Pyatthat

Pyatthat (Burmese: ပြာသာဒ်, IPA: [pjaʔθaʔ]; from Sanskrit prāsāda; Mon: တန်ဆံၚ် IPA: [tan.cʰi̤ŋ]; also spelt pyathat) is the name of a multistaged roof, with an odd number of tiers (from three to seven). The pyatthat is commonly incorporated into Burmese Buddhist and royal architecture (e.g., kyaungs, palace buildings, pagodas) and towers above the image of the Buddha or other sacred places (e.g., royal thrones and city gates).

The pyatthat is made of successive gabled rectangular roofs in an exaggerated pyramidal shape, with an intervening box-like structure called the lebaw (လည်ပေါ်) between each roof. The pyatthat is crowned with a wooden spire called the taing bu (တိုင်ဖူး) or kun bu (ကွန်းဖူး) depending on its shape, similar to the hti, an umbrella ornament that crowns Burmese pagodas. The edges of each tier are gold-gilded decorative designs made of metal sheet, with decorative ornaments called du yin (တုရင်) at the corners (analogous to the Thai chofah). There are three primary kinds of pyatthat, with the variation being the number of tiers called boun (ဘုံ, from Pali bhumi). Three-tiered, five-tiered and seven-tiered roofs are called yahma, thooba, and thooyahma, respectively.

The usage of the pyatthat began early in Burmese architecture, with examples dating to the Pagan period. Prominent examples from this era that feature the pyatthat include the Ananda Temple and Gawdawpalin Temple.

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