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Visual Narratives: Buddha Life Stories in the “Medieval Theravāda” of Southeast Asia
(In Routledge Handbook of Theravada Buddhism, eds. Stephen C. Berkwitz & Ashley
Thompson, 2022)
Samerchai Poolsuwan
Faculty of Sociology & Anthropology
Thammasat University
Bangkok 10200, Thailand
(samerchai@hotmail.com)
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I. Introduction
Characterizing the cultural landscape of Southeast Asia during the second half of the first
millennium CE, as attested archaeologically and palaeographically, was the dissemination of the
type(s) of Buddhism, strictly Pāli-based in terms of the scriptural citations, to cover the western
and central spheres of its mainland, i.e. including the Pyu and Mon civilizations in central and
Lower Burma as well as the Dvārāvati cultural domain in central Thailand (Stargardt 1995: 199-
213; Skilling 1997a: 83-107; Skilling 1997b: 123-57; Skilling 2003: 87-112; Revire 2014: 216-
37). Although suggested to be somehow associated with Theravāda, the Buddhism of the case
remains enigmatic in terms of its origin(s) as well as affiliation(s) with any of the variety of schools
existing in the so-called “Theravāda” domain, only little known to us, during the period of concern
(Ray 1939: 1-52; Luce 1974: 119-38; Skilling 1997a: 83-107; Stadtner 2008: 193-215). Also, it
could not be simply equated or directly linked – beside the common adoption of Pāli as the
designated religious language, in terms of ecclesiastic genealogy, canonical and commentarial
basis as well as observance of the vinaya rules by monks and nuns -- with the “Theravāda” made
familiar to us nowadays. The latter, rather monolithic in all the aspects mentioned, is more or less
a product of the major religious reform conducted in Sri Lanka around 1165 CE, during the reign
of Parākramabāhu I of Polonnāruva; the reform orchestrated a scriptural purification and the
unification of all the Buddhist fraternities of the island, bringing them to adhere strictly to the one,
Mahāvihāra tradition (Bechert 1993: 11-21). The latter is believed by its followers to be the purest
form of Buddhism – i.e. descended directly from the Third Buddhist Council, sponsored by the
Mauryan king Asoka of India during the third century BCE -- and this is confirmed in the two
famous chronicles of the School, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa (Sirisena 1978, chapter 3). Set
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as a ‘new normal’ for the Buddhist definition of dhamma and conduct, the reformed Sīhaḷa
Theravāda has become cosmopolitan by means of attracting followers widely and more or less
continuously for almost a millennium in the Theravāda realm, mainly encompassing Sri Lanka
and the major part of mainland Southeast Asia (Sirisena 1978: 58-81; Frasch 1998: 69-92; Frasch
2001: 85-97).
Later Mon and Pali records, the 15th-century Kalyānī inscriptions of Dhammaceti, king of Pegu
in what is now Lower Burma, suggest that the reformed Theravāda could have been introduced
into Southeast Asia for establishment of its monastic lineage and communities at Pagan, shortly
after its revival in Sri Lanka, during the second half of the 12th century. This reformed Theravāda
movement was spearheaded by a missionary team of senior monks from Sri Lanka -- led by
Chapata, a Mon native originally from Lower Burma -- who later either passed away, left the
sangha, or was in disputes with the other members of the team over observance of some vinaya
rules. The phenomenon suggests that the reformed Sīhaḷa Theravāda, newly introduced to Pagan,
did not survive for long. Prior to the period of concern, Pagan, with its civilization flourishing in
central Burma from around the mid-11th century, could have received its Pāli-based Buddhism
first, as suggested by some later Burmese records, from the Mon center in Lower Burma, along
with the latter’s orthographic legacy, and perhaps also from Pyu progenitors (Luce 1969: vol. I,
chapters II-IV; Than Tun 1988: 23-45); the latter’s knowledge of the Pāli sources is attested
archaeologically (Stargardt 1995: 199-213; Skilling 1997a: 83-107). There was also, shortly
afterwards in the same century, as recorded in the Cūḷavaṃsa, an allied contact which could have
allowed direct scriptural transmission from Sri Lanka to Pagan (Luce 1969: vol. I, 38-43).
Propagation of the reformed Theravāda at Pagan during the second half of the 12th century hints
that the older Theravāda existing there might have been perceived, at least in the eyes of the
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Mahāvihāra reformists, as corrupt or far from uniform; from this perspective, the introduction of
the “purer” form of the Buddhism was really a call to action.
The nature of the old Theravāda flourishing at Pagan prior to the coming of the reformed Sīhaḷa
tradition during the second half of the 12th century remains unclear. Being probably derived from
the Mon and Pyu progenitors on the one hand, it could have been affiliated with the older Pāli-
based Buddhism prevailing in the western sphere of mainland Southeast Asia during the first
millennium CE.
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On the other hand, a new influx of Buddhist tradition(s) through direct contact
with Sri Lanka towards the end of the 11th century could have added to the Theravāda variation or
amalgamation characterizing the early Buddhist culture of Pagan.
There appears to have existed in Upper Burma a derivative of this old Theravāda which gained
in popularity and royal patronage at Pagan during the 13th century. Made known in a number of
epigraphic records of the period were its ecclesiastic members as the monks of ‘taw kloṅ’ (forest
monastery); occasionally, the name ‘Arañ’, most likely derived from ‘araññaka’ meaning ‘forest
dwellers’, was applied to them (Than Tun 1988: 85-100). The existence of bhikkhunī and laxity
in the observance of some vinaya rules, in contrast to the reformed Sīhaḷa standard, was allowed
in the ecclesiastic community of this Buddhist order. Also characterizing their establishment was
accumulation of wealth in terms of land estates, received either by donation or purchase. The rising
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One piece of evidence recognized by Luce as possibly representing the old Mon Theravāda is
the presence at Pagan of a series of extra jātaka stories (Velāma 497, Mahāgovinda 498 and
Sumedhapandita 499), materialized in art at the two Hpetleik pagodas; these tales come in
addition to the known 547 stories accounted for in the standard (Sīhaḷa) version of the canonical
Jātaka text (Luce 1956: 291-307; Luce and Ba Shin 1961: 277-417 (321-30)).
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and flourishing of the Arañ Buddhist nikāya in central Burma was the background to several
attempts of re-introducing the reformed Sīhaḷa tradition of Buddhism to Pagan by successive
groups of missionary monks (Frasch 1998: 69-97; Frasch 2001: 85-97; Gornall 2020: chapter 10).
However, none of them seemed to achieve enduring success over the Arañ. Deviation of the latter
from the reformed Sīhaḷa orthodoxy is also confirmed by another, external but contemporaneous,
piece of evidence contained in the Mahānāgakula-sandesa, a Pāli work composed in Sri Lanka
during the mid-13th century. It is a message from Thera Nāgasena of Rohana, in the south of Sri
Lanka, sent to Thera Mahākassapa of Arimaddanapura (Pagan) inviting the latter, who was most
likely the elder of the Arañ ecclesiastic lineage known under that very same name in inscriptions
of the period, to initiate purification of the religion by following the reformed orthodoxy
established in Sri Lanka during the reign of Parākramabāhu I (Sirisena 1978: 72-73; Gornall 2020:
215-20). The Sīhaḷa proposal of reform, however, may have failed given the fact that the Arañ
maintained its prosperity and conventions at Pagan and also elsewhere in central Burma until well
after 1500, i.e. far beyond the Pagan period, as confirmed by a number of contemporaneous records
(Than Tun 1988: 85-100).
Art historical evidence suggests that the Pagan type of Buddhism could have been disseminated
in the Buddhist network of Southeast Asia to cover the western and central spheres of its mainland,
i.e. central and Lower Burma as well as northern and central Thailand, prior to wide spreading of
the post-reform Sīhaḷa orthodoxy newly introduced into the area from around the early 14th century
onwards (Samerchai in press). In particular, the area of central Burma dominated by the Arañ
seems to have staved off for more than a century the advance of the new Sīhaḷa orthodoxy. A major
obstacle to dissemination of the reformed Theravāda in Southeast Asia -- from its inception in Sri
Lanka around 1165 CE until the 14th century and well after, amidst several re-introductions of the
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Buddhist tradition into the geographic region – could have been the persistence of the matrix of
inter-related local varieties of Pāli-based Buddhism. It is this matrix which I call here the “medieval
Theravāda” of Southeast Asia. Probably most influential among these Pali Buddhist traditions was
that at Pagan given its association with this major civilization which dominated the western sphere
of the region, and probably, though to a lesser extent, its central sphere as well, from the mid-11th
to the late-13th century.
This chapter will attempt to understand the Buddhism of Pagan by exploring its mural
traditions; these are seen as material manifestations of textual foundations as deployed within a
specific cultural context. It will give particular focus to the illustration of the Buddha’s life, which
forms the most prominent narrative theme of the murals. Adorning the brick monument of the gu-
hpaya (cave-temple) type, with hundreds of examples surviving in the Pagan area and as well the
isolated clusters located in the middle Irrawaddy zone, the murals of the Pagan tradition, dating
from the late-11th to the late-13th century, themselves constitute one of the largest and most
complex bodies of Buddhist sacred art ever in existence. One of the major characteristics of the
murals of the period, and in a broader sense of the Buddhist art of Pagan in general, is their strong
affiliation, in iconographic and stylistic terms, with the post-classical center of Sanskrit Buddhism
flourishing in northeastern India during the Pāla dynasty (from the 8th to the 12th century), i.e.
outside the Theravāda-dominated cultural realm (Luce 1969: vol. I, part B; Bautze-Picron 2003).
At the same time they show a strong connection, particularly in terms of visual narratives, with
the Pāli Buddhist literature (Luce 1969: vol. I, chapters XV-XIX; Ba Shin 1962; Samerchai 2017:
255-94). The combination of these two major characteristics -- which are not in concert
conceptually, and in such give the murals of Pagan their unique status -- is puzzling in itself and
requires a causative explanation in both cultural and political terms. The conceptual framing of my
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investigation seeks both to provide the murals with their appropriate textual background and to
uncover their structural organization and associated symbolism. The broader aim is to enhance our
understanding of the nature of the “medieval Theravāda”, with Pagan – as an actor in the Southeast
Asian region - providing one of its best known examples. The present study shall also examine
the downfall of Pagan Buddhism from the shadow cast on the art historical ground, particularly
the decline of its mural tradition. This could have corresponded with the new influx of post-reform
Theravāda from Sri Lanka into Southeast Asia from the early-14th century onwards.
II. Visualization of the “Buddha’s Life” in Early Pagan
Aside from being engrossed in the dhamma and its associated philosophy expounded
voluminously in early Buddhist literature, of which the complete Pāli canon forms the major
scriptures, devoted followers of Buddhism could have found themselves to learn only little and
fragmentarily about the personal life of the present Buddha Gotama, who had laid down the
foundation of the teachings (Pande 1974; Rhys Davids 1975: 56; Winternitz 1977: 186). Narration
of the Buddha’s life has, however, played a major role in Buddhist art since its inception.
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The
only parallel to be found is in the subsequent stratum of Buddhist literature with its praise texts
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Starting from around the third century BCE with the Buddha represented through symbols in
narrative depictions of his life; the Buddha started to appear in anthropomorphic form in the
Indian Buddhist art during the first few centuries CE, in association with the two major Buddhist
civilizations: Gandhara in northwestern India and as well parts of the present-day Pakistan and
Afghanistan; and, Mathura in now Uttar Pradesh, north India.
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elaborately celebrating the Buddha’s accumulation of pāramī (perfections) during his previous
lives and episodes of his last existence leading to the most important episode of all, the Buddha’s
enlightenment. The Lalitavistara and, in a less orderly manner, the Mahāvastu comprise the major
Sanskrit or hybrid Buddhist Sanskrit examples in this respect. Their Pāli counterpart could be
found in Nidānakathā, the beginning part of the Jātaka commentary (Jātakaṭṭhakathā) (for an
English translation see Jayawickrama 1990).
The latter Pāli source presents Gotama’s story in three successive sections: the Dūrenidāna, the
Avidūrenidāna and the Santikenidāna. Contained in the first are stories of Gotama’s previous
existences in the course of four asaṅkheyya (incalculable) and a hundred thousand eons, during
which he received the prediction of his future enlightenment from the 24 Buddhas of the past, i.e.
Dīpaṅkara and those coming after in chronological order; the future Buddha was afterwards reborn
a chief deva of Tusitā Heaven. The Avidūrenidāna extends the Buddha’s story to cover the early
episodes of his last rebirth, as Prince Siddhattha, up to the moment of his enlightenment. As
indicated in the text itself, the Santikenidāna is supposed to include Buddha’s episodes, taking
place at various specific localities, from immediately after enlightenment to the moment of final
departure, the mahaparinibbana; in the Nidānakathā, however, it covers chronologically only
from the seven weeks of meditation immediately following enlightenment to the Buddha’s
reception of the Jetavana Monastery donated by the rich man of Savatthi, Anāthapiṇḍika, in the
third year after the enlightenment.
It is interesting to note that the Nidānakathā recognizes the core content of the text it belongs
to, i.e. the voluminous account of the selected 547 stories of the Buddha’s past lives, to also
constitute another narrative theme of the Santikenidāna (a collection of the Buddha’s stories after
the enlightenment). This could be made logical on the narrative basis given the notion clearly
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stated in the text that all these jātaka stories were individually told by the Buddha himself in a
number of his preaching occasions, taken place at various specific localities, after the
enlightenment. Since all the jātaka stories are orderly grouped on the basis of their lengths, i.e. the
number of canonical stanza(s) describing each jataka story, their organization to constitute the text
is not necessarily chronological.
Visualized in the earliest surviving murals at Pagan – those found adorning the interior of the
Pātho-htā-mya Temple (monument 1605), dating probably from the last quarter of the 11th century
(Luce 1969: vol. 1, 302-3) – are complicated themes of the Buddha stories coherently combined
to account for a complete biography of Gotama in his last existence. The east-facing temple is a
large and complicated brick structure with a square sanctum, surrounded by a dark ambulatory
corridor, housing a triad of colossal Buddha images made of brick and stucco; access to the shrine
could be made from the temple’s entrance hall only through the passage cutting across the
sanctum’s corridor on its eastern side (for the architecture and layout of the temple see Pichard,
Vol. VI 1995: 244-48). The murals of focus embellish the whole interior of the temple’s sanctum
and its surrounding corridor. Successfully identified by Professor Gordon H. Luce, the doyen of
Pagan studies, is the series of narrative murals on the corridor’s outer wall, with ink captions in
Old Mon surviving to identify some of the narrative scenes; most likely based on the Nidānakathā
account, the mural series, comprising 24 panels, proceeds clockwise from its start located in the
east wall’s southern section to chronologically accommodate narration of the early episodes of the
Gotama’s last existence up to the moment before his enlightenment, when the bodhisatta is
approaching the Bodhi-tree (Luce 1969: vol. I, 304-5). To complement Luce’s study, I have re-
investigated the series of narrative murals of the corridor’s inner wall, of which previous studies
have led to confusion (Luce 1969: vol. I, 305; Bautze-Picron 2003: 158), to confirm that they are
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programmed to continue the outer-wall series; the inner-wall series, comprising 28 panels (Figure
1), presents Gotama’s biography chronologically from the very moment of his enlightenment to
his mahāparinibbāna, depicted as the last episode of the series (Samerchai 2017: 258-66).
In total, the Pātho-htā-mya’s corridor murals thus account for the stories belonging to the
Avidūrenidāna and Santikenidāna sections of Gotama’s biography, based on the Nidānakathā’s
narrative categorization, however, with substantial extension (Samerchai 2017: 258-66). It is
unfortunate that the murals of the first three panels of the outer wall series -- located on the
corridor’s eastern side, immediately after the entrance passage -- are too damaged to allow any
precise episodic identification. Located just before the episode of Gotama’s birth, the three panels
likely included depiction of: (1) ‘the first prophecy’, when the bodhisatta as Hermit Sumedha is
receiving the prediction for his enlightenment to come from the Buddha Dīpaṅkara; (2) The
bodhisatta reborn as a chief deva of the Tusitā Heaven; and, (3) the conception of the bodhisatta
in the womb of Queen Māyā. If this interpretation is correct, the narrative murals of the Pātho-htā-
mya’s corridor series would have also accounted for the Dūrenidāna, though only briefly so in
representation of the first two narrative panels of the mural series.
There are several series of complicated murals narrating the after-enlightenment life of the
Buddha in the Pātho-htā-mya’s sanctum. The mural scenes, each contained in a rectangular frame,
are all inscribed; majority of them are, however, made repetitive in terms of their iconographic
composition, with the Buddha of the scene in a seated posture flanked on both sides by his
disciplines. Based on Luce’s systematic reading of the ink-glosses accompanying the mural scenes,
we can identify the narrative organization to comprise the following themes: (1) a series of selected
episodes, probably based on the Nidānakathā, from the first sermon up to the Buddha’s visit to the
city of his father, Kapilavatthu (panels nos. 25-35 in Luce 1969: vol. I, 306); (2) miscellaneous
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post-enlightenment episodes which are not accounted for in the Nidānakathā, with only some of
them arranged chronologically (scenes (i) – (xi) in Luce 1969: vol. I, 306-7); (3) a voluminous
series of the Buddha’s sermons grouped according to the Dīghanikāya and Majjhimanikāya of the
Pāli Suttapiṭaka (Luce 1969: vol. I, 307-8); and, (4) a series of incidents leading the Buddha to lay
down the vinaya rules for the sangha categorized according to the Mahāvibhaṅga account of the
Pāli Vinayapiṭaka, to include the latter’s following sections: Saṅghādisesa, Aniyata, Nissaggiya,
Pācittiya, and probably Pārājikā (Luce 1969: vol. I, 308-9). The surviving ink-glosses include a
description of the event in question as well as the name of the specific locality where the event
took place. Given the unarbitrary provision of such information, the mural series must be
understood to logically follow the Nidānakathā’s tradition of creating the Santikenidāna narration
of the Buddha’s life. As guided by the text itself, the narration aims at selecting the episodes of the
Buddha, of which the localities are all specified, to thematically constitute a variety of narrative
collections all aimed at representing his after-enlightenment life.
Another pertinent example is found at the Kubyauk-gyī Temple in Myinkaba (monument
1323); its construction is epigraphically attributed to Rājakumār during the first quarter of the 12th
century (Luce and Ba Shin 1961: 277-84). Here, a complete series of the 547 stories of the Jātakā,
largely in agreement with the Sīhaḷa recension, is depicted on the outer wall of the temple’s
ambulatory corridor (Luce and Ba Shin 1961: 331-62); since the depiction is presented as narrating
the Jātakā itself -- with an accompanying ink gloss giving the Pāli name and the bodhisatta of the
story, but not noting the occasion upon which the Buddha is telling the story -- the narration may
have represented the Dūrenidāna instead of the Santikenidāna. Arranged along the topmost row
of the corridor’s outer wall is the illustrative series comprising an elaborate narration of the whole
Nidānakathā series of the Avidūrenidāna and Santikenidāna (Luce and Ba Shin 1961: 363-66).
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The Nidānakathā’s criterion for the Santikenidāna, i.e. to thematically present the episodes having
taken place at various specific localities after enlightenment, was also probably adopted for the
Buddha’s preaching of the Vinaya rules, which took place in the seven chief cities, grouped and
serially narrated in the murals of the upper register of the panels on the corridor’s inner wall (Luce
and Ba Shin 1961: 377-79).
III. The Buddha’s Realm Created
The cult and iconography associated with the “Eight Major Episodes” of the Buddha’s life was
gradually developed in the Mahāyāna context of northeastern India during the Gupta and Pāla
dynasties (Perimoo 1982; Huntington 1985: 46-61; Huntington 1987a: 55-63; Huntington 1987b:
56-68). They comprise : (1) Nativity at Lumbinī; (2) Enlightenment at the Bodhi-tree, in now
Bodhgaya; (3) First Sermon to the Pañcavaggiyā at the Isipatana Forest, near Varanasi; (4) Taming
of Nālāgiri at Rājagaha; (5) Twin Miracles in Sāvatthi; (6) Descent from Tāvatiṃsa at Saṅkassa;
(7) Monkey’s Donation of Honey, probably in Vesāli (Huen Tsiang 1884: 68); and, (8)
Mahāparinibbāna in Kusinārā. Forming a coherent series, these Buddha episodes, all having taken
place at different localities, showcase the complete biography of Gotama during his last existence,
though in abbreviated form. Viewed from the context of sacred Buddhist geography, they were
also linked with establishment of the memorial sites for pilgrimage (Huntington 1987a: 55-63).
Based on the standard iconography established during the Pāla dynasty, the “Eight Major Events”
series of the Buddha is portrayed sculpturally with the central Buddha icon – normally made seated
in the earth-touching pose under the Bodhi-tree, to signify enlightenment – flanked vertically on
both sides, in a more or less symmetric fashion, and capped with smaller icons illustrating the other
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episodes of the series (Huntington 1987b: 56-68). The events are likewise depicted as a series in
the period palm-leaf manuscripts of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, the core text of Mahāyāna
Buddhism (see examples in Saraswati 1977).
The Indian prototype of the Buddha’s “Eight Major Events” eventually proved its popularity at
Pagan by being prolifically, and almost faithfully, reproduced in both sculptural and mural forms.
One major difference between the early Pagan examples and the Indian prototype concerns the
iconography of the “Monkey’s Donation” scene in which an elephant is additionally incorporated;
this is most likely to allow its narrative compatibility with the Pārileyya episode, which took place
near Kosambī, as described in the Pāli Dhammapada commentary. Given that all the other episodes
of the series, apart from the “Monkey’s Donation”, could conveniently reference Pāli canonical
and commentarial sources, it seems likely that Pagan’s “Eight Major Events” series, though
modeled after the Indian precursor, was perceived in the Theravādin literary context (Samerchai
2017: 255-94). Early examples of Pagan murals illustrating the “Eight Major Events” of the
Buddha under such iconographic and literary prescription are seen in the background of principal
Buddha images representing the Buddha’s enlightenment episode in Pagan temples 1580 (Loka-
hteik-pan), 2103 and 2157, all dating probably from the first half of the 12th century (Figure 2).
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One of the novel characteristics observed in the Buddhist art of Pagan is the combination of the
Buddha’s “Eight Major Events” series, as already described, with the other set of his serial
episodes most likely derived from the Jātakanidāna account, i.e. his meditation during the “Seven
Weeks” immediately following enlightenment. In its standard sculptural form, the earth-touching
Buddha centering the composition represents simultaneously his enlightenment and first-week
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For dating the Loka-hteik-pan temple and its murals see Ba Shin 1962: chapter I.
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meditation; he is then vertically flanked in the inner circle of the composition with the other six-
week meditation episodes -- three on each side, in a more or less symmetric fashion (see examples
in Luce 1969: vol. III, plates 401, 402b, 403 and 405). The iconographic arrangement thus suggests
symbolization of the Buddha geography, a kind of Theravāda mandala, with the Bodhi-tree for
together the Buddha’s enlightenment and first-week meditation centering the two sacred
geographic spheres: the inner sphere encompassing all the meditation stations, including the
Bodhi-tree and its neighborhoods; and, the outer containing the localities of his “Eight Major
Events”, all included within the Middle Country (Majjhimadesa) of the Great Southern Continent
(Jambudīpa).
Associated with the above-described geographic symbolism, the “Eight major Events” are
juxtaposed with the “Seven Weeks” meditation series in the temple murals prevalent at Pagan
during the 13th century (Samerchai 2012: 377-97). The colossal sculpture presiding over a temple
shrine -- normally seated in the earth-touching pose, with the Bodhi-tree always depicted in
background -- could symbolically represent the Buddha’s enlightenment and his meditation in the
following week. Portrayed in the temple murals to spatially encircle this cult image are, in the
inner circle, the other episodes of the “Seven Weeks” series and, in the outer circle, the other “Eight
Major Events” (Figures 3 and 4). It is thus natural to find the enlightenment and first-week
meditation of the Buddha always absent in mural representations. The depictions of the “Seven
Stations” are always spatially arranged in the temple’s shrine in such a fashion to best represent
their directions from the Bodhi-tree, symbolized at the center of the temple’s shrine. This could be
based on the geographic descriptions of the “Seven Stations” contained in two commentarial
sources: the Nidānakathā and the Samantapāsādikā. Numerous examples of the mural pattern
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could be found in Pagan, with one large cluster of them also located in Minnanthu,
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the
headquarters of the Arañ nikāya during the period of concern.
Also novel to Pagan during the 13th century, and truly extraordinary in its own way, is another
mural program designed to serve the same symbolic function of creating the Buddha’s realm. This
second case, however, illustrates the Buddha’s life more lavishly, with varieties of the other
Buddha’s episodes also incorporated. Only three representatives of the mural program have
survived, in Pagan temples 85 (Thein-mazi), 658 and 659 (Winido);
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the execution of the murals
in these three sites is nearly identical, suggesting that they were made by the same group of
designer(s) and craftsmen. Decorating the temple’s square shrine housing the principal Buddha
image(s) in the earth-touching pose, the murals of focus occupy the wall space of the shrine, all
gridded, only vertically along the lower half of its four corners; this is to leave most of the wall
space to accommodate repetitive depiction of the past Buddhas, each contained in a grid cell. There
are eight mural panels, each with two or three columns of grid cells, to contain illustration of
Gotama’s life. Based on the surviving ink-glosses and iconographic composition, most of the
mural scenes could be definitively identified (Samerchai 2017: 255-94).
There are all together eighty mural cells to accommodate the narrative depiction of the
Buddha’s life; only some of them are arranged to depict the chronological events of the Buddha,
while others contain independent episodes. Overall, the episodes are grouped according to locality.
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To name a few of the major examples in the area are the Pagan temples 447 (Le-myet-hna), 534
( Sa-pwe-tin), 539 (Tayok-pyi), 663 (Mala-phyi) and 676 (So-hla-wun).
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For the architectural details and layouts of the temples: Pichard 1992: vol. I, 159 (monument
85); Pichard 1994: vol. III, 152-55 (monument 658) and 156-60 (monument 659).
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We see:
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12 independent episodes at Rājagaha (E-wall, NE-corner); 12 serial episodes before the
enlightenment at Uruvela (E-wall, SE-corner); 8 serial episodes of Sujata preparing the cow-milk
rice also at Uruvela (S-wall, SW-corner); 8 serial episodes after the enlightenment at the residence
of the Uruvela-Kassapa hermit (W-wall, SW-corner); 8 serial episodes related to the Twin Miracle
at Sāvatthi (W-wall, NW-corner); 8 episodes before and after the enlightenment at Kapilavatthu
(N-wall, NW-corner); and, 2 independent episodes after the enlightenment at Vesāli (N-wall, NE-
corner). The ‘Seven Weeks’ serial episodes are separated in two groups: (1) the second to fourth
weeks -- at the stations to the northeast, north and northwest of the Bodhi-tree – located on the N-
wall of the shrine’s NE-corner; and, (2) the fifth to seventh weeks – at the stations to the east,
southeast and south of the Bodhi-tree – located on the S-wall of the shrine’s NE-corner. This
arrangement of the “Seven Weeks” stations likely represents the various sites’ geographic
directions with respect to the Bodhi-tree, based on indications in the Jātakanidāna and
Samantapāsādikā. The “Eight Major Events” are dispersed here -- i.e. in the shrine according to
their locality, as described above, or in the temple vestibules. As usual, the Buddha’s
enlightenment and first-week meditation, represented by the shrine’s central cult image, is omitted
in the mural representation
48
For details and systematic illustration of the mural panels see Samerchai 2017: 255-94; for
complete illustration see Samerchai 2016: 140-9.
17
IV. The Rise of the New Sīhaḷa Order
It was towards the end of the 13th century that the Pagan dynasty practically lost its political
hold over central Burma, due to the Mongol attack and subsequent internal discord (Than Tun
1988: 103-14). A century of war and political unrest followed, badly affecting religious activities,
construction and artistic creation that had formerly been prolific in the area. Epigraphic evidence
shows that the Arañ Buddhist nikāya endured through this difficult time to resume its prosperity
towards the end of the 14th century. Historian Than Tun has proposed that the monks of this
Buddhist order -- led by generations of strong successive leaders (after Mahākassapa), also making
themselves suitable for royal patronage during the Pinya and Ava periods -- played a pivotal role
in revitalizing the farming activities of the area (Than Tun 1988: 103-14). This was based on
recultivation of the land estates on a large scale -- land either previously belonging to or newly
acquired by them. The resource basis may have sufficiently supported the establishment and thus
enhanced the continuity in central Burma of the Arañ Buddhist tradition. Affiliation of probably
the later Arañ with the older art of Pagan is detectable in the persistence of several of the latter’s
elements and characteristics in the murals of Pagan monument 225 (an old brick monastery,
currently named “Mya-daung-ok-kyaung”, located in the Nyaung-U area to the north of the Old
Pagan City), dated epigraphically to 1442 CE, and as well those of Pagan monument 65 (a man-
made meditation cave, currently named “Kyanzittha Umin”, also located in Nyaung-U)
stylistically dated to be a contemporary of the monument 225 (Samerchai 2015: 145-97).
Marking a watershed in the history of Theravāda in Southeast Asia was the rapid expansion,
during the course of the 14th century, of the post-reform Sīhaḷa orthodoxy freshly introduced from
18
Sri Lanka into the region (Sirisena 1978: chapters III & IV). This was to launch a firm
establishment of the Theravāda orthodoxy, standardized after the reformed Sīhaḷa model, to be
continuously preserved and transmitted in the geographic region up to our present time. Probably
spearheading this religious movement -- as recorded in the two northern Thai chronicles,
Mūlasāsanā and Jinakālamālī -- was the establishment, in 1331 CE, of the post-reform Sīhaḷa
monastic centre in Martaban, located in the Mon Country of Lower Burma; this centre was founded
by Udumbarapupphā Mahāsāmī, a senior Thera from the well-known Udumbaragiri Forest
Monastery, a Mahāvihāra branch located south of Poḷonnāruva in Sri Lanka (Griswold and Prasoet
1972: 21-152). The tradition was later introduced -- by a missionary team led by his disciples,
Anomadassī and Sumana – to Sukhothai, probably from around 1341-1342 CE, and then Lānnā,
from around 1369 CE onwards. Sukhothai Inscription II also gives a lengthy account of another
charismatic monk, Śrīsaddharāchacūḷāmunī, who might have played a seminal role in germinating
the new Sīhaḷa Buddhist tradition in the soil of Sukhothai. This was to happen after his long
journey, first via Martaban and India to obtain re-ordination and follow a long course of study in
a post-reform Mahāvihāra establishment in Sri Lanka; around 1343-44 CE he returned to
Sukhothai via Tenasserim, Phetchaburī, Rātchaburī, Nakhon Chaisri, and Ayodhyā (Griswold and
Prasert 1972: 21-152). His complicated routes reflect networks of communication between several
Buddhist centers, including those located in central Thailand. Also recorded in the Jinakālamālī
was the arrival, during the mid-1420s, of a missionary team of monks to launch the upasampadā
(ordination) of the new Sīhaḷa order at Ayutthaya in central Thailand, in which Mahāthera
Sīlavisuddhi, the tutor of the chief queen of king Boromarājā II of Ayutthayā (1424-48 CE), and
another Thera named Saddhammakōvida, received higher ordination (Ratanapaññā 1968). This
very king was the founder of Wat Rātchaburana established in the same decade (Khamhaikān
19
1967: 446). I will describe below an important set of murals of the Buddha’s life commissioned
during the king’s reign to adorn the interior of the crypt inside Wat Rātchaburana’s main tower.
Showing strong affiliation with the tradition and style of Sri Lankan Buddhist art, as opposed to
Pagan’s preexisting in the region, these murals appear to be a product of direct religious contact
between Ayutthaya and the motherland of the new Sīhaḷa order during this decade.
Sunk deep in the mass of brick and laterite foundation of Wat Rātchaburana’s main tower is a
series of crypt chambers vertically arranged to house the relic(s) of the Buddha and various other
sacred and auspicious objects. While most of these objects were looted in the 20th century, the
crypt’s murals survive almost intact. At the most basic level, the symbolic murals representing the
Buddha’s life story adorning the crypt meant to house Buddha relics have their roots in the Sīhaḷa
Buddhist tradition; this basic association of representing the Buddha’s life story and relics is
confirmed scripturally, i.e. in the Mahāvaṃsa account (Geiger 1912: chapter XXX), and as well
archaeologically (Bandaranayake 2006: 73-9). On stylistic grounds, the Rātchaburana murals can
also be perceived as closely related to Sri Lanka’s longstanding (Samerchai 2014: 27-65). This is
opposed to the Pagan example which, though adopting principally Pāli textual reference also most
likely from Sri Lanka, is affiliated on stylistic and iconographic grounds with older Indian
prototypes.
Three main narrative themes are found in these crypt murals: (1) a number of jātaka stories --
though most likely selected from the Pāli Jātakaṭṭhakathā, with no accompanying inscriptional
records -- most could not be precisely identified; (2) a chronological series of the 24 past Buddhas,
with their names all inscribed in conformity with the Pāli Buddhavaṃsa text; and, (3) a detailed
biography of Gotama in his last existence, most likely based on the Jātakanidāna and other Pāli
texts (Samerchai 2014: 27-65). Made identifiable on iconographic grounds are the murals
20
belonging to the last narrative theme, illustrating the following Gotama’s episodes: conception in
the womb of Queen Maya; Nativity (probably -- scene much eroded); the four treasure troops to
miraculously come into existence at the time of the Gotama’s birth; horse Kanthaka and his driver,
Channa, in sorrow after leaving the bodhisatta; the Buddha’s enlightenment and first-week
meditation, represented by the same mural scene; the following six weeks of meditation scenes,
each individually depicted; first sermon at Isipatana; taming of the Nālāgiri elephant; Pārileyya
episode, with only the elephant present, probably based on the Pāli Vinaya-Mahāvagga; the
mahāparinibbāna; and, one outgroup, a depiction of the Buddha’s footprint enshrined on top of
Sumana Mountain in Sri Lanka (Figure 5). Though there are a number of scenes depicting the
Buddha’s activities that could not be precisely identified on iconographic grounds, none are
compatible with illustration of the Buddha descending from Tāvatiṃsa, normally executed in an
easily recognizable composition; thus, the murals are not intended to incorporate the complete
“Eight Major Events” of the Buddha, the highly popular series seen in Pagan. In general, the
Rātchaburana crypt-murals could be considered to represent a separate mural tradition, which,
apart from sharing the same source of Pāli textual reference, has only trivial connection with its
preceding counterpart evidenced at Pagan (Samerchai 2014: 27-65).
V. Discussion
Thus far I have demonstrated that the Pagan tradition of narrating the Buddha’s life, as illustrated
in the murals of the period, was primarily based upon the standard Pāli canonical and commentarial
sources. Though the Pāla iconographic elements -- arisen in the Mahāyāna realm of northeastern
India, centered spiritually at Bodh-gaya -- are noticeable in the murals of the period, likely they
21
were also re-interpreted to suit Pagan’s Theravādin context. That the murals of Pagan, and in the
wider context, Pagan’s art in general, take a strongly Pāla-inspired form, is, however, remarkable
in itself, and could have been somehow associated with Pagan’s perception of the supremacy of
Bodhgaya, the very spot of the Buddha’s enlightenment. The symbolism evidenced in the
structural organization of the Pagan murals, particularly during the 13th century, as detailed above,
demonstrates this point. The phenomenon could be associated with a symbolic transposition of
Buddhist spirituality from Bodhgaya -- at that time entering a period of total decline due to severe
Muslim attacks -- to Pagan, then perceived as a new spiritual center reaching its supremacy in the
Buddhist World.
63
What seems to be extraordinary in textual terms at Pagan -- also evidenced in the murals of the
period, particularly during the 13th century -- is narration of stories which are not contained in any
standard canonical or commentarial Pāli sources. Included in the murals of Pagan temple 585,
located in Minnanthu, is an inscribed depiction of a young child, king Asoka in his previous
existence, donating a handful of dust for alms to the Gotama Buddha (Figure 6)
65
; while the story
could find remote origin in an older Sanskrit text, the Asokavadāna, the mural narration might be
derived from the more immediate source of the Lokapaññatti, an old Pāli work believed to be
composed either in Burma or Sri Lanka (Saddhammaghosa, 1985: 96-97). Depicted in the 13th
century murals of the Pagan tradition in temple number 69 in Sale is a serial narrative of three
63
For discussions on the significance of Bodhgaya in the Pagan context see also: Frasch 1998:
69-92; Brown 1988: 101-24.
65
Inscriptional identification provided to the author by the late U Aung Kyaing, former Deputy
Director General, Myanmar Department of Archaeology.
22
remote existences of Gotama: as a hermit teacher, jumping off the cliff to sacrifice his body to a
tigress who was starving enough to swallow her own cubs; as a ship captain saving his mother
from a shipwreck by carrying her on his shoulder while swimming in the ocean; and, as a princess
bodhisatta encountering Buddha Dīpaṅkara in his previous existence (Figure 7). Although the first
narrative could find its corresponding source in the Sanskrit Jātakamālā text (Āryaśūra 1971: 3-
8), its inclusion in the series together with the other two jataka stories, both too remote to be
accounted for in the standard Pāli Jātaka narration, more likely suggests the immediate source of
the series to be derived from an old Pāli work, the Sotaṭṭhakīmahānidāna.
68
Being neither
canonical nor commentarial in its own right, the latter text was composed by a Thera named
Buddhaghosa at an unknown date, presumably in Sri Lanka; the text is, however, stated in the
Gandhavaṃsa, a 17th century Pāli work composed in Burma, to be authored by Cullabuddhaghosa,
with a prefix used probably to distinguish him from the famous Buddhaghosa of the 5th century
CE (Cullabuddhaghosa 1983: [14]-[37]; Minayef 1886: 63). The latter text provides a
chronological narration of Gotama’s previous and last existences -- perceived in the text’s own
temporal framework, in contrast to the Jātakanidāna’s -- to span the period of twenty asaṅkheyya
and a hundred thousand eons, during which the bodhisatta had encountered in successive order
the innumerable past Buddhas (see also Skilling 1996: 151-83; Derris 2000). With such temporal
extension added to narration of the bodhisatta’s path, the text is not strictly made to conform to
68
While the Pāli Jātaka text accounts for the selected existences of Gotama during the past four
asaṅkheyya and a hundred thousand eons, the three Sotaṭṭhakī’s jātakas of concern are to set
forth the bodhisatta’s career to cover a period of twenty asaṅkheyya and a hundred thousand
eons.
23
the Pāli canonical-commentarial sources, i.e. the Jātaka-Jātakaṭṭhakathā and the Buddhavaṃsa-
Madhuratthavilāsinī.
Also evidenced in the murals of Pagan temple 447 (Le-myet-hna) -- established in 1223 CE in
Minnanthu, the Arañ’s headquarters – is an inscriptional record providing some biographic details
on the first three Buddhas (Taṇhaṅkara, Medhaṅkara and Saraṇaṅkara) of the Buddhavaṃsa series,
details not accounted for in the Buddhavaṃsa text itself, but found recorded instead in the
Sotaṭṭhakī (Ba Shin 1962: 159-60). In the inscription of 1388 CE -- located in Kyaukyit, central
Burma – we find a legendary account of Mahākassapa, the elder of the Arañ Buddhist nikāya
during the 13th century, to contain the story, most likely derived from Sotaṭṭhakī, of the ten
bodhisattas who shall become the future Buddhas after Gotama, of which one is equated with the
previous existence of Mahākassapa himself (Than Tun 1988: 98). The text is also included in a
1442 CE epigraphic list of Buddhist scriptures donated to a monastery library in Pagan (Tun Nyein
1899: 37-47). These later pieces of evidence confirm continuity of the Sotaṭṭhakī knowledge, in
the Buddhist context of Pagan until well after its dynastic period.
Approval in the Buddhist context of central Burma of some “unconventional” Pāli texts --
bearing Buddhist narratives deviating from, or not contained in, the established canonical and
commentarial Pāli sources constituting the core scriptural essence of the reformed Theravāda --
could be logically considered another characteristic of the “medieval Theravāda” prevailing in the
area, with the Arañ as its major known representative. In the broader context, the phenomenon
might also provide a glimpse of the literary atmosphere of pre-reform Theravāda in Sri Lanka, i.e.
prior to the mid-12th century, even within the domain of Mahāvihāra orthodoxy. Based on accounts
thus far provided of central Burma’s Arañ , we can advance that central Burma’s Arañ comprised
the following: (1) a Buddhist community truly well versed in Pāli literature, both “conventional”
24
serving for establishment of the reformed Theravāda and “unconventional” as could be a part of
the older Theravāda; (2) as previously noted by Historian Than Tun, lax observance of some vinaya
rules; (3) also based on Than Tun’s investigation, a foundation in central Burma dependent on the
accumulation of wealth, particularly in the form of productive land estates; and, (4) in the material
sense, an association with the Pagan style of Buddhist art, widespread in central Burma and its
neighboring regions.
Being a powerful kingdom, Pagan, during its dynastic period from the mid-11th to the late-13th
centuries, could have exercised sovereignty over the whole of Lower Burma and probably other
parts of Southeast Asia as well, though its power over these areas could have waxed and waned
(Frasch 2002: 59-78). Religious transmission and exchanges likely accompanied its spread of
power, allowing dissemination on an extensive scale of Pagan Buddhism, an old Theravāda
represented materially by the form of the Buddhist art developed on the model of Pāla prototypes.
The most notable image type on this model is the iconic representation of the Buddha wearing a
pointed crown prevalent in Lower Burma, Haripunjaya in northern Thailand, and central Thailand,
all dating tentatively from the early centuries of the second millennium CE (Samerchai in press).
The Pāla characteristic is also included among those recognized by Art Historian Hiram
Woodward as a signature of the old Hinayāna prevalent in central Thailand (Woodward 1997: 115-
6; Woodward 2003: 166-71); Woodward perceives the latter, which he calls the “Ariya” Buddhist
nikāya, as a continuum of the Dvāravatī Buddhist faith to be well extended into the period of
Khmer domination over the area, also with Pagan contacts, between the 11th and 13th centuries.
Woodward’s Ariya and the Pagan Buddhism explored in this chapter, with the “Arañ” serving as
its major representative, constitute the currently best-known material components of the many
variants of the “medieval Theravāda” of Southeast Asia.
25
To mark an end to the medieval phase of Theravāda in Southeast Asia could have been a series
of heavy blows from the post-reform Theravāda orthodoxy from Sri Lanka in the area, to start its
firm establishment in Lower Burma and then in the central and northern parts of Thailand from
the early 14th century onwards. To accompany the hegemony of the new Sīhaḷa order in the area
was also the influx of the Sīhaḷa artistic and iconographic instruments, with obvious evidence in
the Buddhist art and architecture of Sukhothai, Lanna and Ayutthaya; the present essay shows such
influence in the murals of Wat Ratchaburana, Ayutthaya, dating from the first half of the 15th
century. It is interesting to note that central Burma could have been left as a backwater for
spreading the new Sīhaḷa order until well after the 15th century; this could have been largely due
to the relatively long-lasting success of the Arañ establishment (Samerchai 2015: 145-97).
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to the late U Aung Kyaing for his generous assistance on reading the
mural inscriptions of Pagan and to Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool, Donald M. Stadtner and
Nicolas Ravire for their valuable comments on the earlier drafts of this manuscript. This study was
supported by Thammasat University Research Fund, Contract No. TUFT 2/2565.
26
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Illustration
Figure 1: The Buddha’s meditation (from right to left) during the second and third weeks after
the enlightenment, second panel, inner wall series of the Buddha’s life, Pātho-htā-mya.
Figure 2: “Eight Major Events” of the Buddha, Loka-hteik-pan temple (from top to bottom and
left to right): Mahāparinibbāna (1st tier, damaged); coming vs. departure of Māra, for the
Enlightenment of the Buddha, also represented by the cult image itself (2nd tier); Taming of
Nālāgiri vs. Descent from Tavatiṃsa (3rd tier); First Sermon vs. Twin Miracle (4th tier); and,
Pārileyya vs. Nativity (5th tier).
Figure 3: Symbolic arrangement of the cult images and the murals to represent “Majjhimadesa”,
centered at Bodhgaya, modeled after Pagan temple 664: “Seven Stations” in the inner circle and
“Eight Stations” in the outer circle (background layout of the temple from Pichard, Inventory,
vol. III, 167)
Figure 4: Twin Miracle at Sāvatthi (left) vis-à-vis Second Week Meditation at Animisa Cetiya
(right), east wall of the north vestibule, Pagan temple 539.
Figure 5: Buddha footprint on the summit of the Sumana Mountain in Sri Lanka,
Rātchaburana’s crypt murals.
Figure 6: A young child Piyadassī, King Asoka in his previous existence, donating a handful of
dust for alms to Buddha Gotama, Pagan temple 585.
Figure 7: Gotama in his remote existences, probably based on the Sotaṭṭhakīmahānidāna
account (temple number 69 at Sale; from left to right): a hermit teacher sacrificing himself for a
starving tigress; encounter of the ship’s captain, who is saving his mother in the shipwreck, with
the Mahābrahma God; encounter of the princess bodhisatta with Dīpaṅkara in his previous
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existence, a disciple of Buddha Purāna Dīpaṅkara; and, Dīpaṅkara (in the same existence)
obtaining a prediction for his enlightenment to come from Purāna Dīpaṅkara.
Figure 1
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Figure 2
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Figure 3
Figure 4
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Figure 5
37
Figure 6
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Figure 7
