Research on the early Buddhist architecture in the Ayeyarwady Basin

ABSTRACT

As the major architectural system in Myanmar, the Buddhist architectural heritage in the Ayeyarwady Basin is a concrete representation of the collision and integration of river basin cultures in time and space. The heritage carries the natural, historical, and cultural information of the local society, and reflects the highest achievements of architectural technology and art at that time. This paper takes the early Buddhist architecture in the Ayeyarwady Basin as the research object, adopts methods of literature research, field investigation and architectural typology to integrate the Buddhist resources in the three ancient world cultural heritage cities of Beikthano, Srikshetra and Bagan in different periods. Based on the diachronic analysis, the Buddhist architecture types in the basin are summarized. The main results obtained in this paper are as follows:First, the study points out that the development of Buddhist architecture in the Ayeyarwady Basin is affected by social history, water and land transportation, religious culture and many other factors. Second, it puts forward the basin characteristics of the Buddhist architectural form. Third, it summarizes the creativity in the form and technology of the Buddhist architecture in the Ayeyarwady Basin. Fourth, it reveals the development principles and religious culture of Buddhist architecture in the Ayeyarwady Basin.

KEYWORDS:

• Ayeyarwady Basin
• Buddhist architecture
• style
• characteristics
• early period

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professor Wei Dong’s studio and Professor Su Su for supporting the case study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the text. Yicun Pang conceived and wrote the paper. Wei Dong and members of Wei Dong’s studio drew relevant pictures and proposed an innovative plan.

Additional information

Funding

This research received the funding of National Natural Science Foundation of China. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The funding number is [51978145]. The project leader is Professor Wei Dong (School of Architecture, Southeast University).