| The Pagan Temple and Stupa
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| AT PAGAN, the three arts
of painting, sculpture and architecture should be viewed as one.
Sculptor-Tna-en, and painter attempted to collaboratr in the creation of a
unified whole. In the early Temples, like the Myinpya-gu, this is less
apparent, mural paintings, decorative or didactic, tend to be secondary to to
the architecture, almost an afterthought. With the building of the
Lokha-teik-pan in the first quarter of the 12th century, the idea of the arts
in unity, working together to enhance doctrine, state faith and pay homage to
the Buddha is embodied.
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| Religious monuments at
Pagan take a variety of forms and little survives of the great monastic
complexes, palace apartments, rest houses and other sacred structures, and
nothing survives of the original secular or domestic architecture, all of which
had been made from wood. Remaining are the fundamental Buddhist monuments,
which were usually made from baked brick though occasionally stone. In Part
Two, a selection of monuments representative of the various periods, and
movements within those periods, is presented, with a more detailed analysis of
each monument's architecture and iconography. Here, the principal architectural
forms, their origins and the conceptions behind their construction shall be
outlined in brief.
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| STUPAS |
| Pagodas or stupas are
solid structures that enshrine a sacred relic or a particularly potent image of
the Buddha. The ground plan is usually square, though a, five-sided type
develops in the Late Pagan Period. The base is terraced, three or five times,
and the terraces rest on an elaborately moulded plinth. The terraces reflect
the tiered slopes of the cosmic mountain, Mount Meru, a Brahmanic conception
that had been, by this time, absorbed into Theravada Buddhism. The stupa, taken
in its original essence, is a giant reliquary designed to contain some part of
the mortal remains of Gotama, the Buddha. By the time that Buddhism had reached
Pagan, the stupa had developed, in its conception, as a structure; in addition
to enshrining the mortal remains of the Buddha (and a number of Pagan stupas
claim the distinction of enshrining such contents) they might also enshrine a
particularly potent image of the Buddha, usually made from the most costly of
materials. Alternatively, the stupa might hold copies of the scriptures or
other precious items. Many of the original inscriptions explicitly describe
this enshrinement process as this excerpt, translated by Dr Than Tun, details:
`
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| On Wednsday 22 December
1227, (the following) are enshrined in the cetiya: tile bodily.relics of the
Lord; the image of the Lord made from the branch of the sacred banyan tree: the
image of the Lord cast in gold; the image of the Lord cast in gold; the image
of the Lord in ivory bezoar; and the image of the Lord made of sandlewood.
(Underneath) all these were spread gold cushions and silver cushions and these
are covered with gold umbrellas Parched rice of gold, parched rice of silver,
gold chandeliers and silver chandeliers are also offered. When these gems are
enshrined the relic . chamber is closed with bricks. After this wonderful
figures of'deva and various beings are made with stucco.
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| The stupa is not merely a
protective structure built about certain sacred objects. It is a symbol of the
Buddha and his dhamma, or sacred teachings-to a Buddhist the ultimate of
architectural structures. Though there is a common symbolism with the Brahmanic
Mount Meru, the stupa is more than simply an architectural imitation of this
cosmic mountain: it becomes, in its own right, the cosmic mountain. Mount Meru,
the celestial abode of the Hindu pan theon, was the template upon which the
architect philosophers of early Buddhism modelled their monuments. Just
ascertain of the Hindu gods. who would normally reside on the slopes of Mount
Meru, were (and remain) incorporated into the defence strategy of Buddhism, and
indeed were iconographi cally worked into the cosmically orientated layout of
the stupa, this most fundamental architectural form, though conceptually
Buddhist in origin, was designed according to Brahmanic cosmological thought.
On Pagan stupa exteriors, Brahmanic deities were fixed at strategic points and
sealed within the inner chamber, or tabena, to guard the relic or sacred image.
The stupa's terraces anti structural elements, likewise, reflected the
hierarchically ascending slopes of the great mountain:
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| The terraces served a
practical as well,as a symbolic function; they acted as an open air gallery
from which the pilgrim could view pictorial depictions of fundamental texts,
usually the Jataka, the 550 tales of Gotama the last buddha's former
incarnations; each tale illustrating a major event in each of his 550 past
lives. These scenes were stamped onto compact terracotta plaques that, with one
exception, at Hpetleik, were glazed.` In the late 11th-early 12th centuries,
when kings were attempting to purify the, existingBuddhism of Old Burma, stupa
terraces proved a convenient location for the display of a didactic art form.
As part of a long-established Buddhist ritual, the male devotee would ritually
circumambulate, or make a pradaksina, about the stupa, using the terraces, and
learn something of his religion's history from these ,delicate, usually
delightful, stamped scenes that were, as an art form, rare and pure, akin to
the reformed faith they sought to imbibe. The inclusion of complete Jataka sets
on stupa terraces continued through all three periods of dynastic art, on
major, usually royal, dedications, notably the planned Dhamma-yazika (1186)4
and the equally magnificent Mingala-zeidi (1268).5 On a number of lesser
stupas. like those that flank the Hsin-pya-gu (Late Period), the last ten
Jataka were included-the Mahanipata.
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| On each of the Early
Period stupas' faces medial stairways cut through the terraces and lead to an
upper platform from which the anda, the either concavely or convexly-shaped
superstructures, rises from an octagonal band set within the upper terrace.
Within the core, beneath the ground level, was the sealed-off relic chamber, or
tabena, the spiritual epicentre of the sputa. In these were enshrined not only
physical relics of the lord, if the dedication was important enough to have
obtained, perhaps by force," such precious items as a tooth or hair, but also
images, made of costly materials ranging from sandlewood, to gold, ivory and
glass,' and palm leaf, or even gold plaque, manuscripts." Other inclusions in
the tabena were votive tablets, often bearing the seal or signature of the
donor, miniature versions of a stupa or temple and images of Brahmanic deities
to protect the hpaya. Often several tabena were included in a stupa and those
smaller monuments, that were split open by the 1974 earthquake, display these
now opened chambers at various levels. If, as was often the case, the stupa was
re-encased at a later date by another outer one, it may be surmised that, as
dedications were constructed not only for the salvation of the donor. but also
wife and family, and, as in contemporary Burma the descendents of a donor
continue to maintain and offer to that dedication, a descendant may have been
responsible for the re-encasement of an ancestors' earlier work of merit.
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| In the great royal
stupas, like the Early Period Shwe-hsan-daw or Late Period Seddana-gyi, either
to reduce the volume of brick required, or to foil intruders. seemingly
anticipated judging by the epigraphy, labyrinthine systems- of compartments
were included, creating a structure that, if viewed from an imaginary cross
section, resembles a honevcomh. It remains uncertain whether the enshrinement
took place upon completion of the temple or at its foundation. Passages that
enter into tile interior appear to have been hewn by the-tabena-sha, or
treasure hunters' of later times. So it would seem that enshrinement, as with
today, occurred at the dedication of the work. However, in original Indian
stupas, where the harmika, or relic casket, was placed between the anda and
finial, it may be presumed that the sacred items were inserted after the
completion of the main structural body.
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| This tradition of placing
the harmika, which originally nally had acted as a reliquary casket, between
the anda and finial had survived in Ceylon, Nepal and other Buddhist countries;
and, though the harmika is depicted in early Pyu stone reliefs," it had been
phased out of Burmese stupa design by the time of the rise of imperial Pagan in
the 11th century, to revive during the Late Period-the visual consequence of a
new phase of Burma-Ceylon relations." The anda itself was covered with stucco,
with moulded lotus petals, often with kinimukha masks forming a band about its
upper part, once dazzlingly highlighted with' polychrome. The whole stupa
itself was mirrored at the terrace-corners with mini-stupa obelisks; these
spread out on each of the descending terraces, in each of the cardinal
directions. In some Middle Period works, like at Sein-nyet, and Late Period
versions, notably the Mingala-zeidi, the kalasa pot, normally associated with
Early Period temple plinths, and found in the tympana of the Nan-hpaya exterior
window pediments, replaces the mini-stupa.
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| Originally all Pagan's
stupa and temple exteriors were covered in protective plaster, whitewashed with
a lime-haled coating, and the stucco- ornament was enlivened with bright
colours. The Pious trustees of the more popular establishments continue to
perennially pour lime over their charges' surfaces.
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| The anda is surmounted by
the anzalaka, a finial that symbolises the lotus bud, from which the crowning
seven-tiered finial, chattravali, was placed. Original finials, called athwart
in Old Burmese, we know from the dedicatory inscriptions") were made of copper
and one was recently found in a temple undergoing local restoration near Chauk
and is presently being kept in a local monastery near there.'' The hti that
crest:the monuments of Pagan nowadays, have been ..placed there by local
devotees who have faithfully acted as the custodians of the Pagan monuments
over the centuries, in spite of the sparseness of their own despoiled
resources. However, these modern htibear little resemblance to original
finials. From pictorial depictions that date from these times, it is apparent
that stupas were decked with long banners that must have gracefully flapped in
the breeze, as they flowed out like vinous stems from about th lotus bud, in a
similar way to the delicate peepal runners stemming; out from about the lord's
aureole in the terracotta tablets of the period."
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| The stupa is the physical
embodiment of the dhamma, not just the supreme teachings of the last historical
Buddha, Gotama, but also the sacred laws that govern the workings of the
universe. Further to this, the stupa is a physical embodiment of the Buddha
himself. Burmese people call a stupa hpuya or 'Lord' and the same generic term
is used when referring to an actual image of the Buddha, or to the living
embodiment'of the a monk, and, in past monarchic periods, to a king, who was
viewed, according to contemporay conceptions, as a future Buddha or
bodhisattva, called hpaya-lon in Burmese.'`' Thus, these non-functional
structures, with neither an accessible interior, nor a distinct and regular
ritual function, are the ultimate architectural form of a Buddhist society. If
they are fewer in number, on a colossal scale, to the temples, it is perhaps
because of their very 'specialness'; for the construction of so powerful a
monument required a highly confident donor. In a number of cases, -a donor
included with a temple dedication, small stupas within the sameenclosure.
Possibly the explanation why stupas are so outnumbered by gu temples is that in
a time when ritual practices involving colourful visual displays, such as
music, dance and the-daily ablution and adornment of the humanly treated
.image, the stupa was a less functional architectural instrument for the
enactment of an anthropomorphically orientated religious life. However,
countless mounds in the Pagan area contain the crumbled fragments of stupas and
the earliest Buddhist dedications at Pagan dating from the 9th century were
stupas based on the bulbous Pyu type.
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| TEMPLES |
| The gu, or cave, was a
more popular form of dedication than the stupa; they appear to be countless in
number, dotted across the plain and seemingly reaching out into infinity in
each direction. Their prototype are to be found at the old Pyu capital of Sri
Ksetra (the modern village of Hmawza near Prome), where the Be-be and
Lei-myet-hna gu temples (7th-8th century) have the same type of voussoir
brickwork and radiating arches as those employed on the Pagan temples. The I'yu
type is, in plan, based around a solid, or at least inaccessible, central
block: there are thus four faces and each face symbolises one of the lasf four
buddhas of this bhadrakalpala, or time period, the west-facing buddha being for
Sakyamuni, the buddha Gotama, who is generally known as `the Buddha', the most
recent buddha to manifest in the present time cycle. Receded into the block at
the cardinal points were niches, each of which contained an image of one of the
buddhas.
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| The Pyu model, known in
modem Burmese as lei-myet-han, or four faced, is derived from North Indian
prototypes and came to Burma by an overland route. Possible antecedents may be
the early Nagari temples at Bhuvaneswar, that date from the 7th century. The
earliest Am at Pagan is generally said to be the Nathlaitng-kyaung, most
probably built in the early 11th century, which is a Vaisnavite dedication. Its
tall elevation and thickly-moulded, upwardly-emphasised sikhara, follows froth
the Early Nagari examples." The Nat-hlaung-kyaung plan is, though, based on the
Pytt central block, or lei-myet-hna, that carries the sikhara superstructure,
and in execution the work shows many traces of Pyu building techniques. Thus,
by the rise of Anawrahta, an indigenous building tradition, evolved to express
the tenets of Buddhism, manifested itself, for the first time at Pagan, in the
form of a non-Buddhist dedication, onto which more recent North Indian
developments are added.
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| Temples, in Burmese, are
called gu, or cave, and must be thought of as artificial caves." They, like the
stupa, are hpaya or `lord'. The gu temple's function differs from that of a
stupa and, at least in the Early Period, they are intended to evoke the spirit
of the early Buddhist caves of North India. Like real caves, often the homes of
hermits, they are places for devotion, ritual and meditation. The Hindu concept
of Ibhakti, the emphasis -on an intense relationship-between the devotee and an
anthropomorphised object of worship, that had influenced the development of the
Mahayana. in India, was applied to the early cave temples of Pagan." Thus, in
the Early Period temple, the architects created an interior scheme directed
towards the inducement of a spirituaf experience, or bhakti. This does not
necessarily imply the preeminence of Mahayana cults at Pagan, rather, the
Theravada monarchs directed their builders to create schemes that were
psychologically conducive to spiritual experience at a time; as clearly stated
in contemporary epigraphy, when the religion was undergoing a state-sponsored
purification, which in Theravada lards occur periodically, and is the duty of a
pious and proper ruler to organise." The Early Pagan builder, zealous in his
attempts to propagate the Theravada, felt no constraint when it came to
borrowing forms and concepts from the Mahayana. Pagan gu are mystical, yet
never esoteric. In fact, they represent an exoteric movement. By the Middle
Period this tendency towards the atmospheric in architecture was to be phased
out, the Theravada process of purification and conversion having been
completed. Bhakti ceased to determine architectural design and a more rational
tendency, with a preference for luminosity, displaces the dark mystical Early
Period gu interior.
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