Dhammayazika Phaya (ဓမ္မရာဇိကဘုရား)

Burmese. ‘Royal Crown of the Law Pagoda’, ‘Pertaining the Righteousness King Pagoda’ or  ‘Pertaining the King of Law Pagoda’. Name of a Buddhist temple in Bagan (fig.), which is located to the west of Pwasaw Village and to the southeast of Old Bagan. This brick structure with a bells-shaped golden zedi was built in 1198 AD, by King Narapatisithu, in order to house four holy relics that the latter received from the King of Sri Lanka in the preceding year. Its has three pentagonal terraces, that contain a number of gilded stupas, several greyish sandstone chintha, as well as some outward facing and seated thevada-like guardian figures in red-orange-brown rust colour, whilst the walls of the highest of the these receding terraces was originally ornamented with terracotta tiles depicting scenes from the jataka, though many of those have over time gone missing. Whereas most Pagan temples of this period have four Buddha images facing the cardinal points and representing the four buddhas of the present world cycle or yuga, known as Kali, who have already attained Enlightenment, i.e. Kassapa (fig.), Kakusandha (fig.), Konagamana (fig.), and Gautama (fig.), Dhammayazika Phaya actually has a fifth Buddha image (hence its pentagonal layout), namely Metteya, i.e. Maitreya (fig.), the future buddha, who is yet to come (fig.). Also referred to as Dhammayazika Zedi. See also MAP and TRAVEL PHOTOS. 回