Bagan

You could be forgiven for believing you’d come to a fair when you arrive at the Ananda Pagoda Festival in Bagan. There are roundabouts and slides for children, tall men are playing volley ball in a temporary volley ball court and then there are rows upon rows of temporary shops set up in lane after lane. You can buy practically everything you might ever need and much that you don’t. Children’s toys include sub-machine guns, furry teddy bears the size of a six year old and mysterious little paper puppets which you could believe are dancing on their own so clever is the man seated on the ground who is operating them. There is every item of clothing including extremely modest pink bras and corsets that would cover most of the body, woven longyis, Shan shirts and tee shirts announcing ‘I am the best’ etc. Some stalls are piled high with woven fabric in the different designs that belong to each of the ethnic groups and to different regions of Myanmar. Nearby Pakokko is famous for brightly coloured furry blankets, which are useful in January as nights are cold in Bagan.

There are photo stalls displaying photos of Aung San Suu Kyi and important men wearing the traditional male head attire: gaung baung which are caps with a jaunty upturned tweak on one side of the head. There are smiling babies and many views over Bagan. And of course there is much lacquerware as Bagan is famous for its lacquer workshops.

Bagan’s spires still stand tall but many, including the Ananda Pagoda are enshrouded with bamboo scaffolding - evidence of last years 6.8 earthquake. The Ananda was built in the 11^th century by King Kyansittha. He named it after one of the Buddha’s closest relatives who was one of his disciples.

At the time of King Anawratha, also the 11^th century, but before King Kyansittha, the Pyu people lived in what was then Pagan. They had done so since the 8^th century. They had their own religion and a distinctive appearance. Both males and females wore exactly the same costume and they never cut their hair. The only difference that might occasionally be discerned was that the men wore tattoos on their thighs. King Anawratha tried to convert them to Buddhism but they adamantly refused and for this they were sent away. They settled in nearby Halin.

The statues of the Buddha inside the Ananda are huge and imposing and yet at the same time loving. There are eight mudras depicted by the Buddha’s hand positions. The main four images here depict protection, teaching, peace and the last where he is holding a lotus flower shows he wanted to say something about the next life: that it should be beautiful as a flower.