Pyatthat

The pyatthat (Burmese: ပြာသာဒ်) is the multi-tiered roof of traditional Burmese royal and religious architecture. Its name derives from the Sanskrit prasada. A pyatthat is built as a series of gabled, rectangular roofs stacked one above another, diminishing toward the top, so that the whole forms an exaggerated stepped pyramid finished with a spire.

Tiers

A pyatthat has an odd number of tiers, normally three to seven, with nine reserved for the king. Each tier is a boun (from Pali bhumi). Named forms include:

• yahma - three tiers
• thooba - five tiers
• thooyahma - seven tiers

Components

• Roofs: successive gabled roofs, each smaller than the one below.
• Lebaw: a box-like stage between each pair of roofs.
• Spire: a wooden finial, called taing bu or kun bu depending on its shape, similar to the umbrella finial (hti) on pagodas.
• Edges and corners: tier edges carry gilded sheet-metal decoration, and corner ornaments called du yin play a role similar to the Thai chofa.

Use and meaning

Pyatthat crown monasteries (kyaung), palace buildings and pagodas, and are placed over Buddha images, royal thrones and city gates. In pre-colonial Burma the form represented Tavatimsa, a Buddhist heaven. The nine-tiered pyatthat over the main throne in the royal audience hall stood for Mount Meru, with the lower tiers representing the realms of gods and humans. The gates of royal capitals were also crowned with pyatthat.

Sumptuary rules limited pyatthat to royal and religious buildings and tied the number of tiers to rank: only the sovereign could have nine tiers, and rulers of important tributary states (sawbwa) could have seven.

History and examples

The form appears early in Burmese architecture. The Ananda Temple at Bagan, begun about 1090 and completed in 1105, has one of the earliest uses of the pyatthat; the Gawdawpalin Temple is another Bagan-period example. Later examples include:

• Mandalay Palace (1857-1859), over its throne rooms and entrances;
• King Mindon's tomb, Mandalay;
• Shwe In Bin Monastery (1895), Mandalay;
• Yangon City Hall (1926-1936), a colonial-era building with pyatthat roofs.

Related forms

The pyatthat belongs to the wider family of tiered sacred roofs of South and Southeast Asia, alongside the Thai temple roof, the Balinese meru and the East Asian pagoda roof.