lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

164TEMPLES OF BAGAN THE TEMPLESTayok Pye PayaBUDDHIST TEMPLEtrut'e¨p".ur;"A couple of hundred yards north of Leimyethnaby dirt road, this spired temple getsattention for the views from its upper reaches(though its top level is now closed).PayathonzuBUDDHIST TEMPLE.ur;"ou®"zUAcross the main road from Tayok, this complexof three interconnected shrines (thename means Three Stupas) is worth seeingfor its 13th-century murals close up. Itwas abandoned shortly before its constructionwas complete. Each square cubicle istopped by a fat sikhara; a similar structureappears only at Salay (p 128 ). The design isremarkably like Khmer Buddhist ruins inThailand.You enter the middle shrine. To the right(south) are scratched-up, whitewashedwalls. The other two shrines (particularlythe northernmost one) are home to lovely,vaguely Chinese- or Tibetan-looking muralpaintings that contain Bodhisattva figures.Whether these indicate possible Mahayanaor Tantric influence is a hotly debated issueamong art historians. Some drawings arerather crudely touched up.The three-shrine design hints at linkswith the Hindu Trimurti (triad) of Vishnu,Shiva and Brahma, a triumvirate also associatedwith Tantric Buddhism. You mightalso say it represents the Triple Gems ofBuddhism (buddha, dhamma and sangha),except that such a design is uncommon inAsian Buddhist architecture, although itdoes appear in the Hindu shrines of Indiaand Nepal.Thambula PahtoBUDDHIST TEMPLEsmõBlpuqiu"This square temple, surrounded by crumblingwalls just north of Payathonzu, is decoratedwith faded Jataka frescoes and wasbuilt in 1255 by Thambula, the wife of KingUzana. It’s often locked, but go to the (shadedat midday) doors and peek through the gateto see into wall and ceiling murals. A muralof a boat race can be seen from the southernentrance; good ceiling murals are seen fromthe north side.Nandamannya PahtoBUDDHIST TEMPLEnNÌ;m–;Dating from the mid-13th century, thissmall, single-chambered temple has veryfine frescoes and a ruined seated buddhaimage. It’s about 220yd north of Thambula;a sign leads down a short dirt road. (It’s theone to the right.)Nandamannya earns its reputation fromits mural of the ‘Temptation of Mara’, inwhich nubile young females (vainly) attemptto distract the Buddha from the meditationsession that led to his enlightenment. Theundressed nature of the females shockedFrench epigraphist Charles Duroiselle, whowrote in 1916 that they were ‘so vulgarlyerotic and revolting that they can neither bereproduced or described’. Times change: thetopless women can be seen, without blushing,on the back left wall.The murals’ similarity with those atPayathonzu has led some art historiansto suggest they were painted by the samehand.Just behind the temple is the Kyat KanKyaung, a working underground monasterydating from the 11th century. Mats on thetunnel floors are used for meditation.Nyaung U Areae–;='wI"The main site in this area is the superbShwezigon Paya.Shwezigon PayaBUDDHIST TEMPLEerác–'"xu®.ur;"At the west end of Nyaung U, this big, beautifulzedi is the town’s main religious site, andis most famous for its link with the 37 nat.Lit up impressively at dusk the gildedzedi sits on three rising terraces. Enamelledplaques in panels around the base of thezedi illustrate scenes from the Jataka. At thecardinal points, facing the terrace stairways,are four shrines, each of which houses a13ft-high bronze standing buddha. Guptainspiredand cast in 1102, these are Bagan’slargest surviving bronze buddhas.A 4in circular indentation in a stone slab,before the upwards-heading eastern steps,was filled with water to allow former Myanmarmonarchs to look at the reflection of thehti without tipping their heads backwards(which might have caused them to lose theircrowns).The most important site here is the smallyellow compound called 37 Nat (in English)on the southeast side of the site. Inside arefigures of all the 37 pre- Buddhist nat thatwere officially endorsed by Bamar monarchyin a compromising gesture towards a pub-