Qualla: Gubyaukgyi Temple (Myinkaba)

Gubyaukgyi Temple (Myinkaba): Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Leon petrosyan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Step inside Gubyaukgyi and your eyes need a moment to adjust. The eleven perforated windows, cut in the old Pyu style with shapes of banyan leaves and swastikas, admit only thin blades of light. As the darkness resolves, the walls come alive: 547 paintings, nine centuries old, depicting the Jataka tales of Buddha's previous lives in a style that traces not to Myanmar but to Sri Lanka. Built in 1113 AD by Prince Yazakumar in the village of Myinkaba, just south of Bagan's main temple plain, Gubyaukgyi is a place where grief, devotion, and artistic ambition converged. The prince raised the temple shortly after the death of his father, King Kyansittha of the Pagan Dynasty, and what he created became both a memorial and an irreplaceable record of Southeast Asian civilization.

Image: Leon petrosyan | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gubyaukgyi Temple (Myinkaba): A Captive King's Legacy

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0. The story of Gubyaukgyi's distinctive Mon style begins sixty years before its construction. Around 1054 AD, King Anawrahta, founder of the Pagan Empire, conquered the Mon capital of Thaton and brought its king, Makuta, back to Bagan as a captive. Along with the defeated monarch c...

Image: Gerd Eichmann | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gubyaukgyi Temple (Myinkaba): Myanmar's Rosetta Stone

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 3.0. Just west of the temple stands the Myazedi Pagoda, where two stone pillars were discovered bearing inscriptions in four ancient languages: Pali, Old Mon, Old Burmese, and Pyu. Scholars have called this the Burmese Rosetta Stone, and the comparison is apt. Just as the original Ros...

Image: Gerd Eichmann | CC BY-SA 3.0

Gubyaukgyi Temple (Myinkaba): Walls That Remember Sri Lanka

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Michael Gunther, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 547 Jataka paintings inside Gubyaukgyi are extraordinary not only for their age but for their origin. They draw directly from Sri Lanka's historical chronicles, the Mahavamsa, rather than from local Burmese traditions. Panels depict Arahant Mahinda spreading Buddhism to the i...

Image: Michael Gunther | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gubyaukgyi Temple (Myinkaba): Saving Nine Centuries of Paint

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0. By 1982, a UNESCO survey found Gubyaukgyi in distress. The original exterior cornice had been lost, replaced by black algae and lichen. Stucco was pulling away from the walls. Earthquakes had damaged the entrance hallway. Insects had bored into the plaster, and earlier conservato...

Image: Gerd Eichmann | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gubyaukgyi Temple (Myinkaba): A Dim Room, a Bright Record

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0. The interior of Gubyaukgyi is deliberately dark. The Pyu-style windows were never meant to flood the space with light. Instead, the temple was designed for contemplation in near-darkness, where the paintings on the walls revealed themselves slowly, scene by scene, as if the stori...

Image: Gerd Eichmann | CC BY-SA 4.0