Pahtothamya temple

Small 10^th century temple with a bulbous dome

BAGAN TEMPLES OVERVIEW

Name

Pahtothamya temple, Pahto-Tha-Mya temple

Date

Late 10^th century

King

Nyaung-U Sawrahan

Location

Old Bagan

Style

Early period
Pyu influence

Nearby

Thatbyinnyu temple, Nathlaung Kyaung temple, Bagan Archaeological Museum

The Pahtothamya temple is one of the oldest temples of Bagan. Although the founding date of the temple is not known with certainty, it was likely built towards the end of the 10^th century by King Nyaung-U Sawrahan, ruler of Bagan when the area was not yet unified and Bagan was merely one of the many small city-states in the area.

The interior walls of the Pahtothamya contain remnants of some of the oldest mural paintings in Bagan. The temple is often closed to protect the murals. The temple located near the South border of old Bagan was damaged by the 1975 earthquake, and has been restored since.

Small, single storey temple

The Pahtothamya is a small, single storey temple oriented towards the East. On the East side is a vaulted antechamber protruding out of the structure with a main entrance and a smaller entrance on each of the sides.

The temple’s interior is fairly dark, some daylight comes in through the small holes of perforated stone windows. In the center of the temple is a single square room surrounded by a corridor. The room enshrines three images of the Buddha in the “Calling the Earth to witness” posture. The large central image seated on a high pedestal wearing a red robe is flanked by two smaller ones. The brick images, covered with plaster and painted have been restored.

Fragments of ancient murals

The stucco on the outer walls has largely disappeared. In the interior some of the stucco remains, on which fragments of ancients murals are visible. Some of the murals that have captions in ancient Mon script have been restored.

By walking the corridor around the central dome in a clockwise direction devotees could learn about the Buddhist teachings by looking at the murals depicting scenes from the previous lives of the Buddha, the Jataka tales. The circumambulation would end with a mural depicting the reclining Buddha, passing into final Nirvana.

A spiralling stairway in one of the walls leads to the terrace on top of the temple.

Bulbous dome

On the roof of the Pahtothamya stands a bulbous dome on top of which is a disc shaped box called Harmika, in which are enshrined relics of the Buddha. On the harmika stands a spire diminishing in size towards the top.

Getting to the temple

Check out Getting around Bagan for ways to get to the Pahtothamya.

Other temples in Bagan

Among the other temples & pagodas in Bagan are:

History

History of Bagan