MONUMENTAL VOCABULARY

You may hear a site referred to as paya. This Burmese term which translates as “holy one” is often applied to pagodas, but may work for temples, shrines, stupas and even people.

But in the pagoda sense there are two types of paya: zedi is a bell-shaped stupa, often believed to contain a religious relic, while a pahto is applied to a hollow square paya. A pahto with entries and corridors at ground level is referred to as a gu or ku or “cave temple.”