Dhammayangyi Temple

Location: in the west of the central plain of Bagan
Ticket: covered in the through ticket of Bagan Pass which charges US$15.

Dhammayangyi Pagoda is large among other Bagan pagodas. It is an outstanding brick-making pagoda which body is built with huge red bricks. Every two bricks connect each other tightly even cannot insert a needle. The archways of the pagoda are unique in its shape. Though doesn’t enshrine big Buddha, the pagoda has generous corridor and charming natural sunlight threw from its windows. However, the temple in the center of the pagoda has been closed for years without a known reason.

According to historical record, the pagoda is an “atrocity pagoda”; its sponsor King Narathu, the 45th king of Bagan Kingdom who only reined from 1167 to 1170, was a tyrant, and he had this pagoda build to atone for his crime of killing his father and brother. He was abnormally strict with the building and cut workers’ fingers if found any flaw. In 1170, before the finish of the pagoda, he was assassinated for his atrocity, after that, the construction of the pagoda stopped and the top of the pagoda still remains unfinished today.