DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0156
134
EASTERN CAVES.
no doubt show a much greater affinity to those of Malta, vallipur
than this one does; but
its style having been
elaborated in a foreign
country, and under fo-
reign local influences,
we ought hardly to be
surprised at it having
assumed so totally dif-
ferent an appearance
during the seven cen-
times that elapsed be-
tween their erection.1
Had it been erected by
Indians it probably
would have taken much
more of the form of the
Tanjore pagoda, and the
numberless examples of
the Dravidian style to
be found in the south
of India. As it is, it is
nearly a counterpart of
the Bodhidruma temple
No. 35. Burmese Tower at Buddha Gaya, from a Photograph. „ , , -, r
King Jaya Sinha between the years 1204 and 1227.3 The Burmese
temple is, it must be confessed, a little broader in its base than that
at Buddha Gaya, and its pyramid a little less steep, but this may
1 In his work on Buddha Gaya, Babu Bajendralala Mitra adduces the form of the
temple at Konch (Plate XVIII.) in support of bis theory of the Buddha Gaya temple.
It would, however, be difficult to find two buildings so essentially different as these are.
That at Konch is a curvilinear spire of the Northern Aryan or Bengal style; that at
Buddha Gaya is a straight lined many-storeyed pyramid, deriving its form from those
of the ancient Buddhist Viharas. The only advantage that can be derived from their
juxtaposition is to prove that they were built by different people, at distant times, and
for dissimilar purposes ; there is absolutely no connexion between them.
2 In a private letter to me Sir Arthur Phayre says that when he first saw the Buddha
Gaya temple, he at once came to the conclusion, from the style of its masonry an
whole appearance, that it must have been erected by the Burmese, and no °"e
probably is a better judge and more competent than he is to give an opinion on t ie
subject.—J.F.
3 Crawford's Embassy to Ava, vol. 1, p. 117, 8vo. edition.
EASTERN CAVES.
no doubt show a much greater affinity to those of Malta, vallipur
than this one does; but
its style having been
elaborated in a foreign
country, and under fo-
reign local influences,
we ought hardly to be
surprised at it having
assumed so totally dif-
ferent an appearance
during the seven cen-
times that elapsed be-
tween their erection.1
Had it been erected by
Indians it probably
would have taken much
more of the form of the
Tanjore pagoda, and the
numberless examples of
the Dravidian style to
be found in the south
of India. As it is, it is
nearly a counterpart of
the Bodhidruma temple
No. 35. Burmese Tower at Buddha Gaya, from a Photograph. „ , , -, r
King Jaya Sinha between the years 1204 and 1227.3 The Burmese
temple is, it must be confessed, a little broader in its base than that
at Buddha Gaya, and its pyramid a little less steep, but this may
1 In his work on Buddha Gaya, Babu Bajendralala Mitra adduces the form of the
temple at Konch (Plate XVIII.) in support of bis theory of the Buddha Gaya temple.
It would, however, be difficult to find two buildings so essentially different as these are.
That at Konch is a curvilinear spire of the Northern Aryan or Bengal style; that at
Buddha Gaya is a straight lined many-storeyed pyramid, deriving its form from those
of the ancient Buddhist Viharas. The only advantage that can be derived from their
juxtaposition is to prove that they were built by different people, at distant times, and
for dissimilar purposes ; there is absolutely no connexion between them.
2 In a private letter to me Sir Arthur Phayre says that when he first saw the Buddha
Gaya temple, he at once came to the conclusion, from the style of its masonry an
whole appearance, that it must have been erected by the Burmese, and no °"e
probably is a better judge and more competent than he is to give an opinion on t ie
subject.—J.F.
3 Crawford's Embassy to Ava, vol. 1, p. 117, 8vo. edition.