Built by Kyansittha, who reigned 1084 to 1112 or 1113; the page gives about 1090 for the start and 1105 for the finish.
A legend says eight monks from the Nandamula cave in the Himalayas described their cave to the king, who had the monk-architects killed so that no one could copy it; Coedes gives a different account in which the architect and a child were buried alive as guardian spirits. The page flags the first as legend and confirms neither. The Ananda Okkyaung, a monastery inside the precinct, is dated 1137 and carries an inscription crediting three brothers with the building.
The temple mixes Mon and adopted Indian styles, its jataka scenes derive from Mon texts, and a lacquer figure of Shin Arahan sits at the feet of the great Buddha (English Wikipedia). The campaign board calls it the building the kingdom is judged by, a century old on 1 January 1200 and the model every later builder answers to. Whatever land and servants belong to it are not listed in anything we read.
Who holds it
- Title
- Keepers of the temple
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia, Ananda Temple (citing Coedes, Schober, Duroiselle and others); no keeper is named.
What it holds
- The temple and the Ananda Okkyaung monastery
- Whatever villages and servants were given to it (not itemised)
How it was acquired
Founded by Kyansittha, about 1090 to 1105.
How things stand that morning
A century-old royal foundation in the full life of the city; the monastery inside the precinct is sixty-three years old.
Places of note
- The Ananda: The temple.
- Ananda Okkyaung: Monastery of 1137 in the precinct.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry ananda-temple: 'Kyanzittha's temple of about 1105'. Agreed (page: finished 1105). Coordinates are the campaign board's (21.170, 94.869); the Wikipedia infobox figure was not read.
Evidence: The building and the 1137 monastery inscription are firm; the founding stories are legend; endowments are unknown.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
Primary sources for Kingdom of Pagan
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma, The Royal Historical Commission of King Bagyidaw (Monywe Sayadaw and others), drawing on U Kala's Maha Yazawin (about 1724) and earlier chronicles (1829 to 1832). The standard Burmese court chronicle, compiled six centuries after 1200 from older chronicles now lost. Read online
- The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- Epigraphia Birmanica, being lithic and other inscriptions of Burma, Various, edited by Taw Sein Ko, C. Duroiselle and C. O. Blagden (inscriptions of the 11th to 15th centuries; the series ran from 1919 to 1936). The Archaeological Survey of Burma's series of edited inscriptions with full translations. Read online
- Inscriptions of Pagan, Pinya and Ava; Inscriptions of Burma, Various (the Pagan kings, queens, ministers and donors), edited by Tun Nyein, Taw Sein Ko, G. H. Luce and Pe Maung Tin (inscriptions of the 11th to 14th centuries; editions 1899 and 1933 to 1956). The dedicatory inscriptions of Pagan are the only contemporary texts for the kingdom of Narapatisithu (reigning 1174 to 1211). Read online
- A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
- Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.