Myanmar Bagan Travel Temple Pagoda....

Bagan travel, Bagan, Bagan, Bagan Burma, Bagan Myanmar, Bagan photo, Bagan picture, temple and pagodas, Irrawaddy river, ancient pagodas, ancient temples.

still prefer to be a individual traveler take at least a tour guide at Bagan otherwise you wont see many stuff what really matters. The Bagan tour guide will either be a guy or a lady. They will organize everything for you to make sure no problems and a good time and happy Myanmar vacation. Keep in mind to do this kind of Bagan tourism it will cost you a little be more but you can be sure everything what matters you see in less than 50% of the usual timeframe if you would do travel in Bagan on your own.

-Bagan is in the so called dry zone of Myanmar, the area is green during the rainy season and until about 2 month later

Asian Countries, are still the major means of cargo transport over short distance. But they give very good pictures at your Bagan travel trip. Here are some pictures of Bagan hotels to give you an idea what accommodation you can expect at Bagan. There are plenty other Bagan hotels. Myanmar Airlines such as Yangon Air, Air Bagan and Air Mandalay offer flights to Bagan. Plenty of hotels in Bagan give a wide choice of accommodation. The Bagan hotel spectrum is from cheap hotel around US$ 20,- to luxury hotels for between US$ 50,- and around $ 100,-. There is also a golf club at the Bagan Golf Resort Hotel. This Bagan Resort is pictured at right. Before you start your travel to Myanmar Bagan change enough $ into kyat at Yangon after take your flight to Bagan. The reason is the exchange rate in Bagan is not a good one. It is almost impossible to change money outside a hotel and they know that, means exchange rate down. The hotels must be paid in dollars or FEC anyway but all other stuff like a Bagan tour or a

Bagan Tharabar Gate Hotel Bagan Golf Resort Hotel Bagan Golf Resort Hotel Bagan Golf Resort Hotel detail Bagan Golf Resort Hotel Swimming Pool Bagan Golf Resort Hotel Room

ware, the number one cottage industry at Bagan.

Eucalyptus and lead trees line the roadside of Bagan and the area around the Pagodas and Temples of Bagan, they are visible signs of greening efforts by the local administration but have no much effect.

Since Bagan is at the banks of the great Irrawaddy River, also several great pagoda are right on the river banks the question is simple why they don't pump water out of the river and green the land, the river has enough water for this all year round. One story on this subject is: The government supplied diesel for pumps but the local people took the diesel and used them for their cars and trucks to travel around Bagan. Only the

Bagan has plenty of other Pagodas to visit there are still around more than thousand pagodas in various conditions. Some pagoda and temple got renovated, some were washed away into the Irrawaddy river by the monsoon floods.

A nearby image house contains a huge reclining Buddha sculpture of approximately 21 meters.

-A one day trip to Mount Popa

and visiting the abode of the Nats should be included in your Bagan travel plan. Mount Popa is the abode of the Nats near Bagan. About one hour drive from Bagan it is a extinct volcano with a monastery on the top at about 1500 meters. The place is dedicated to the Nats. Buddhism is the established religion in Myanmar since shortly after the great council at Patalipootra in 241 BC, but spirit / Nats worship or animism is also practiced.

The Burmese or Myanmar spirit world has thirty-seven Nats. There are Nats of the house, the river, the air, the jungle and many other. Think about twice if you can handle the stairs all the way up to the peak of Mount Popa, but once you are there , the panorama will take your breath away.

The Ananda Temple symbolizes the endless wisdom (Ananta inna) of the Buddha just as the Thatbyinnyu temple symbolizes the omniscience of the Tathagata. Thats the reasonfor the name Ananta, which changed later to Ananda, the name of Buddha's cousin. The Ananda Temple is a square of nearly 200 feet to the side and broken on each side by the projection of large vestibules, which convert the layout into a perfect Greek cross. The vestibules are somewhat lower than the main mass of the building, which elevates itself height of 35 feet (about 10m) in two tiers of windows. Above this rise successively diminishing terraces of the Ananda Temple, the last of which just affording breadth for the spire lich crowns and completes the edifice. The lower half of this spire is in the form of a mitre-like pyramid from the temples of India; the upper half is same molded taper pinnacle that terminates the common bell-shaped pagodas of Bagan.

The gilded htee (umbrella) caps the peak of the Ananda Temple at a height 168 feet above the ground. The interior consists of two vaulted and high but narrow corridors running parallel to each other along the four sides of the temple. They are connected by low and narrow passages in it of the window by which light is admitted and further intersected by four large corridors into which access is obtained through the porticoes.

In the center of the Ananda Temple is an enormous cube, on the four sides of which are deep and high niches enshrining four colossal standing Buddha's of the present world who have appeared and entered Nirvana.

The Ananda Temple Buddha statues are presented in the following order: north - Kakusanda; east - Konagamana; south - Kassapa; and west Gautama.

Each of them is 31 feet high above the throne, which itself is nearly 8 feet in height. Of these images those on the north and south are the original ones contemporary with the foundation of the temple; those on the east and west were put up later to replace the original images which were destroyed by fire.

Other interesting features of the Ananda Temple are the numerous glazed terracotta tiles ornamenting the base and the receding terraces which represent the Jataka stories and the hosts of Mara's army. Each of these plaques is inscribed with a Mon legend. The interior walls are honey-combed with niches in which are set small stone Buddha's in various postures. The most notable among the sculptures is a series of eighty relief's in the two lower tiers of niches in the outer corridor, illustrating the life of the Bodhisattva from his birth to the attainment of supreme wisdom. The western sanctum also enshrines the life-size statues of its founder, Kyanzittha and ShinArahan.

In the porch on the west face of the Ananda Temple are two Buddha's footprints placed on a pedestal. Each footprint bears the traditional 108 marks as enumerated in some of the Pali commentaries, but owing to the gilding and wearing away due to constant washing, some of these marks have disappeared and cannot be properly identified.

Close to the Ananda Temple is the local museum containing exhibits illustrating the iconography, architecture and religious history of Bagan. Along the verandahs of the museum are inscribed stones collected from the vicinity. They record religious endowments of the Bagan period in different languages, Burmese, Mon, Pyu, Tamil, Siamese and Chinese.

- Bagan has a long history and this may be told in two parts, Bagan before King Anawrahta and after.

Rome, or any other city, wasn't built in a day and for Bagan to come into being, it had taken a long time to receive the tradition and influence of three former dynasties, Tagaung, Thaton and Tharakhittaya. At the beginning around (107 A.D.) Bagan at Yone-hlut-kyun might just have been a strong fortress or garrison town. The founder, King Thamodarit, paid tribute to his Pyu descent by giving

Left: A stone-perforated window of the Myinkaba Kubyauk-gyi temple ta Bagan built 1113.

The carved sandstone window screen has lotus petal stucco moldings, double pilasters embellished with pointed, leaf-like stucco decoration and vegetal decoration in stucco set against protruding tiers which taper.

Further left: some mural paintings inside a Bagan Temple, depicting Buddha and his disciples.

Mural paintings are a typical Myanmar or Burmese form of art.

his fortress city the name Paukkan or Pyu Gama (which simply means a Pyu Village.) In everyday usage, the name changed to Bagan. Myanmar or Burmese cities used to have at least two names, formal and informal. (Shwebo of the last Konbaung Period had five names.) So, in formal declarations, Bagan was described as Arimaddana Pura, meaning the "City of Conquerors", and as the name suggested, the first group of kings had quite a hard time just taming and conquering the wild environment. From the dense forests nearby Bagan, wild animals and fabulous birds like rocs harassed the Bagan people. Even wild vegetation of ground bushes overran the paddy fields in the countryside of Bagan.

Pyu Saw Hti (the 3rd, king) appeared to do away with the wild ones. Thus, Hnget-pyit-taung pagoda (where the great roc was shot) and Bit Phaya (where the wild gourd was cleared away) stand today in memory of those early struggles against natural enemies. Even the palace sites of the kings had to change four times, though all were in the same vicinity.

The mural paintings in Bagan temples are giving an insight what was going on at that time.

The present site of Bagan, with walls and Tharabar Gate, was the fourth city built during the reign of King Pyinbyu in 849 A.D. He was the 34th. king of the dynasty and Bagan Myanmar at that time had started to prosper having commercial relations with Shan and Chinese in the east, Assam and Manipur in the west and the land of Pyus and Mons in the south.

People of early Bagan, with some Pyus and other natives of the north mixed up, had diverse interests. Horse-riding Aris (monks) with pugilistic habits and other malpractices had migrated from N.W. India and they gained considerable sway over common people. During the reign of Thin-la-kyaung (344-384 A.D.), the 7th. king of the dynasty, Mahagiri Nats came to Mt. Popa and Nat worshipping was popular among all classes. Thus Bagan before Anawrahta, for nearly a thousand years (107-1044 A.D.), still had no cultural progress, though its position as a kingdom could be considered to have been established.

- Anawrahta's Kingdom of Bagan 1044-1298 A.D.

Anawrahta was the 42nd. king of Bagan dynasty and he came to the throne in 1044 A.D. He opened the stage of his regency dramatically by fighting and killing his half-brother King Sokkata in single combat. He was hot-tempered and did many wrongs as a young king. But at heart, he was just and straightforward, and he tried to repair his wrongs.

Anawrahta did many works of public utility, such as repairing Meiktila lake and constructing irrigations, thus Kyauksa became the granary of northern Myanmar. He made administrative reforms, dividing the kingdom into districts and appointing officers to look after all affairs and to collect fair revenue. For security, he established 45 out-posts along the border of his kingdom.

In religion and culture, Anawrahta did not encourage the shabby customs of Aris, nor the popular celebrations nat pwe. He looked for a true faith and, in 1056 A.D., Shin Arahan, known to be a missionary, came from Thaton to Bagan. The dedicated Buddhist monk and the dynamic king met to make the historic change in Bagan and later to all Myanmar. Anawrahta became a pure Theravada Buddhist with great zeal. First of all he abolished the Art gangs, driving some away and forcing most of them to work as lay men.

Then to foster the true religion, he needed Buddhist scriptures. Because King Manuha of Thaton bluntly refused his decent request, Anawrahta made war on Thaton (1057 A.D.) and thus destroyed the Mon dynasty.

Thirty-one elephant loads went on a long elephant ride from southern Myanmar to central Myanmar and the scriptures were carried away to Bagan. Manuha and his family were taken prisoners. A very important thing was that Mon craftsmen, artistes and skilled workers numbering about 30,000 were also brought to Bagan. This war was an unfortunate case brought about by misunderstanding. Bagan before Anawrahta with lusty Ari gangs was an infamous land unfit for the scriptures indeed. King Manuha might not have heard of or cared about great changes recently brought about by Anawrahta. If he had, there maybe would have been only happy and friendly ties between the two kingdoms, instead of the tragic war. Anyway, destiny seemed to have sacrificed Thaton for the coming greatness of Bagan and also for the emergence of Myanmar as a leading Buddhist country today. Shin Arahan, the scriptures, Mon craftsmen and Anawrahta, with his people together.

-Bagan stands for Buddhist Pagodas, Buddha statues, Buddha postures, Buddhist Monasteries and merit making via the pagodas.