Burma's Bagan: A Brief Overview
Burmese Architectural and Historical Gem Bagan Rivals Angkor Wat
Burma's Bagan is an impressive architectural and historical site containing 2200 structures, illustrating the history and religious life of a former SE Asian kingdom.
Almost everyone will know about Angkor Wat, located in Cambodia. However, many may not know about Bagan, just across neighboring Thailand and found in Burma (Myanmar). Bagan, like Angkor Wat, hosts one of the largest sites of religious architecture in the world. Like the structures at Angkor Wat, Bagan's temples, stupas, and payas (pagodas) have withstood the test of time and conquest.
Bagan might have been settled as far back as the 2nd Century AD. By the mid-9th Century AD, Bagan became the capital of the eponymous kingdom. The archaeological and historical record confirms that the height of activity in Bagan reached its zenith between the 11th and 14th Centuries AD.
Today, Bagan is no longer even a thriving city. The ruling government has designated the erstwhile imperial capital as the Bagan Archaeological Zone. Where an estimated 13,000 structures once stood, 2,200 remain. Nevertheless, Bagan remains an important area for sacred Buddhist architecture and people still build structures on the site to this day.
While Bagan hosts numerous temples and payas, the vast majority of the structures at Bagan are stupas. Stupas are Buddhist, mound-like structures, which are meant to contain relics and/or remains of individuals. Some stupas claim to contain specific remains of Buddhist saints or even of the Guatama Buddha himself.
The symbolic meaning underlying the stupa is not only to enshrine remains and relics but also to honor the Guatama Buddha's eight great deeds. The tradition continues to the present with the Burmese and others continuing to build stupas on the site, some to gain merit for the next life.
Some of the more famous sites to the area include Ananda Temple and Shwezigon Paya.
According to Professor Robert D. Fiala of Concordia University, in his article at www.orientalarchitecture.com, the former was built by Kyanzittha towards the end of the 11th Century AD and is considered the first great temple of Bagan. The Ananda serves as a recreation of a story related to Kyanzittha by several Indian monks who visited him during his reign. They told him of their life in the Himalayan cave of Nanadamula.
Walking through the interior of the temple does evoke a feeling of moving through a space deep within the earth. Several small Buddhas are placed within the walls while there is a gilded Buddha several meters high near one of the entrances of the temple.
Professor Fiala notes that Shwezigon Paya is a major center of worship for the largely Theravada Buddhist Burmese and is an important part of the Burmese festival held during November and December. What makes Shwezigon Paya so significant aside from its beautiful architecture is its significance in the development of Theravada Buddhism in Burma. When Anawratha converted to Theravada Buddhism in the 11th Century, he also allowed statues of nats (spirits) to be included as part of the structure, although such statues were later removed.
UNESCO has attempted to designate Bagan a World Heritage Site but without success.
