Bagan temples ಬಗನ್ ದೇವಾಲಯಗಳು

Very early in the morning we proceeded to view and cover the world famous sunrise of Bagan. We are guided to a tower like ancient structure which has many stories and we try to reach the upper most story to have the best view of the sunrise. Climbing up the broad and a bit uneven stairs, broken at many places is quite a tough job especially if one is carrying cameras but still when we reach the top story we find a large number of tourists from different parts of the world assembled there keenly awaiting the time for the sunrise. In fact people keep coming up and at one stage just before the sunrise is to happen the top floor of the tower is completely packed with the tourists most of whom are ready with their still and video cameras to capture the magical sunrise. Watching this sunrise at Bagan was something very special, magical and breathtaking too. All over where one’s eyes could reach , as the sunrise was taking place, one could see thousands and thousands of small and Buddhist temples and pagodas. Bagan is famous the world over for these dizzying number of ancient temples that were built somewhere between 9th and 13th centuries. Watching all these thousands of pagodas together with the sunrise is something that is an experience that leaves one wonder struck and speechless. Out of the original thousands and thousands of temples and pagodas only a few thousand are in somewhat good shape but the rest of them are lying in ruins. We spend this day going through some of the famous Buddhist temples of Bagan. Most of these famous temples are well maintained but many of the old walls and statues are giving in. While going around the main Buddhist temples we came around a Siva temple almost lying in ruins and unfortunately completely ignored and ill maintained. What was shocking to me was that while all other Buddhist temples were well identified and there were bill boards and even information boards giving their names and backgrounds , in case of the Siva temple we could only come to know about it being a Siva temple was through the statues of Lord Siva and his murals and wall paintings and etchings etc. There was not even a small board outside the temple stating that it was an ancient Siva temple. At another temple we suddenly realised that it had images of Hindu god Lord Brahma but in this case also there was no sign that talked about them, identified them or gave this as background information. Most of the temples we visit have shopping complexes near them selling local handicraft items and even books of Bagan. Beneath the tower from where we covered sunrise and sunset are hawkers trying to vigorously sell handicraft producs, clothes and books on Bagan. In the evening again we cover the sunset from the same tower from where we covered the sunrise in the morning. This time too the place was overflowing with the tourists and photographers from all over the world. Every tourist these days has either a camera or a mobile through which pictures can be taken, so from that angle, every one is a photographer.