Pawdawmu Pagoda (1193)(ပေါ်တော်မူ ဘုရား)

The builders of Bagan worked with a fierce energy, not only creating wholly new structures but also building over existing ones, encasing older pagodas in larger and newer ones. The Pawdawmu provides an interesting example of an encased pagoda-peculiar in shape, because it belongs to an earlier period, and well preserved, because it was encased.

It stands only 16 feet high above its platform, but the Pawdawmu provides many interesting features. There are three terraces usual in most pagodas, but their shape is hexagonal instead of the usual square. The dome which rises above the terraces looks ordinary and is bell-shaped. But, again, the finial which surmounts it is unusual. While most finials are conical and ringed, this one is pyramidal and smooth and terminates in a double lotus from which emerges a small cone.

Glimpse of Glorious Bagan, Universities Historical Research Centre, Yangon, Myanmar, The University Press, 1996

Pictorial Guide to Pagan, Ministry of Culture, Yangon, Myanmar, The Printing and Publish Corporation, Reprint 1975

The Pagodas and Monuments of Bagan, Vol. 1, Translated by Dr Khin Maung Nyunt, Ministry of Information, Yangon, Myanmar, Graphic Training Centre (G.T.C), 1995

The Pagodas and Monuments of Bagan , Vol. 2, English Text by Dr Khin Maung Nyunt, Ministry of Information, Yangon, Myanmar, Graphic Training Centre (G.T.C), 1998

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