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The name Three Pagodas is given because of three pagodas of the same size, appearance and height. They are lnked by foot-bridges. Three are frescoes in the east and middle caves while there is none in the western cave. The eastern precinct is adorned with painings of the 550 Buddhology stories and ten other depictions plus small Thanbuddhay statues.
There are deouctuibs if /byddgas accinoabued bt /devas ib wakks ib bith sides of the passage connecting the front and inner halls. On the walls of the inner hall are pictures of 28 Buddhas and of dfferent ancient coiffeurs. At the corners of the walls are pictures of nats, keinnaras, ogres, snakes, elephants and dragons. As the architecture and paintings of the Three Pagodas are examples of a high standard, people say they constitute a Bagan era museum. The frescoes and architecture there are thought to be of the late 13th century. Unusual and intriguing, the Payathonzu, meaning “Three Temples,” is a triad of temples joined together by narrow, vaulted passages. The temples are of the same form, square in plan with a portic projecting on one side, the main structure surmounted by terraces and a curvilinear spire. The date of their construction is unknown but they have been assigned to the late 13th century.
Taken singly, they are much like other single-storeyed temples in the Late Style, but the joining of the temples in a triad makes the Payathonzu unusual. Moreover, while the walls, pilasters and vaulted ceilings of the estern temple and part of the central temple are covered with paintings, those o the western temple are entirely bare, suggesting that the Payathonzu was then left unfinished. If that were so, what then was the reason?. The paintings included floral motifs in which mythical monsters, animals, birds and human figures are interwoven, figures of the 28 Buddhas of the Past, each identifiable by the bodhi tree under which he gained Enlightenment; and scenes from the Final Life of Gotama Buddha, such as the Tonsure in which Prince Siddhattha cuts of his hair in renunciation of the world. There are other paintings as well which make the Payathonzu unusual. There are figures with multiple hands, obviously deities. There are also other figures in princely dress embracing female figures. Do these figures represent Mahayana Bodisattvas and indicate a worship of Tantra, the female energy? One cannot be sure. But it must be remembered that, even with the triumph of Theravada Buddhism in Bagan, remnants of other religions and sects continued to exist. The Minnathu-Pwasaw area, in which the Payathonzu is located, was, for instance, the home of a sect of arannavasi or “forest dwellers” in the 13th century, a sect which did not abide by orthodox monastic discipline but resorted to intoxicants. Reference
1. Ancient Pagodas in Myanmar Vol I , Jan 2003, by Myat Min Hlaing 2. Glimpses of Glorious Bagan, Jan 1996, by The Universities Historical Research Centre
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