|
Destination in Myanmar
History of Bagan
 Bagan
founded as early as in 849 on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River
about 500 km north of Yangon. Bagan was the capital of today
Myanmar, whose area of dominance had roughly the extent of the
present Burmese state. The 10th century archaeological site is
considered one of the richest and most amazing sites in Asia,
comparable to the sites of worldwide importance such as
Jerusalem, and Rome etc. Remain virtually un-known. this once
splendid and glorious capital of the First Myanmar Empire, is
now a 42 square km area dotted with thousands of ancient
pagodas, stupas, shrines, ordination halls and monuments. It is
one of the richest archaeological sites in Southeast Asia with
more than 13,000 temples once stood and there are some 2200
monuments still standing and some 2000 in ruins. Time, man and
nature, particularly earthquakes, have taken their toll but the
most important monuments have been restored to their original
grandeur. Some were destroyed by invaders, others by earthquake
and decay.
Bagan's peak time coincided with Myanmar's architectural peak
time in 1044 with King Anawratha's ascension to the throne. Only
one year after King Anawratha's conversion to Buddhism in 1056
by a Mon monk, Shin Arahan, he went to war against the Mon town
of Thaton to gain possession of holy Buddhist scripts, the
Tripitaka. The holy Buddhist scripts were not the only trophies
gained from the war the Burmese army took some 30,000 Mons
prisoners of war to Bagan, among them numerous craftsmen and
artisans, who in following decades not only enriched, but even
determined, Bagan's culture. The Pagodas of the following period
were almost exclusively built in Mon style. In 1287 hordes of
Mongolian horsemen under Kublai Khan conquered Bagan. The towns,
at least the wooden, secular buildings, were mostly burnt down.
Soon after, the realm of Bagan disintegrated into many, smaller
kingdoms.
In 1975 a strong earthquake damaged and destroyed many smaller
temples and even a number of large and massively built temples
and pagodas were harmed. Bagan is accessible by air from Yangon,
Mandalay or Heho (Taunggyi) in an hour or less, can also be
reached by road from Yangon, a distance of around 683 km. From
Mandalay and Taunggyi, distances of around 320 km in other
cases, travel by road takes approximately 7 hour. From Mandalay
the 12-14 hour cruise down the Ayeyarwady is very pleasant and
rewarding. Apart from the normal transportation, there are more
luxury cruise service like Road to Mandalay and the RV Pan Daw
play regularly between these two ancient capitals, Mandalay and
Bagan. |
|
