Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the back is a huge reclining buddha. All seem too large for their enclosures - supposedly
representing the stress and discomfort the king had to endure.
It is said that only the reclining buddha, in the act of entering
parinibbana
(final
passing away), has a smile on its face, showing that for Manuha, only death was a release
from his suffering. But if you climb to the top of this paya via the stairs in the back (ask
for keys if it's locked), you can see the face of the sitting buddha through a window -
from up here you'll realise that the gigantic face, so grim from below, has an equally gi-
gantic smile.
Nan Paya
BUDDHIST TEMPLE
MAP
Just south of Manuha Paya by dirt road, this shrine is said to have been used as Manuha's
prison, although there is little evidence supporting the legend. In this story the shrine was
originally Hindu, and captors thought using it as a prison would be easier than converting
it to a Buddhist temple. It's worth visiting for its interior masonry work - sandstone
block facings over a brick core, certainly some of Bagan's finest detailed sculpture.
Perforated stone windows are typical of earlier Bagan architecture - in fact it was
probably Bagan's first
gu
-style shrine. In the central sanctuary the four stone pillars have
finely carved sandstone bas-relief figures of three-faced Brahma. The creator deity is
holding lotus flowers, thought to be offerings to a freestanding buddha image once situ-
ated in the shrine's centre, a theory that dispels the idea that this was ever a Hindu shrine.
The sides of the pillars feature ogre-like kala-ate heads with open mouths streaming with
flowers.
Legend goes that Shiva employed these creatures of Hindu legend to protect temples,
but they proved too ferocious so Shiva tricked them into eating their bodies, then fed
them flowers to keep their minds off snacking on worshippers. In the centre of the four
pillars is an altar on which once stood a standing buddha or (some locals believe) a
Hindu god. Ask at Manuha if the temple is locked.
Abeyadana Pahto
BUDDHIST TEMPLE
MAP
About 1300ft (400m)south of Manuha Paya, this 11th-century temple with a Sinhalese-
style stupa was supposedly built by Kyanzittha's Bengali wife Abeyadana, who waited
for him here as he hid for his life from his predecessor King Sawlu. It's famed for its ori-
ginal frescoes, which were cleaned in 1987 by Unesco staff. Ask at the caretaker's house
to the south if the temple is locked.
