Ananda - The Temple of Eternal Bliss

Myanmar has always intrigued me considerably. For one thing - despite being right next door, it has been nearly inaccessible most of the time because of the constant political turmoil and bloodshed which has been Myanmar's unfortunate destiny for the past 7-8 decades. Secondly, we learn nothing about it at all in our standard history/geography lessons in school. About the only thing I knew about it was (a) Myanmar's last king was exiled and kept in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra by the British and (b) Lokmanya Tilak was sent to the prison in Mandalay on charges of sedition against the British empire!

I was therefore fortunate to have found a small window of relative peace and political stability which enabled me to travel through this beautiful country with rich culture and lovely people.

I am going to start writing about and post photos of Myanmar once again. I posted a couple of stories and photos of interesting places like Lake Inle, the ruins of Indein village or Bagan etc. immediately after my trip through Myanmar 5 years ago.

But somehow never got around to describing some of the truly magnificent monuments - many of which lie in utter ruins today, partly because of the inevitable ravages of time but more so because of devasting earthquakes (in 1975 and again in 2016).

Most of South-East Asia has been deeply influenced by Indian culture for thousands of years and much of it became Buddhist ultimately even in regions where primarily Hindu empires like Majapahit or Khmer ruled initially. And of course some parts converted to Islam later like Malaysia or Indonesia. But influences of hindu epics, legends and myths (and sometimes even rituals) like Ramayana and Mahabharata or Stories from the Puranas can be felt even today and even by a casual visitor like me in day-to-day life in most parts (even in Muslim countries like Indonesia) - whether it's in local names, local myths, traditional arts and crafts or local rituals.

Surprisingly - although the nearest of them all to India. in Myanmar I did not not notice even the smallest trace of Hindu mythology in local folklore. It appears to be a thoroughly devout Theravada Buddhist society from its deepest roots to the outermost boundaries. Jataka tales rule folklore more than Ramayana (unlike its neighbors)! and even the most ancient ruins show completely Buddhist inspirations whereas even in distant Vietnam you find ruins of Shiva temples dating back to the Cham (or Champa) period. Of course this is arising from a casual visitor's limited exposure to the local culture - experts may know otherwise.

Why this total absence of any signs of Hindu influence I don't know! (To be sure there is one Vishnu temple still surviving in the ruins of Bagan but it was built for a specific purpose and not because it was part of the local society's usual requirement - I have written about it sometime back).

Anyway, all this came to my mind when I was browsing through my old photos of a beautiful temple in Bagan called Ananda temple!

Somehow I never got around to sharing the wonders of the Ananda temple - although it is one of the most important, the best restored, the most beautiful and with a unique architecture like no other, amongst the major temples of Myanmar.

Ananda temple is located in the region of Bagan - the seat of one of the most powerful empires which is credited to have unified much of the region we today call Myanmar under a single ruler. Starting from a small city state called Sri Ksetra in the 2nd century, in the 11th century King Anawratha - the most illustrious of the Bagan rulers, created the Pagan (or Bagan) empire that was to rule for the next 250 years. Most of the truly impressive monuments, arts and crafts, the signs of which you can see in the ruins of Indein or Bagan like Htlomilno or Sulamani temples, or in the glory of restored temples/pagodas like Shwe Zingon Zedi, were created during the Pagan/Bagan period.

Ananda temple too is one of them. This was built by King Kyanzittha (a son of Anawratha). According to the local legend 8 Indian monks fleeing from the Ghaznavids raids in India at that time reached Kyanzittha's court. And with their divine powers showed him a vision of a Buddhist temple in "Nandamula Caves" in India (where exactly this might be has not been established). The king was so impressed, he ordered the creation of a temple in the likeness of the vision he "saw".

So the architecture of the temple had to create the illusion of being inside a cave. How successfully that has been created has to be experienced. The temple is laid out as a Cross of 4 equal length arms. The area at the cross over of the broad arms has a path circling around a solid sqaure core. There is no single sanctum sanctorum. The central solid core has 4 niches carved into it - facing the four cardinal directions each containing a (different) colossal Buddha image standing on a lotus pedestal. Those niches and the window-less "parikrama" pathway create a perfect illusion of being inside a massive cave.

The four Buddhas are carved out of Burma Teak wood and two of them are believed to be original (Now isn't that a wonder in itself, a wooden object that has lasted for more than a 1000 years!). The other two were recreated to replace damage caused to the original by an accidental fire in the 18th century - you can see that the sculpting styles of these are noticeably different compared to the original.

The four images represent 4 different Buddhas (in Theravada Buddhism there are many Buddhas - the one born in Lumbini whom we usually call the founder of Buddhism - Gautam Buddha being termed as Sakyamuni) - Kassapa (Kashyap), Kakusandha, Konagamana (Kanakamuni), Sakyamuni (Gautam Buddha).

Most impressive are the carved terra-cotta panels and paintings which cover almost every square inch of the walls of the "walkway cavern" as well the prayer halls around it. These depict Jataka tales, scenes from the Buddhas life etc.

The photos below would give you some fleeting glimpses of the majesty of Ananda temple but there is no substitute to actually being there and walking through it.

Lastly, there is no unanimity about why it is called "Ananda" temple. Some say it was originally called "Anantpinya" temple meaning Temple of Infinite Wisdom, which got distorted to Ananda. Some say, it is named after one of the principle disciples of Gautam Buddha called Ananda (such a person really did exist), some say it is actually meant to mean the Temple of Eternal Bliss (Thus Ananda) - a concept that is one of the founding principles of Buddhism itself!

Anyway for a visitor like me - I certainly did not acquire "infinite wisdom" but without question, at least while witnessing this magnificent work of art, fleetingly experienced the "Bliss" which Buddhism talks about. What more can one ask for?