Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
four porches and colourful, engagingly naïve-style murals on the interior walls and central
cube, quite different from those at other temples nearby.
Myinkaba to New Bagan
The monuments stretching south of Old Bagan through the village of
MYINKABA
and on
into
NEW BAGAN
are a bit of a mishmash, lacking the stellar attractions of other parts of
Bagan but offering an interesting cross section of Bagan architecture through the ages. They
include the small but architecturally significant shrines of
Nanpaya
and
Apeyadana Paya
,
as well as the majestic
Mingalazedi
.
Mingalazedi
Bagan-Chauk Rd, just south of Old Bagan • Daily 8am-6pm
Just south of the Old Bagan city walls, the
Mingalazedi
(“Blessing Stupa”) was built during
thereignofKingNarathihapate(ruled1256-87)-thelastmajormonumenttobeconstructed
in Bagan before the Mongol incursions of 1287 sent the kingdom plummeting into decline.
One of the finest of all Bagan's late-style stupas, the Mingalazedi is reminiscent in outline of
the famous Shwedagon in Yangon, whose proportions it is said to have copied. Fine glazed
tiles depicting Jataka scenes are arrayed around the base of the stupa (there were originally
1061, of which 561 remain), while staircases (now closed) lead up through three terraces,
their corners decorated with Indian-style
kalasa
(nectar pots).
Thestupa'screator,
Narathihapate
,isrememberedchieflyforhisnotoriousgluttony(three
hundred dishes per meal were considered obligatory) and for his subsequent headlong flight
from the invading Mongols, which earned him the sobriquet of
Tayok-pyay-min
, roughly
translated as “The King who ran away from the Chinese”.
