Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

M YANMAR, BUDDHIST A RT IN
tional product to Buddhist building activities.) Linked
to this was the belief that enlightenment is too difficult
for most people to attain and therefore the objective
in merit-making is to be reborn when the
future Buddha Metteya (MAITREYA) appears on earth,
for an encounter with Metteya brings instant and easy
enlightenment. This messianic belief, whose origins
can be found in Pyu sculptures, gave rise to a pentagonal
plan for monuments that reached its zenith in
the construction of the virtuoso Dhamma-yazika
stupa at Pagan.
During the three centuries of artistic activity at Pagan
there were three principal phases in which art and
architecture evolved. During the early period, Pyu
temple types, such as the Abe-yadana or Naga-yon,
housed paintings and sculpture clearly derived from
Pala Bengal that illustrate textual sources originating
from Sri Lanka but captioned in the Old Mon language.
Coupled with imperial expansion was a proselytizing
movement of conversion to the Theravada
way, and this art was essentially educational. By 1150,
with the construction of the That-byin-nyu and
Dhamma-yan-gyi temples under Sithu I, a transitional
period becomes evident in the Pagan temple, whereby
a clear Burmese idiom emerges in architecture, painting,
and sculpture. At the same time, the Old Burmese
language is written for the first time as captions beneath
wall paintings. Bronze work, perhaps derived
from the Arakan, achieves a succinct beauty rarely paralleled
in Buddhist art. Temples grow taller, lighter,
and more spacious compared with the darker, more
mystical early types. By 1200, late period temples, such
as Sula-mani or Hti-lo-min-lo, with the main shrine
on the upper level, display a virtuoso technical sophistication
and quality of craftsmanship. Likewise,
painting and sculpture pass from an early period style
that is, in spiritual terms, highly charged to a late period
style that is supremely confident, yet in execution
delicate and in effect delightful.
Iconography from this period betrays the mixed
origins of Pagan Buddhism and by the mid-eleventh
century the dominance of the Theravada tradition.
Bodhisattva, dvarapala, garuda, naga, and other “sacred
beasts” of the Hindu-Buddhist pantheon abound
mainly as decorative elements in great cycles of narrative
paintings depicting the life of the Buddha, the
jataka, and other Theravada tales. During the early period,
Buddhist “purifications” of ancient animist cults
were absorbed into the new state religion, as were
Hindu deities, as supporters of the faith. These spirit
or nat cults survive to this day, and such “folk art”
combined with ritual, costume, and dance is a rich potential
area of anthropological study.
Post-Pagan, 1300–1752
Following the Mongol incursion of 1278, Pagan fell
into economic decline and into the power vacuum
stepped Shan-Tai tribes who were responsible for
much of the desecration of the temples at Pagan. Later
converted to Buddhism, the art and architecture of the
Shan states is a rich potential source of study with distinct
styles of architecture, sculpture, and decoration
more akin to Thailand than Burma. Likewise for the
Arakan, a kingdom on the Bay of Bengal that remained
independent until the late eighteenth century with its
capital at Mrauk-U and its own highly original styles
betraying the proximity of India. By the sixteenth century
the Burmese under the First Ava dynasty had reasserted
itself at Toungoo. They established capitals at
Pegu, which they captured from the Mons, who had
regained lost territories following the decline of Pagan,
and then at Ava in 1637. During this period the country
was reunified and Thailand invaded several times.
Little of architectural interest survives from this period,
with the exception of various royal stupas that
have since been remodeled. Sculpture from this period
can be heavy and crude in execution. The first
mural paintings since the end of Pagan may be seen
at the Thi-loka-guru (1672) caves at Sagaing and at
the Hpo-win-daung caves in the Chindwin valley.
These paintings, like the sculpture of this period, are
naïve yet vividly entertaining. Early carved wood
monasteries at Mingkin show an excellence of decorative
work, and Ava period temples, though technically
less ambitious than Pagan temples, reveal fine stucco
work in the Pagan tradition.
The Konbaung dynasty, 1752–1885
It was not until the rise of the Konbaung dynasty in
1752 that a true revival of the arts in Burma is evident.
The Konbaung kings were conscious of their own Pagan
heritage; indeed, they set about the first restorations
of monuments there and dedicated a number of
new monuments at Pagan. Compared with the more
restrained classical idiom of Pagan, the art of the Konbaung
has a distinctly rococo tendency. Decoration can
be highly florid; stucco carvings adorning temple pediments
tend to be flamboyant. The principal Konbaung
monuments are found in the area around present-day
Mandalay, in the vicinities of the sites of the three former
Konbaung capitals at Ava, Amarapura, and Mandalay
itself, established in 1855. Under the Konbaung,
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