Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the terrace a shrine holds a replica of the Buddha's Tooth Relic from Sri Lanka - the replica
is said to have been stored alongside the original tooth in Kandy and thus to have being sim-
ilarly charged with spiritual power.
Just east of the temple you can't fail to see the enormous
Sehtatgyi Pagoda
(“Big Ten-
Storey”)Buddha,seatedintheearth-witnessmudrafacingtheShwesandaw,hiseyesmoreor
less level with the temple terrace, and clearly visible from it.
Thayekhittaya (Sri Ksetra)
PyayRd
•Daily9am-4pm•$5;themuseumattractsanextracharge•Ox-carttoursofthesitecostaround$5-8
per cart, depending on the number of people • A motorbike taxi to the site costs around K2000 each way
Some 8km east of Pyay lie the scant remains of ancient
Thayekhittaya
- or
SriKsetra
, as it
wasknowninitsheyday-thegreat
Pyucity
whichhelddominionoverlargeswathesofcent-
ral Myanmar between the fifth and ninth centuries. The faint aura of desolation that hangs
over the impressively large site is haunting, hinting at a once great city now virtually erased
from the map.
Thayekhittaya'smost impressive monuments are a trio ofenormous
stupas
,said to be three
of the nine commissioned by the city's founder, King Duttabaung. These are among the old-
est stupas in the country, characterized by their huge size and rather primitive shapes - the
complete antithesis oflaterBurmese stupadesigns.Apartfromthestupas,theruinsarefairly
underwhelming, although some of the later structures offer tantalizing glimpses of the glor-
ious Burmese style which would subsequently flower in Sri Ksetra's successor kingdom of
Bagan.
THAYEKHITTAYA (SRI KSETRA) ORIENTATION
Most of Thayekhittaya's remains are contained within a designated
archeological park
,
although two of the three big stupas -
Payagyi
and
Payamar
- lie outside it, and can be
visited for free. The fragmentary ruins cover a sizeable area. Bikes and cars aren't allowed
into the site, so you can either
walk
(although really it's too big to cover comfortably on
foot) or charter an
ox-cart
, which are hired out for a set period of three hours. These are
funforaboutthefirsttenminutes, butalsotediously slowandpretty uncomfortable forthe
next two hours and fifty minutes. You might prefer to go for a shorter circuit instead, even
if you can't negotiate a discount on the full fare. If you do walk, there are plenty of signs
and strategically placed maps to point you in the right direction.
Payagyi Stupa
The first of the three stupas you reach is the
Payagyi
, right next to the main road about 1km
before the entrance to the archeological site proper. Dating from the sixth or seventh century,
the stupa is said to contain the big toenail of the Buddha's right foot; it's also known as the
Maha Zedi (“Great Stupa”) or “Sai Sai” (“Slowly Slowly”) Pagoda on account of the length
