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| After the conquest of
Thaton, Anawrahta marched on the old Pyu capital of Sri Ksetra. The Pyu had
remained a potent cultural force in Burma and Anawrahta may have regarded the
Pyu as his dynastic and cultural forerunner. To differentiate ethnically.
between Pyu and Early Burman is deceptive. Pagan dates back to Pyu times, and
was originally one of many city states, existing contemporary to the great Pyu
centres, practicing wet rice cultivation in central Burma. Moreover, the fall
of Sri Ksetra in 832-5 to the Nanchao does not necessarily imply the
annihilation of the Pyu and their civilisation. Whilst at Sri Ksetra, Anawrahta
opened the massive Baw-baw-gyi stupa and removed the relic to take it back for
re-enshrinement at his own capital, leaving behind, within the Baw-baw-gyi
tabena, some of his own signed votive tablets.
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| 3' This was symbolic of
the absorption of the old Pyu heartland into Anawrahta's renewing empire.
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| Pagan's religion and art
were not suddenly imported wholesale from the south after the Thaton raid of
1060. Indian religions had been professed in Burma for at least three centuries
prior to this date. Coexisting without struggle, the Theravada, Mahayana and
the Brahmanic cults have left their remains in the cities of the Pyu, Mon and
Arakanese. The Pyu fell to the Nanchao Chinese in c.832-5, and there was a
power vacum into which the Early Burmans stepped, absorbing elements of their
culture. It is around this date that the Pagan city walls were built (850) and
as late as 1113 a Pagan quadrilingual inscription still uses the Pyu script
together with the Mon, Pali and Early Burmese scripts.'" The Pagan temple type
is derived froth the early brick temples of the Pyu capital of Sri Ksetra, such
as the Be-he and Lei-myethna temples, where radiating arches and a voussoir
type brickwork, of the same kind used at Pagan, are to be found. The Pyus were
fine workers of bronze and makers of exquisite jewellery. They passed on all
this to' Pagan.
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| There are no surviving
temples from these early times in the Mon country, for the relentless monsoon
rains of the delta have simply dissolved all early brickworks. To suggest that
the Early Pagan temple type is Mon cannot be substantiated. Luce goes so far as
to describe the Early Period as the " 'Mon' period". This assumption is based
on the fact that the Old Molt script was used for the glosses on temple walls
that narrate pictorial scenes, and on terracotta plaques illustrating 550
Jataka tales. Whilst Mon culture was doubtless a significant literary force in
Early Pagan, there is no substantive evidence to suggest that the Mons
originated the type of brick temple found at Early Pagan. The main contribution
of the Mons to Pagan was this Jataka literature, and their language that was
used to narrate it. This literary tradition was combined with the Pyu temple
building tradition, more contemporary South and North Indian decorative
currents, and the courageous and aspiring spirit of the early Burman-the daring
quest for an architectural ultimate that embodied his search for an escape from
samsara, and thirst for nibbana.
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| More significant than the
assimilation of the federation of Mon port-states, such as Bassein, Twante and
Thaton, after Anawrahta's 1060 conquest, was the opening up of Burma to the
influences of the older Theravada country of Ceylon, and possibly to a lesser
degree, South Indian artistic influences. For the conquest of Thaton gave Pagan
access to sea, and thus to Ceylon. It is known from contemporary epigraphy that
Anawrahta assisted his fellow Buddhist king, and contemporary Vijaya Bahu I
(1055-1110) in the defeat of the Saivite South Indian Cola, who had occupied
that sacred isle bringing about a wane of its Pali Buddhism, and in the
re-establishment of the Theravada faith there .i5 It would seem that whilst
Ceylon possessed the pitaka,they lacked the bhikkhu.Monks exchanged missions as
well as diplomats, occasionally monks were diplomats, and in addition to monks
women were exchanged between the two courts. Thus began a tradition of cultural
exchange and periodic renewal between the two countries that has continued up
till the present time.
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| At Pagan, new Pali texts
were introduced from the late IIth century onwards-this is apparent in the
subjects chosen by the painters of murals. From the reign of Anawrahta, few
temples, as distinct from stupas, were either built or survive. However, at
min, which, along with the Nan-hpaya, may be attributed to his reign, some
mural painting does remain, triad panels of the Buddha with his two foremost
disciples, Mogallana and ,aripUtta, which are repeated identically across
vaults and soffits, the uppermost being polychromed coffered mouldings. These
are intended to portray the moment of the delivery of a sutta, or discourse, by
the Buddha. At this early stage, other than Jataka estampages, pictorial
illustration of the events of the Buddha's life had not yet been applied to
broad narrative cycles on temple walls, though, again at KyaVk-ku, the Pagan
artist was attempting to release the principal scenes from the life of the
Buddha, from the eight or nine scenes presented together in a cycle on a votive
tablet, to individual stone reliefs. With the maritime opening, left by the
removal of the Mon hegemony of the seaboard, new, purified texts arrive.at
Pagan and are deciphered and expounded by the monks to the artists who
disseminated their message or story on the wall space and statuary of temples.
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| By the time of the next
great reign after Anawrahta, that of Kyanzittha (1084-1113), not only was the
Pagan artist in possession of more detailed texts on the life of the Buddha,
and past buddhas, namely the Nidanakatha and Buddhavamsa, which seemed to be
the most popular narratives for pictorial exposition at Pagan, but also his
competence as painter, or sculptor, had improved. For example, examine the
great leap in the sculptor's skill from the Kyauk-ku reliefs, to those at the
Naga-yon, or, alternatively, note the sudden liberation of the painter's brush
from the tight triad panels of the Kuyauk-ku vaults to the broad, like
narrative of the Pa-hto-tha-mya.
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| - Towards the end of
Anawrahta's reign, the system for numbering. the Jataka changed from a Mon
recension to the Ceylonese recension, and under Kyanzittha (1084-1113)- a
revision of the pitaka or scriptures, again on a Ceylonese model, is noticeable
in the choice of subjects employed in contemporary painting schemes." By the
time of Rajakumar's temple building activity, at the turn of the 11th to 12th
centuries, and his supervision of the Myinkaba kqbyauk-gyi construction work in
1113, the wider range of texts that were selected for translation into the
medium of painting, demonstrates' the great progress of scholarship at Pagan.
Pali studies were, perhaps, the legacy of Ceylonese contact: Just as Anawrahta
had sent bhikkhu to Ceylon, when the faith was on the wane there, in the face
of South Indian Saivite pressures, so too the Ceylonese assisted Burma in the
establishment of a purer canon at Pagan.
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| Ceylon was not alone in
the development of Pagan's religion and art. North India was also in contact
with the young empire. Kyanzittha's supposed bride, Abeyadana, has been said to
be a Bengali princess, with Mahayanist inclinations, and the painted
decorations in the temple named after her are said to confirm this connection.`
For at Pagan, South and North Indian artistic elements met as did the Theravada
and Mahayana, with the Brahmanic somewhere in between. Burma's art grew from
these disparate elements to achieve a distinctive style and type, that never
becomes dominated by any of these crosscultural elements. Pala Bengal was
Mahayanist, and though the Mahayana must have been tolerated at Pagan, and,
though there are numerous examples of Mahayana elements in Pagan's art and
architecture, the dominant religious movement, as is clearly expressed in
contemporary literature, was Theravada Buddhism. However, Pagan's Theravada art
selected and took what it fancied from the Mahayana art of contemporary North
India, together with what vestiges of the Pyu Mahayana tendencies that
remained, not to mention Hindu elements (themselves absorbed into the art of
Buddhism at a far earlier stage in its development) and adapted such disparate
elements to suit current Theravada tastes. Thus, a full cycle is evident:
Mahayana temple forms and designs, and even practices, were applied to magnify
the rational of the orthodox Theravada religion and state. Past scholars have
exaggerated the place of the Mahayana in Pagan's religious life, and in the
descriptions of the - monuments that follow below in Part Two, constant
reference is made to the fact that the Mahayana entities were secondary, by
their iconographic position supporting the Theravada, and were often merely
decorative.
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| A stable, well run empire
encourages trade, and that brings about prosperity. Immigrant Indians -came to
serve the court as ritual major-domos, astrologers, artists and artisans and
the such like, and Theravada Buddhism. being an essentially tolerant creed,
naturally let them practise their respective religions without hindrance.
Outside the court orbit were other Indians-merchants and pedlars, scions of
distant trading, houses, plying the web of routes that converged on Pagan.
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| The Pagan Palace
inscription refers throughout to the vital role of brahmans in the palace's
ceremonial construction." The earliest surviving temple found at Pagan is the
Nat-hlaungkyaung and is dedicated to the Hindu deity Vishnu. There is no
dichotomy in this side-by-side existence of two religions which in their
essences were once opposed to each other. Nor was Pagan a religious syncretism.
Elements of Hinduism were absorbed to support Buddhism, not to challenge it.
Most likely, the priests of the Nat-hlaung-kyaung were the king's personal
brahmans who supported the king in, his mission to.propagate Buddhism, as in
contemporary art, where in certain instances, such as the Buddha's Descent from
Tavatimsa, Indra and Brahma physically support the Buddha.
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| Marshalled through their
duties by Indian brahmans, who had a monopoly on the rituals that dominated the
life of the inner city that was the palace, kings were styled as avatar of
Brahmanic deities in the service of Buddhism. Kyanzittha, as part of his
personal propaganda, presented himself, in his panegyric inscriptions, as an
avatar of Vishnu reincarnated in kingly form to propagate the dhamma. To
promote the religion, or sasana, a Pagan king's royal duty lay in the
construction of monuments to his religion's founder, the Buddha, in some cases
enshrining actual relics of the lord hi mself. The building of temples and
other edifices, the feeding of monks and a cycle of court life based on
meritorious activities thus became obligatory for any credible monarch. This
accounts for the magnificence and profusion.of temples at Pagan. Monarchs,
motivated by a mixture of genuine piety, statecraft and a desire for
credibility, became obsessed with temple building. The original reason for
building a temple or stupa was not only to enshrine a precious relic or image,
but to glorify and propagate the faith, whilst bringing untold benefits to man
in his quest for nibbana, and thereby earn the merit that ensures release from
the sufferings of this world. By the Late Period at Pagan, such instincts had,
perhaps, become politicised. However, it would be unnecessarily cynical to
suggest that a city of such outward visual glory and inner spiritual power was
the product of political preoccupations.
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| The merit accumulated by
royal temple building activities was part of the national interest. Temple
building secured the release of the king's subjects as well as the king
himself. The humanitarian objective of 'sharing' merit is constantly underlined
in the inscriptions that detail such dedications. The king was often styled as
a bodhisattva, a future buddha: incarnate in this world to assist mankind in
their quest for salvation.' Kings were thus addressed as hpaya, the same
appellation used for a sacrosanct object of worship, whether it be an image of
the Buddha, a stupa or a monk (who is the living embodiment of the dhamma).
This concept of the king as 'Champion of Buddhism' is based on Indian models
that originate with the first Buddhist emperor, and unifier of India,. Asoka
Maurya (272-232 B.C.). Like Asoka, Early Pagan kings viewed themselves as
cakkavatti or 'Universal Monarch', the temporal equivalent of a buddha, and,
whilst supporting the faith, found the faith supported them, in their drive for
an imperial end. Other conceptions of the Pagan monarch included the belief
that the king was dhammaraja or king of the dhamma' or kammaraja, a king whose
power is based on the accumulation of merit from past existerices. Finally, in
the chronicles there is mention of a a monk-king who is the embodiment of total
sacred and temporal power." These conceptions of kingship were an integral part
of contemporary statecraft, and, to prove the validity of such titles and
appellations, a king was required to build stupas and temples-this in part
explains the multitude and magnitude of royal monuments on the Pagan plain.
Other people, members of the royal family or household, merchants and
officials, likewise followed the royal example to enhance their own, and their
family's accumulation of merit. They hoped not only to better their
circumstances in this existence, but also the next, and ultimately hoped to be
present here on earth when the next buddha, Mettaya, comes, so as to receive
instant and effortless enlightenment through the hearing of the dhamma from the
actual lips of a buddha.
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| The Burmese fixation with
earning merit is often expressed in the dedicatory inscriptions. Here the
foster mother of King Klacaw expresses her sentiments:
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| ...desiring to escape the
misery of the round of rebirths and to attain salvation in the presence of the
Lord Buddha Metnaya and desiring the numberless beings in the Avici hell below
(to come) up to the firmament above, and (that) the countless world systems
across, might all attain salvation made a cave and also a four faced pagoda.
She also made three sets of Pitakas and a great summit monastery ...
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| In the following chapters
some discussion will be made on the role of the future buddha, Mettaya, in the
religious life of Pagan and the application of this cult figure on the
religious architecture of the old city.' Here, it must be initially emphasised
that it was upon this future buddha that the people of Pagan rested their hopes
of salvation. Gotama had come and gone and it was their own ill luck, or ill
kamma, to have missed him. Though a great corpus of teaching was left ,behind
and disseminated by the sanghathe attainment of an enlightened state, nibbana,
was no easy task. Thus, most Pagan people looked to Mettaya for ultimate
salvation, and it was often a fervent prayer that they. may be reborn, as a
man, contemporary of the next great teaching buddha, Mettaya.
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| Merit earning occurred at
all levels of society and was not just the prerogative of the ruling cast
thatorbited itself about the king's person. Though Pagan society was
hierarchic, with castes defined by occupations living within their own unit-for
example, there would be a residential quarter for masons and another for
musiciansall sectors of the population were arranged towards the national
objective of making merit. The lowest of the casts were the hpaya kywan or
'pagoda slaves', who were hereditarily bonded to a dedication in order to
maintain it, and its incumbents, into posterity (hpaya kywanwere formally
abolished in 1947). Thus, Pagan society was rigidly organised around temple
building occupations and the maintenance of the various dedications.
|
| Michael Aung Thwin
believes that Pagan economically declined in the 13th century, prior to its
fall to the Mongols in 1287, as a result of such pagoda building
preoccupations. Along with a temple, glebe lands, villages and slaves were
endowed for.perpetuity to maintain the dedication. These lands were exempted
from taxes. Endowments increased and revenues dwindled, ultimately weakening
the state's authority. However, Late Period monuments show no sign of prevalent
decline, rather they are emblematic of a supreme self-confidence. This is
curious, for usually in a decadent society there is a collapse in aesthetic
sensitivity, or taste, combined with a slackening in the quality of
craftsmanship. No such movement is evident in the arts of Late Pagan. Further,
there does not appear to have been a sudden cut-off, certainly none of the
customary fin de siecle slip downwards, and temples continue to be dedicated
well into the meridian of the next century." The physical arrival of the
Mongols would seem to have affected Pagan little and despite the political
imbalances that the Mongols brought about Pagan remained a cultural centre,
possibly even up to the present. From one inscription it is known that the rhea
Disapramuk travelled to the court of the Mongol Emperor and persuaded him that
an agriculturally productive Burma would be of greater value to his hungry
horsemen than an ecologically raped Burma." The presence of exotically clad
Mongol cavalrymen on the streets of Pagan seems to have aroused more interest
than shock: one artist painted'such figures on the soffits of the Kyanzittha
Umin cave-temple; they are curiosities, not fiends.
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| Thus, Pagan did not
physically 'fall' in 1287, when the Mongols entered into the tattadesa. Though
the regime was politically destablised, and some tribute and booty must have
been removed, life seems to have carried on at Pagan, little changed, well into
the 14th century. Dedications continued: monastic land endowments increased and
temple-monastery complexes continued to be built and lavishly embellished with
ornament. What devastation one finds nowadays, disembowelled Buddhas and the
such-like, was either the work of Shan hordes, treasure hunting during anarchic
phases in the Early Ava period, or, possibly, the work of underpaid Mon or
Burmese armies moving up or down the Irrawaddy valley during the 17th and 18th
centuries.
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