A Study On Buddhist Architecture Of The Lower Ayeyarwady Basin,Myanmar

The Great River Civilization is the place where human civilization begins.Where rivers pass,human beings proliferate and breed creative culture.Due to geopolitical relations,the cultural and architectural circles of Southeast Asia are watershed,while the Ayeyarwady Basin in Myanmar originated from an important historical region in southwestern China.Intercourse is an important link and window for us to study historical buildings in Southeast Asia.The research scope of the thesis is mainly concentrated in the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady.This basin is the most developed area in Myanmar’s economic culture and agricultural trade.It is also the source of Myanmar’s core culture-Buddhist culture.It serves as the carrier of social and historical context and reflects local skills at that time.The most successful Buddhist architecture has become the most important architectural system in the basin.Therefore,this article takes the lower Ayeyarwady as the background and the Buddhist culture as a clue to study its early Buddhist architectural network in time and space,and intends to explore its historical significance.The full text is divided into five parts:The first part is the explanation of the research(Chapter 1).The second part is the research on the architectural background at the macro level(Chapter 2): Under the influence of Indian culture,various branches of Buddhism and Hinduism have spread,making the place a fusion of diversity under the belief system dominated by Southern Buddhism.The complex culture has deeply influenced its Buddhist architectural form and decorative motifs.This chapter discusses the starting point and circulation of early Buddhism,the growth environment,transplantation foundation and development source of Buddhism in the area from multiple levels,such as social geography,history and culture.The third part is a diachronic analysis(Chapters 3-5): The study takes the space downstream of the Ayeyarwady River as the vertical axis and the time development sequence as the horizontal axis to analyze the downstream ancient cities of Beikthano,Sri Ksetra,Bagan and Yangon in three stages.The Buddhist architecture of the city is analyzed: 1.The Pyu Kingdom period(1-9th century AD)-the formation period of Buddhist architecture;2.The Bagan period(11-13 th century AD)-the heyday of Buddhist architecture;3.The Warring States period(13th century-the first half of the 16 th century)-the period of finalization of Buddhist architecture.In terms of types,the Buddhist buildings can be divided into four types: stupas,temples,monks’ houses and tower-shaped Buddhist temples.Among them,stupas and temples are designed by early craftsmen.The core of construction,which is basin-based and representative,is the focus of this article.In general,the stupas have experienced the early development process of Andhra hemispherical—Gupta high-dump shape—cylindrical shape—Pyu flower bud shape—Burmese bell-covered shape;temples have experienced the Pyu shape—Meng—Burmese transition.After the Buddhism architecture in the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River collided,absorbed and merged among various ethnic groups,regions and forms such as Pyu,Meng,and Burma,the evolution of the Burmese native style was finally completed.The fourth part is superimposed comparison and regular summary(chapters6-7): On the basis of diachronism,this article superimposes and compares the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River with other relevant river basins,revealing the differences produced by different spatial levels,to find out the uniqueness and innovation,aiming to realize the continuation of the historical context of the river basin in the protection and development of contemporary buildings.The attributes are: the site selection has the characteristics of surface water construction,highland construction,and loose construction;the overall spatial pattern is centripetal and large;the architectural form and function are diverse and mixed;the architectural plan is based on mandala graphics Paradigm,in which temple mostly adopts a central solid column plane system;the facade of the building is influenced by the worship of the holy mountain,and the internal space of the building is covered with a unique arch voucher structure;Buddhist architecture is closely related to the royal regime.The fifth part is to summarize the prospects(Chapter 8).Through research,the main results obtained in this article are as follows:1.It points out that the social history,water and land transportation,religious culture and other exchanges between the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River and India and the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia are the continuous and stable development of the Buddhist architectural network in the area,and it can be extended to the surrounding areas.2.It presents the basin-based characteristics of Buddhist architecture in the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River.The expansion of the countries,culture and architecture of the Indochina Peninsula is mainly in the trend of basin-based development in combination with local characteristics.In this context,this article analyzes the types and styles of early Buddhist architecture in the area,and initially builds Southeast Asia represented by the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River.3.It shows the particularity and creativity of Buddhist architectural morphology and skills in the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River.Including: the principle of basin-based site selection;the disorder and centripetality of the individual building orientation and overall layout;the characteristics of large-scale,high-base,and Burmese-style block slopes without flat heads;the planar structure of the central solid column of the support hall;Unique voucher technology system.4.It reveals the principles and religious principles behind the development and changes of Buddhist architecture in the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River.