Bagan Tha-man-hpaya Temple, Myanmar

Address

Bagan Tha- man- hpaya Temple, Myanmar

Bagan,

Myanmar (Burma)

Moolavar

Buddha

Introduction

Tha-man-hpaya Temple (built 1275) is a Buddhist temple, this late-period temple stands immediately to the west of Minnathu village in a cultivated field, about 270 meters northwest of the Zanthi East temple, which is similar in design. According to epigraphy found on a small stele in the south niche on the interior, the temple was dedicated in 1275 and endowed with lands and slaves. In plan it is shaped like a Greek cross with a single entrance facing east. A large image of the Buddha dominates the interior, surrounded by a multitude of mural paintings.

Pichard estimated in the 1990s that 60 to 75% of the mural paintings survive, but at present those on the walls are heavily faded and partly covered in graffiti (the graffiti may date from the pre-modern period as several instances depict crude renderings of stupas and what appear to be horoscopes—a common theme in Bagan graffiti).

Several interesting stucco figures survive on the exterior of the temple, especially on the east-facing entrance. The temple’s superstructure was originally in the form of a bell-shaped stupa, but the spire and hti disappeared long ago, leaving only the anda (dome).

This temple was likely among the last to be built in imperial Bagan, as it was dedicated in the reign of Sithu IV just 12 years before the breakup of the kingdom.