing terraces, the last of which just affording breadth for the spire which crowns and completes the edifice. The lower half of this spire is in the form of a mitre-like pyramid adapted from the temples of India; the upper half is the same moulded taper pinnacle that terminates the common bell-shaped pagodas of Bagan. The gilded htee (umbrella) caps the whole at a height of 168 feet above the ground.
03. Thatbyinnyu Temple
It is located 500 yards to the west of Ananda Temple.
"Thatbyinnyu '' signifies "omniscience" one of the attributes of the Buddha. The temple was built about the middle of the 12th century A.D. by King Alaungsithu, grandson and successor of the King who created the Ananda. Standing within the city walls, some 500 yards to the south-west of the Ananda, the Thatbyinnyu rises to a height of 201 feet above the ground and overtops all the other monuments, Its general plan is not unlike the Ananda, but it does not, like the latter, form a symmetrical cross. The eastern porch alone projects considerably from the wall. It has two main storeys and the Buddha image is seated on the upper floor. The central stairway guarded by two standing figures of guardians faces the eastern hall and entrance. The steps lead to a circumambulatory corridor around the central mass. Climbing up one of the pair of stairs built in the thickness of the walls one reaches the top of the vestibule from where an external flight of stairs leads to the upper storey. The high crucibles, the corner stupas on the Terraces, the flamboyant arch-pediments, and the plain pilasters combine to give a soaring effect to the monument. The two tiers of windows in each storey make the interior bright and airy. But the walls are the hare and the recesses along the plinth terraces do I contain any glazed plaques. "To the south-cast of the temple, in a monastery compound close by, stand two tall stone pillars built to support a huge bronze bell. The pillars have foliation in the pattern of an inverted V carved in relief. A small temple to the northeast of the monument is known as the tally pagoda which is said to have been built with one brick for every ten thousand used on the main structure.
04. Dhammayangyi Temple
Built by Narathu who was also called the Kalagya Min or the king killed by the katas The Myanmar chronicles assert that while the construction of the temple was in progress, the king was assassinated by some Kalas and it was never completed, Sinhalese sources, however, indicate that it was the Sinhalese who put the king to death. Most of the arches and the major portion of the structure are still sound. The finest brickwork is to be seen in this temple and the enclosure wall. In plan, it is similar to the Ananda, but only the outer corridor is accessible as all the entrances to the inner one are blocked by brickwork for an unknown reason.
05. Shwedagon Pagoda
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The Shwedagon Pagoda, officially named Shwedagon Zedi Daw, and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa located in Bahan? Yangon, Myanmar. The elegant Shwedagon Pagoda is Yangon’s most famous landmark. The massive 99-meter high gold plated pagoda with the diamond-studded spire set on top of a small hill in downtown Yangon dominates the area and is visible from much of the city. After dark, there is a mystical atmosphere with the pagoda lit up by spotlights.
The very impressive pagoda, also known as the Golden Pagoda, is Burma’s most important Buddhist pilgrimage site. The main stupa enshrines sacred relics of the Gautama Buddha as well as the three previous Buddhas.