Manuha Temple

The Manuha Temple is a low, square structure distinguished by a massive, cramped image of a seated Buddha that seems to bulge against the stone walls. King Manuha, a captive monarch from the Mon kingdom of Thaton, built this sanctuary in ten fifty-nine. He designed the interior space to be intentionally tight and suffocating. This arrangement reflects the king’s own misery as a prisoner of King Anawrahta, symbolizing the physical and spiritual confinement he felt while living in exile under a rival ruler.