Shwe San Daw Pagoda, Bagan

With a height of 328 feet, Shwe San Daw is one of the highest pagoda in Bagan. It used to be a favorite spot for viewing sunrise and sunset. Many factors as aging building, earthquake in 2017 has restricted tourists from going to terraces. It is not only this pagoda, there are many temples in Bagan where the visitors are forbidden to go up.

History and facts about the pagoda:

• The pagoda was built in 1057 by King Anawrahta
• King Anawrahta is said to be the founder of Bagan kingdom as only after he came to power did Bagan become a prosperous empire
• The king  converted to Thervada Buddhism and wanted to spread the religion. He requested the Mon King of Thaton, Makuta (later renamed Manuha) for a copy of Tripitaka. When the later refused, King Anawrahta invaded, defeated and captured Manuha. He brought him to Bagan and kept him in captivity.
• King Anawrahta constructed plenty of pagodas to gain merits
• Shwe San Daw was built outside the city walls of Bagan to provide divine protection to the city.
• the pagoda was one of the first of its kind to have steps on all four sides going up to the round base of stupa
• the stupa was built to enshrine a sacred hair of Gautam Buddha which King Anawrahta got from Manuha after he defeated and conquered the Mon Kingdom of Thaton
• since, it enshrines a hair relic, the pagoda is named as Shwe San Daw, meaning "golden holy hair"
• All the four corners on all five terraces have images of Ganesha, known as Maha Peinhne in Burmese.
• Hinduism was the religion before the arrival of Buddhism

skyline in the evening, Thatbyinnyu temple can be seen straight ahead

a small stupa nearby

A flight of steps lead to the base of round stupa on all the four sides. The purpose of steps on all four sides is not understood. Maybe, it was to give a symmetry to pagoda.

The entry is now prohibited. The upper terraces provided a very good view of sunset and attracted a lot to tourists at that time.

The Pagoda is made of red bricks and that was its original color till 1957 when the temple was renovated and in order to preserve the brickwork, it was plastered and colored white.

Again in 1990, when the temple was restored, it was simply white washed.

 part of damaged chinthe in one corner of pagoda

The pagoda has five terraces in receding order. A stupa tops the terraces with a jewelled hti, umbrella.
The hti now is not the original, as it toppled during 1975 earthquake.
The terraces had terra-cotta plaques with Jataka tales, which depicted incidences about the previous lives of Buddha. Time has washed everything away and only the bricks and empty spaces can now be seen.

The corners in all the five terraces have statues of Ganesh or "Mahapeinne" as many Hindu deities were worshipped before Thervada Buddhism arrived. The pagoda is also known as Maha Peinhne or Ganesha pagoda.

On the eastern side of temple is a small temple with a bronze Buddha image. There is a screen in front of the image so had problem getting a good image.

Lawkahteikpan Pahto:

On the southern side of pagoda is the Lawkahteikpan Pahto.

The temple has a Mandalay style bronze Buddha image. It is said to be 100 years old. 

Shinbinthalyaung temple:

On the west of Shwesandaw Pagoda is a rectangular building which houses a 70-feet long reclining Buddha with his head towards the south. The inside of building is dark with small windows.

rectangular building housing reclining Buddha

reclining Buddha, image is said to date 11th century

fresco still intact

 a devotee touches the feet of Buddha

 the fresco work is said to be original Bagan work and are in quite a good condition

 Buddha image in niche opposite reclining Buddha

Ganesha or Maha Peinhne image in a corner near the exit

pagoda at dusk

With five receding terraces and tallest pagoda, it is a must see place.

Min-O-Chantha Phaya, Bagan

A very small stupa, Min-O-Chantha was built in 1112 during the reign of King Kyansittha.

We went around noon and the hot blazing sun burnt our feet as we ran up the steps without any footwear. In order to reach the top to some shade, I forgot to take pictures. This, I realized when I started writing this post.

The temple stands on a raised platform and is made of wood.

History of temple:
King Kyansittha became seriously ill in 1112. He had recieved nine relics from the king of Sri Lanka. which he wanted to enshrine. The nine relics were enshrined here. He became seriously ill and prayed that he be free from diseases and live longer. But, sadly he passed the following year.

It is a temple complex in which are enshrined the relics.

bell and stupas

stupa is guarded by chinthes on all corners

chinthe and a smaller model of stupa behind

stupa with htis

Phaya surrounded by temples

a temple nearby

A very small unnoticeable temple but a good place to see if time permits.

Thatbyinnyu Phaya, Bagan

Thatbyinnyu was built by Sithu I (Alaungsithu), grandson of Kyansittha, so it must be between 1113 and 1167. This was the first time an attempt to make a floor above was made which reflects the architectural and artistic creativity at that time.
Thatbyinnyu translates to "omnescience of Buddha" which means knowing and seeing thoroughly.

The white colored temple is situated very close to Ananda and Gawdawpalin and is Bagan's tallest temple with a height of 200 feet. We can see the structural similarities and multi-storey construction in Sulamani (1183), Htilominlo (1211) and Gawdawpalin (early thirteenth century) which were built much later.

temple as seen from west direction

south-eastern part of old city wall

southern face of temple

Thatbyinnyu is located just inside the south-eastern corner of the old city wall. The crumbled wall can still be seen.
Almost a square structure, the portico on the east side protrudes a little outside. It is also the main entrance. Again a similarity with temples constructed later in which the eastern portico juts out a little. as can be clearly seen on the right of picture above.

shops and eatries on the way

walking towards the main entrance from east.

entrance from eastern side

Special features about this temple:

• Thatbyinnyu is the talllest temple in Bagan.
• It was the first attempt on making more than one floor
• the temple was used not only as a place of worship but also served as a monastery and library.
• the main image is on the above floor which has huge east facing seated Buddha on lotus
• during the 1975 earthquake, Buddha's head was badly damaged and inside it, was found a dolomite Buddha, which is kept now in the Bagan museum
• it is said that the temple was never consecrated
• the terraces have empty indentations for Jataka tales

 entrance to temple

Flame-like arched doors and windows give an ethereal effect to temple. Both storeys have receding terraces with stupas on corners. The stupa on top has a hti.

In the center of flamed pediments are seated on a pedestal image of Buddha.

seated Buddha on a pedestal on pediment

The corners of pediments are decorated with makars.

door guardians at entrance

The main entrance from eastern portico has a stairway guarded by guardians on its either side going up to the storey above.

A small image of sitting Buddha has been kept in front of the staircase as no one is permitted to go up after the 1975 earthquake.

The stairs from grilled gate goes to the floor above where a golden image of Buddha seated on lotus is kept.

donation box

corridor with Buddha images, straight ahead is the north entrance

A circumambulatory corridor runs with four entrances in four directions. Each entrance has image of seated Buddha.

image facing north direction

The temple looks quite bare in contrast to Sulamani and Htilominnlo which have murals on walls.

On carefully looking at the pictures after I returned home and started writing this post, did I see some traces of inscription (like in the picture above).

Similarly, I thought the temple was bare and did not have any fresco which was a part of temple architecture at that time, but on observation, I see some fresco work above an image of Buddha. Probably, during the restoration work, the work got unknowlingly white washed :(

image facing west entrance

a serene image of Buddha in Bhumisparsh mudra

another passage with Buddha images going towards south

image in corridor walking towards south direction

south facing image

seated Buddha images in alcoves in three directions

"Wish fulfill Buddha" inside glass

 side view of temple

The side view gives the height of temple. There are stupas on all corners.

The temple was constructed in such a way that it has windows on both levels. This permits enough natural light to enter the temple. Surprisingly, my camera did not need any artificial light.

  a girl making a sand painting, covered her head with a hat to prevent hot sun

It is a common sight to see young boys and girls making and selling sand paintings.

Guyojo or Tally Pagoda, on the side

Ananda Phaya's shikhar is seen between the trees. The small structure on the side is Guyojo or tally Pagoda as it was used as away to tally of how many bricks were used in the construction of temple. For every 10,000 bricks used, one brick was used in making this small structure.

The temple was badly damaged in the 1975 earthquake and also again in 2016.