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 Tharabha Gate and Pahtothamya Temple.
Tharabha Gate (သရပါ တံခါ) is located to the east of the old city, and is the only surviving gate of Bagan. According to the Burmese chronicles, Tharabha Gate was constructed in the 9th century.
The present-day gate consists of two brick-walled shrines, each opposing one another, of two guardian nats who allegedly were executed by order of a king.
Pahtothamya Temple (ပုထိုးသားများဂူဘုရား) is one of the oldest temples of Bagan. Although the founding date of the temple is still unknown, it was likely built towards the end of the 10th century by King Nyaung-U Sawrahan (ညောင်ဦး စောရဟန်း).
The architectural skills of Patotamiya Temple are excellent, making full use of small holes of different shapes and sizes to introduce outdoor sunlight for indoor lighting.
There are still Buddha statues in the temple, and the body of the Buddha is a relic, but unfortunately the head of the Buddha was stolen during the war and can only be replaced by imitations.
The interior walls of Pahtothamya Temple contain remnants of some of the oldest mural paintings in Bagan, which depicts how Buddha attained enlightenment.
Nyaung-u Sawrahan was king of the Pagan dynasty of Burma from c. 956 to 1001. Sawrahan is the earliest king of Pagan whose existence has been verified by inscriptional evidence.
