Dhammayangyi Temple

Bagan's largest and most forbidding temple, built by a murderous king

The largest temple in Bagan, the Dhammayangyi is also the most forbidding — a massive red-brick pyramid that dominates the middle of the plain. Its corridors are wider than those of any other Bagan temple, and even in its unfinished state the scale of the ambition is extraordinary.

The temple houses two side-by-side Buddha images in the east-facing shrine, and the inner ambulatory, where light filters through narrow windows, is worth exploring. Climb to the terraces for a broad view over the surrounding plain.

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A story
The temple was built by King Narathu (1167–1170), who seized the throne by murdering his father and brother. According to tradition, he forced workers to build with such precision that no pin could be passed between the bricks — and executed those whose work was not perfect. Narathu was himself assassinated before the temple was completed, and its inner passageways were deliberately bricked up, leaving the interior unusually dark and labyrinthine.

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