Bagan (Burmese: ပုဂံ) is an ancient city in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. During the reign of the Bagan Kingdom, Buddhist temples were constructed everywhere on the Bagan plains. Choimeizai will talk about Nathlaung Kyaung Temple.
Nathlaung Kyaung Temple (Sanskrit: नाथ्लौंग क्यौंग, Burmese: နတ်လှောင်ကျောင်း) literally means ‘shrine confining the spirits’, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu.
From the main entrance of Nathlaung Kyaung Temple, you can see the whole Thatbyinnyu Temple (သဗ္ဗညု ဘုရား), a good place to take photos.
Nathlaung Kyaung Temple is the only remaining Hindu temple and one of the oldest temples in Bagan, and was built in the 11th century, during the reign of King Anawratha (အနော်ရထာ).
Nathlaung Kyaung Temple contained statues of the 10 Avatars of Vishnu before, including Gautama Buddha, but only seven remain nowadays.
As the oldest temple in Bagan, Nathlaung Kyaung Temple had influenced and inspired the numerous other Buddhist structures that followed.
Legend states that Nathlaung Kyaung Temple was built to store all the nat (နတ်) from other temples, so that Buddhism could get established in the Bagan Kingdom. Nats are god-like spirits venerated in Myanmar and neighbouring countries in conjunction with Buddhism.
