Damayanji or Damayenji is a Buddhist temple located in Bagan, Myanmar. As the largest of all the temples in Bagan, Damayanji, according to popular legends, was built during the reign of King Naratu (1167-1170). Naratu, who came to the throne after the murder of his father Alaunsitu and his older brother, apparently built this large temple to atone for his sins.
Damayanji is the largest temple in Bagan. The interior of the temple was walled up for unknown reasons and is still in this state; thus, only the outer galleries and four balconies of the temple are accessible for viewing.
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The history of the Kingdom of Pagan (1044-1297) is phenomenal in that the active part of this state lasted only 250 years, and during these years it reached its real greatness. Pagan owes his birth to Anoratha (1015-1078). Anoratha is considered the father of the Burmese people, he united the peoples of the Ayeyarwaddy river valley, conquered the Mon state, imposed a tribute on such areas as Shan (Northern Thailand) and Arakan (Western Burma). Thus, along with the Khmer Empire, the Pagan kingdom became one of the leading states in Southeast Asia.
Anorahta was a very energetic and wise king. After the conquest of states, he did not seek to immediately destroy their culture, but, on the contrary, tried to adopt all the best. He traveled a lot, chronicles recorded his campaigns in the Khmer Empire and even on the island of Java. Anarakhta built an irrigation system - dams and canals - that turned the arid regions of Central Burma into fertile rice paddies. He carried out religious reforms, making a departure from the religion of Ari Buddhism in a more traditional form of Buddhism - Theravada, which to this day is one of the main and conservative schools of Buddhism. The goal of a Theravada follower is to attain a state completely free from all defilements and delusions. Compared to the Mahayana, Theravada is characterized by a rationalistic approach and the comparative simplicity of the ritual.
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From 1044 to 1287 the kings of the Pagan kingdom invariably strengthened it. Bagan was its capital, as well as its political, economic and cultural center. Over the course of 250 years, the rulers of the state have built more than 10,000 religious monuments (about 1,000 stupas, 10,000 small temples and 3,000 monasteries) on an area of 104 square meters. km3. The thriving city expanded in size and grandeur, and became a cosmopolitan center for religious and secular studies, specializing in such secular sciences as grammar and philosophical and psychological (abhidhamma) studies, as well as work in various languages on the themes of poetry, phonology, grammar, astrology, alchemy, medicine, and law. The city attracted monks and students from countries such as India, Ceylon, and the Khmer Empire. According to various estimates, at the peak of its power, the population of Pagan ranged from 50,0005 to 200,000 people, the latter being more modern.
To date, about 2,200 temples have survived. The architecture of the Pagan Kingdom stands out not only for its quantity, but also for its magnificent design. You can find two main styles of temples - "stupa" and "gu", or a hollow temple. The stupa symbolizes the sacred Mount Meru, and the umbrella set on the brickwork is the world axis. The original Indian design of the stupa gradually transformed into the forms used by the Pyu kings, who ruled these territories before the conquest of Anorahta. Further, the stupa acquired cylindrical and bell-shaped forms already in the Pagan kingdom. There are concentric rings at the top of the stupa structure. Further, the stupa is completed by an umbrella-shaped “Thi” element, in the form of a tongue of flame or a bud. Temples are decorated with ornaments depicting lions, monkeys, gazelles, swans, celestial dancers, dwarfs, etc. A popular plot is the mythological sea monsters of the Makara, which combine the images of a crocodile and a fish or an elephant and a fish. Makar was considered the guardians of the Buddha's teachings, they were characters in Hindu parables and legends.
Unlike stupas, Gu temples were used for meditation, Buddha worship, and rituals. There are temples with one or four entrances, one on all sides. Burmese temples are distinguished by arrow-shaped arches and vaulted chambers already from the 11th century. This is an interesting moment, if only for the reason that in India, vaulted chambers have been common only since the end of the 12th century. The masonry of the buildings is distinguished by an amazing degree of perfection; many of the buildings survived the earthquake of 1975. No matter how much they tried to restore the technique of engineering solutions used in the past, this was not done. In particular, King Bodopaya (1745-1819) tried to do this, but contemporary carpenters and bricklayers did not have the knowledge and skills in building vaulted structures of such a scale that they could create an analogue of the spacious interior decoration of temples during the Pagan Empire.
Dhammayangyi Temple is an unfinished temple for King Narathu (1167-1170). The temple is the most massive and widest structure in Pagan, it is 78 meters in each direction. At the same time, this is the most mysterious structure. Despite the fact that King Narathu ruled for a short period, he left a memory of himself, and this memory can hardly be called good. He ascended the throne after the murder of his aged father Alaunsithi, who, however, at that time was already 80 years old, as well as his older brother. Accordingly, in order to somehow reduce the magnitude of his sins, Narathu decided to build the largest temple.
But the methods which Narathu ruled in the future were also not distinguished by complacency. Narathu promised to execute the builders if he could stick the needle between the bricks. The building has two interior corridors, around a central interior square, which is approximately 25 meters on each side. Almost all of the inner aisles were filled with rubble, probably during construction. Some speculate that the workers stopped construction on the building at the time of his death, and may even have filled internal aisles out of spite. As a result, only four verandas and outdoor corridors remained accessible.
The very circumstances of Narathu's death are no less a mystery. There are at least two versions of it. According to one version, the king was killed by the Indians. While performing a Hindu hygiene ritual for his wife (a former Indian princess and one of his father's wives), he was killed by eight men disguised as brahmana priests who were sent by the princess herself. According to sources from Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Narathu was killed by the Sinhalese, the inhabitants of the island. These sources insist that the Sinhalese plundered the city and later the Ceylon influence in architecture spread to the Pagan kingdom.
An interesting circumstance is the fact that the upper part of the Damayanji temple is a pyramid that contains six terrace steps. This architectural design distinguishes it from both the Ananda temple and the Thatbyinnyu temple, which had an undeniable architectural influence on the Damayanji temple. The building is oriented to the East. The brickwork is perhaps the best in Pagan in terms of its precision.