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Facade of Gubyaukgyi Temple by Adam Jones –

Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Gubyaukgyi Temple

The Gubyaukgyi Temple, located just south of Bagan, Myanmar, in Myinkaba Village, is a Buddhist temple. It was built in 1113 AD by Prince Yazakumar, shortly after the death of his father, King Kyansittha of the Pagan Dynasty.

The temple is notable for two reasons. First, it contains a large array of well-preserved frescoes on its interior walls, the oldest original paintings to be found in Bagan. All of the frescoes are accompanied by ink captions written in Old Mon, providing one of the earliest examples of the language’s use in Myanmar.

Second, the temple is located just to the west of the Myazedi pagoda, at which were found two stone pillars with inscriptions written in four, ancient Southeast Asian languages: Pali, Old Mon, Old Burmese, and Pyu. The inscription on the pillar displayed by the Myazedi pagoda has been called the Burmese Rosetta Stone, given its significance both historically and linguistically, as a key to cracking the Pyu language.

Here are some remarquable facts about Gubyaukgyi Temple.

1. The style of the Gubyaukgyi Temple includes both Mon and Indian elements

In the case of the latter, the temple’s towers are built in the Indian Shikhara style. The temple has a square base, shaped like a Kalatha pot, with a curvilinear roof. 

The interior of the temple contains a large, perimeter vestibule that connects to a small shrine room, a temple entrance leading to the vestibule, and an interior hallway leading to the shrine room. Both the shrine room and the entrance to the temple are on the east side of the building.

2. The interior of the Gubyaukgyi Temple has terraces with small Buddha figures

Mural in Gubyaukgyi (Myinkaba), Bagan, Myanmar by Chris and Denis Luyten-De Hauwere –

The temple has 11 large, perforated, Pyu-style windows, which let in very little light. Nine of the windows are on the outer walls, and two are interior windows. The windows’ perforations are shaped in a variety of ways, including Banyan leaves and swastikas.

In the interior above these windows are terraces with small Buddha figures, backed by intricate, ornamental stucco carvings with floral designs. Other stucco designs that can be seen in Gubyaukgyi include concentric rings and ogre figurines. There are also, in the walls, 34 recesses, each of which used to contain a statue of Buddha. Due to vandalism, however, only 19 of these statues remain.

3. The Gubyaukgyi Temple was built in 1113 by Prince Rajakumar, son of King Kyansittha

Several decades before the construction of Gubyaukgyi, the wife of King Kyansittha, Queen Thanbula, became pregnant. At the time, the king had no son, and as such no direct heir to the throne. 

When the king learned of the queen’s pregnancy, he asked her to leave the royal court. Upon leaving the court, he gave her a valuable ring. He told the queen that, if the baby were a boy, she would be welcomed back to the court, and would return the ring. If the baby were a girl, she was told she could sell the ring and should not return to the court.

The baby was a boy, Prince Yazakumar. However, by the time the queen returned to the king with their son, he had already promised his daughter’s son, Alaungsithu, that he would be the heir to the kingdom. 

To compensate Yazakumar for his losing the chance to inherit the throne, the king gave him a large amount of land. Yazakumar sold much of this land, and with the proceeds built Gubyaukgyi, out of appreciation for his father. To build the temple, Yazakumar employed three villages of slaves.

4. The Gubyaukgyi Temple has 547 well-preserved paintings

Gubyaukgyi (Myinkaba), Bagan, Myanmar by Chris and Denis Luyten-De Hauwere –

Each of these paintings has an ink caption written in Old Mon; in fact, Gubyaukgyi’s murals with their accompanying captions are the most complete collection of J膩takas in Old Mon in the world. These paintings depict various J膩takas which originated entirely from Sri Lanka depicting the island’s historical chronicles, Mahavensa. 

These include panels depicting Arahant Mahinda, King Devanmpiyatissa, the national hero Dutugamunu and his elephant Kandula as well as Prince Gamini sending women’s attire to his father for refusing to fight for the freedom of the country. 

5. The Gubyaukgyi Temple underwent renovations in 1991 after extensive damage from earthquakes

A 1982 UNESCO report concerning the conservation of 16 Bagan temples and monuments revealed a number of issues relating to the physical condition of Gubyaukgyi. On the exterior, the original cornice was lost, and in its place, black algae and lichens had developed. Meanwhile, multiple areas of stucco were in danger of detachment. Interiorly, the entrance hallway had undergone extensive damage from earthquakes. 

Due to these issues, a 1984 joint UNESCO/UNDP project was launched to look into preserving several Bagan temples and monuments. The project came to fruition, and by 1991, a restoration of Gubyaukgyi was complete.

6. The Gubyaukgyi Temple was documented in the Zamani Project from the University of Cape Town

Gubyaukgyi temple, Bagan, Myanmar by Gerd Eichmann –

The Zamani Project from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, offered its services towards the spatial documentation of monuments in Bagan in response to the destruction of monuments by an earthquake in August 2016.

After a reconnaissance visit to Bagan and a subsequent meeting at the UNESCO offices in Bangkok in February 2017, the Zamani Project documented 12 monuments in Bagan, during 3 field campaigns between 2017-2018, including the Gubyaukgyi Temple. A video of the textured 3D model of the Gubyaukgyi Temple was also created.

7. Sri Lanka’s historical events depicted on the walls of the Gubyaukgyi Temple 

Sri Lanka’s historical events depicted on the walls end with the great Sri Lankan King Vijayabahu, the contemporary of Rajakumar. Among them are the stories of Buddha’s previous lives as seen by Sri Lankans at that time. 

Each of these paintings has an ink caption written in Old Mon; in fact, Gubyaukgyi’s murals with their accompanying captions are the most complete collection of J膩takas in Old Mon in the world.

8. Unlike J膩taka paintings seen in other Bagan temples, Gubyaukgyi’s are unnumbered

Gubyaukgyi Temple and Myazedi Pagoda –

The J膩taka panels begin on the third row of paintings on the eastern, outer wall of the vestibule, to one’s immediate left as one enters the temple’s entrance, the left as one enters. They then wrap around south to west to north to east seven times, ending on the ninth row of paintings on the outer wall. 

Unlike J膩taka paintings seen in other Bagan temples, such as the Ananda Temple, Gubyaukgyi’s are unnumbered; the paintings’ are still in good condition and detailed captions have made their identification simple.

9. The patterns seen on the textiles depicted in Gubyaukgyi’s murals show Bengali influence

Textiles can be found in the temple’s paintings in multiple contexts: on cushions, Buddha is leaning on, in the form of fabrics spread below Buddha’s throne, in pavilions under which Buddha is seated, and as garments worn by disciplines of Buddha.

10. Three similarities are identified between the stylistic motifs on textiles in Gubyaukgyi’s paintings and those popular in contemporaneous Bengal

Scholar Claudine Bautze-Picron has found three primary similarities between the stylistic motifs on textiles in Gubyaukgyi’s paintings and those popular in contemporaneous Bengal. First is the prominent use of repeated patterns of geometric shapes, such as circles, squares, diamonds, and hexagons, which can be seen in the garb of some of Buddha’s royal disciples. 

The second similarity is striped patterns, especially around the deities’ legs. Finally, textiles seen in the temple’s murals use the motif of scrolls extended like arabesques into repeated circles.