Ananda Temple

The Ananda Temple (No. 2171 ) is a Buddhist temple in Bagan in the north of Myanmar, which was built from 1091 to 1105 in the reign of King Kyanzittha. He is one of the eleven largest buildings of Bagan.

Location

The temple is located about 200 meters east of the city walls of Old Bagan.

Description

The name of the temple is reminiscent of the long -time companion and cousin of the Buddha, Ananda. The building is an example of Indian architecture.

The ground plan of the temple has a cross shape; many levels lead to the top, by a Shikhara and a screen ( Hti ) is formed. To 1472 are glazed tiles on the outside walls with terracotta reliefs showing scenes from the Jataka are depicted. On the 400 tiles in the upper terraces, the last ten Jataka be told in the language of the Mon. There are 537 tiles on which capture other Jataka and are described in Pali on the balustrade of the superstructure. On reliefs on the base of the building scenes from the life of Siddhartha Gautama are shown. They are also commented in the Mon language. The inner walls of the temple were decorated with wall paintings, of which fragments were discovered during restoration work in the 1960s.

At the massive pillar in the middle niches on each side let in, in which there are four standing Buddha statues, which are covered twelve meters high and with gold leaf and look at the four cardinal directions. They each represent one of the four past Buddhas: Kakusanda in the north, Konagama in the east, Kashyapa in the south and Gautama to the west. The latter is flanked by two portrait statues: of the client, King Kyanzittha, as well as a theorist of Burmese Buddhism named Shin Arahan. In the western entrance hall, there is also a footprint of Buddha made ​​of marble.

Celebrations are held annually in the temple, which last in December or January one week. Thousands of villagers draw during this time here and sacrifice on the full moon day gifts morning for the present monks.

1795 The Temple of King Bodawpaya was renovated. In 1975, he was damaged during an earthquake. For the 900 - year celebration in 1991, the five - Shikhara towers were plated on the roof of the temple, the other walls freshly whitewashed.