Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ALAUNGSITHU AND NARATHU
The Shwegugyi Paya stands on an unusually high brick platform. According to one (par-
ticularly implausible) legend, this rose spontaneously from the ground in tribute to
King
Alaungsithu
's accumulated spiritual merit prior to the temple's construction in 1140.
Twenty-three years later, it is said, the elderly and ailing king was brought back to Sh-
wegugyi and left to die. When the king began showing unwelcome signs of recovering
from his illness, his son and heir-apparent
Narathu
decided to hasten him on his way
by smothering him to death in his own bedclothes, thereby murdering Alaungsithu in the
temple which his own merit had helped to create. The moral of the story remains unclear.
Shwegugyi Paya
Daily 8am-6pm
Built in 1140 during the reign of Alaungsithu, the
Shwegugyi Paya
is one of Old Bagan's
most elegant temples, relatively small but perfectly formed. Like the nearby Thatbyinnyu,
theShwegugyiexemplifiesthetransitionbetweenBagan'sweightyMon-andPyu-influenced
early style andthelighter,airier andmoreupwardly mobile late style, with its graceful curvi-
linear tower and stupa finials rising needle-like from the temple's roof.
Unusually, the main entrance is on the north side (rather than the customary east), presum-
ably in order to face the nearby royal palace. A large Buddha sits facing the main entrance,
opposite which (on your right as you enter) stands a pair of ancient Pali
inscriptions
re-
cording, among other details, the temple's construction, which it is claimed took just seven
months. Elsewhere traces of fine plasterwork decoration are still visible, along with three
smaller Buddha figures in the ambulatory, roughly caked in gold leaf applied by dutiful wor-
shippers.
The temple is also one of Bagan's most popular
sunset-viewing spots
,
offering splendid
views from its narrow upper terraces, although space is at a premium, and the crowds unre-
lenting.
Pitakat Taik
Daily 8am-6pm
The unusual
Pitakat Taik
is thought to be the library built by King Anawrahta (ruled
1044-78) to house the thirty sets of the Tripitaka (the major sacred texts of the Buddhist can-
on) seized during the loot of the city of Thaton in 1057, and which Anawrahta is said to have
borne home in triumph on the 32 white elephants of the vanquished King Manuha. The basic
planofthebuildingissimilartothatofthetraditionalBagantemplewiththeadditionofthree
small staircases leading up to the low platform on which the building is set. The crowning
spire and extravagant peacock-style finials adorning the five-tiered roof were added by King
Bodawpaya in 1783.
