The Nathlaung Kyaung Temple ( sa, नाथ्लौंग क्यौंग, my, နတ်လှောင်ကျောင်း ; literally "shrine confining the spirits") is a
Hindu temple
A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...
dedicated to
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
. The temple is located inside the city walls of old
Bagan
Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wou ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
(Coordinates: 21.168965° N, 94.862738° E).
Nathlaung Kyaung Temple is to the west of the
Thatbyinnyu Temple
The Thatbyinnyu Temple ( my, သဗ္ဗညု ဘုရား, ; pi, Sabbannu or "the Omniscient") is a Theravadin Buddhist temple in Bagan (Pagan), Myanmar. The temple is recognized as a monument in the Bagan Archeological Area, a UNESCO Wor ...
, and it is the only remaining
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
temple in Bagan. Nat-Hlaung Kyaung temple is one of the oldest temples in Bagan, and was built in the 11th century, during the reign of King
Anawratha
Anawrahta Minsaw ( my, အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော, ; 11 May 1014 – 11 April 1077) was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone ...
. Some historians believe the temple was built in the 10th century, during the reign of King
Nyaung-u Sawrahan
Nyaung-u Sawrahan ( my, ညောင်ဦး စောရဟန်း, ; also Taungthugyi Min c. 924–1001) was king of the Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from c. 956 to 1001. Although he is remembered as the Cucumber King in the Burmese chro ...
(also known as Taungthugyi). The temple was originally built for Hindu
Burmese Indians
Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian origin who live in Myanmar (Burma). The term 'Burmese Indian' refers to a broad range of people from South Asia, most notably from present-day countries such as India, Bangladesh and also Pakis ...
of the 11th century, including merchants and Brahmins in the service of the king. Many structures of the original temple have disappeared, although the main hall remains. Originally, the temple contained statues of the incarnations of Vishnu; however, today, only seven remain. The brick temple was isolated and unrepaired for many years, damaged by earthquakes.
The temple is set on a square template with steep-rising upper terraces. It may have been built by Indian artisans brought into Bagan (Pagan), during the 10th century AD, to work on it and other temples. As the oldest temple in Bagan, its style influenced and inspired the numerous other Buddhist structures that followed.
[Paul Strachan (1990), Pagan: Art & Architecture of Old Burma, 2nd edition, Kiscadale Publications, ] Another legend states that the temple was built to store all the ''nat'' from other temples, so that Buddhism could get established in
Bagan Kingdom
The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...
.
See also
*
Thatbyinnyu Temple
The Thatbyinnyu Temple ( my, သဗ္ဗညု ဘုရား, ; pi, Sabbannu or "the Omniscient") is a Theravadin Buddhist temple in Bagan (Pagan), Myanmar. The temple is recognized as a monument in the Bagan Archeological Area, a UNESCO Wor ...
– east of Nathlaung Kyaung temple
*
Ananda Temple
The Ananda Temple ( my, အာနန္ဒာ ဘုရား, ), located in Bagan, Myanmar is a Buddhist temple built in 1105 AD during the reign (1084–1112/13) of King Kyansittha of the Pagan Dynasty. The temple layout is in a cruciform with ...
– 0.4 miles from Nathlaung Kyaung temple
*
Bupaya Pagoda
Bupaya Pagoda ( my, ဗူးဘုရား,) is a notable Buddhist Burmese pagoda, pagoda located in Bagan (formerly Pagan), in Myanmar, at a bend on the right bank of the Ayeyarwady River. The small pagoda, which has a bulbous shaped dome, is w ...
– 0.6 miles from Nathlaung Kyaung temple
*
Dhammayangyi Temple
Dhammayangyi Temple ( my, ဓမ္မရံကြီးဘုရား, ) is a Buddhist temple located in Bagan, Myanmar. Largest of all the temples in Bagan, the Dhammayan as it is popularly known was built during the reign of King Narathu ( ...
– 0.8 miles from Nathlaung Kyaung temple
*
Hinduism in Southeast Asia
Hinduism in Southeast Asia had a profound impact on the region's Culture of Southeast Asia, cultural development and its History of Southeast Asia, history. As the Brahmic scripts, Indic scripts were introduced from India, people of Southeast ...
*
Hindu temple
A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...
Gallery
File:Nathlaung Kyaung Temple.jpeg, Nathlaung Kyaung Temple
File:Images of Hindu Gods at the entrance of Nathlaung Kyaung Temple.jpg, Images of Hindu Gods at the entrance
File:Nat-Hlaung Kyaung Vishnu Statute.JPG, One of seven Vishnu statues in the Nat-Hlaung Kyaung temple, Bagan, Myanmar. Originally there were 10 idols dedicated to Vishnu; three were removed, one is in Berlin Dahlem Museum.
File:Stone Inscription at Nathlaung Kyaung Temple.jpeg, Stone Inscription at Nathlaung Kyaung Temple written in Burmese
References
External links
Nathlaung Kyaung Temple (built c. 931) with images and text by Robert Fiala of Concordia University, Nebraska, USA
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Location map of Nat Hlaung Kyaung TempleGo Historic Maps
Hindu temples in Myanmar
Bagan
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