December 2019 | SMITHSONIAN.COM 35The temple incorporates more than one
worldview. The king, reported a 17th-cen-
tury Portuguese friar who traveled there,
“admitted a few [Hindu] gods into his
shrine,” refl ecting “the tolerance and
charity of Buddhism.” Below right, a
sculpture depicting Man Pa.
A ten-foot-tall
statue of the
Buddha looms
inside Shitt-
haung temple,
built in the 1500s
by King Man
Pa to celebrate
campaigns in
eastern Bengal.PREVIOUSSPREAD:^ JAKOBFISCHER^
/^ ALAMYSTOCK^
PHOTO;
THIS^SPREAD:^ HEMIS^/^ ALAMY(^2)EVERYONE
WAS WELCOME
HERE, BUT
OFTEN THE KING
CAME TO SEEK
MEDITATION
ALONE.”
“