Pyay Payahtaung Temple, Myanmar

Address

Pyay Payahtaung Temple, Myanmar

Pyay, Tharay-Khit-taya,

Myanmar (Burma)

Moolavar

Buddha

Introduction

Payahtaung Temple (also spelled Hpaya Htaung) is a small square Buddha shrine located slightly east of the palace (or citadel) site at the center of Sri Ksetra. Measuring about 12.2 meters on a side, it is a well-preserved brick edifice with niches on the four cardinal directions, including a large arched opening facing east. The terraced roof once featured a central tower surrounded by nine small stupas at each of the corners and the mid-points of the facades, though only three such stupas survive on the monument’s north side.

Puranic Significance

The design of the monument is stylistically similar to Bagan-era temples, suggesting that the architecture of Sri Ksetra influenced later Bagan designs. However, in the absence of conclusive archaeological data, it is also arguable that rectangular monuments such as the Payahtaung were actually built during the Bagan era with the re-use of earlier elements.

Immediately north of the monument is a ruined octagonal stupa designated HMA31. During an excavation in 1993 archaeologists found a large stone burial urn measuring 106.7 centimeters in height and 262.8 cm in circumference. It bore an inscription comprising 1127 words in five lines, of which 1050 were legible, mentioning a line of kings and a record of their donations.

All five urns supply dates and the ages at which the rulers died, but there is no accepted understanding of when the Pyu “calendar” began, leading to widely different estimates of their antiquity. For instance, Charles Blagden worked with the assumption that “Year 1” was equivalent to the Burmese era beginning in the year 638. Following that convention, the dates specified on the urns run from 673 through 718. On the other hand, Sam Win argued that the Gupta era Year 1 was more reasonable; leading to dates ranging from 360 to 383. Without further archaeological evidence it is impossible to solve the matter decisively, though a 7th to 8th century period seems more likely given that Pyu-era monuments seem to be stylistically influenced by north Indian stupas of a type that existed from the 6th century onward, such as the Dharmekh (Dhamekh) Stupa in Sarnath, India. Also, the suffix “Vikrama” at the ends of the names of the later kings may be a reference to Vishnu, a practice that Moore notes was used by the Gupta kings of the 5th to 7th centuries.