DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0643
Chap. f.
CIRCULAR DAGOBAS.
(ill)
arch is known to exist in India,1 and, except in the reign of Akbar,
hardly a Hindu one, in any temple down to the present day. It
could hardly, in consequence, be derived from that country, but there
is no reason for believing that the Chinese or Tartar nations ever
showed any aversion to these forms. We know, at all events, that
the Assyrians and Babylonians used brick arches long before the
Christian Era, and the art may have been communicated by them
to the nations of Northern Asia, and from them it may have come
down the Irawaddi.
It would be a curious speculation to try and find out what the
Jains in western India would have done had they been forced to use
brick instead of stone during the 11th and 12th centuries, which was
the great building epoch on the Irawaddi and in Gujerat. Possibly
they would have arrived at the same conclusion, in which case we
can only congratulate ourselves that the westerns were not tempted
with the fatal facility of bricks and mortar.
Another peculiarity is, that these square Burmese pagodas adopt
the curvilinear sikra of the Indo-Aryau style. This may be con-
sidered a sufficient indication that the}' derived some, at least, of
their architectural features, as well as their religion, from India; but
as this form was adopted by both Jains and Hindus in the north of
India, from the mouths of the Indus to the Bay of Bengal in that age,
it hardly enables us to point out the particular locality from which
it was derived, or the time at which it was first introduced. It is,
however, so far as we at present know, the only instance of its being
found out of India Proper.
Circular Daqobas.
Leaving these square quasi-Jaina temples, which are clearly excep-
tional, the dagobas of Burmah are found to be generally much more
like those which are found in India and Ceylon, though many, having
been erected only in the present century, are of forms more complex
and attenuated than those in India Proper.
The one most like the Indian type is that known as the Kong
Madu, not far from Mengun, on the same side of the river. The
mass of the dome, according to Colonel Yule,2 is about 100 ft. diameter.
It is taller than a semicircle—which would indicate a modern date—
and stands on three concentric bases, each wider than the other.
Bound the whole is a railing, consisting of 784 stone pillars, each
standing about G ft. out of the ground, and divided into four quadrants
1 I of course except the arches in the
tower at Bnddh Gr&ya, which, I believe,
were introduced by these very Burmese
in 1305. See ante, p. 69.
- 'Mission to Ava,' p. 65.
CIRCULAR DAGOBAS.
(ill)
arch is known to exist in India,1 and, except in the reign of Akbar,
hardly a Hindu one, in any temple down to the present day. It
could hardly, in consequence, be derived from that country, but there
is no reason for believing that the Chinese or Tartar nations ever
showed any aversion to these forms. We know, at all events, that
the Assyrians and Babylonians used brick arches long before the
Christian Era, and the art may have been communicated by them
to the nations of Northern Asia, and from them it may have come
down the Irawaddi.
It would be a curious speculation to try and find out what the
Jains in western India would have done had they been forced to use
brick instead of stone during the 11th and 12th centuries, which was
the great building epoch on the Irawaddi and in Gujerat. Possibly
they would have arrived at the same conclusion, in which case we
can only congratulate ourselves that the westerns were not tempted
with the fatal facility of bricks and mortar.
Another peculiarity is, that these square Burmese pagodas adopt
the curvilinear sikra of the Indo-Aryau style. This may be con-
sidered a sufficient indication that the}' derived some, at least, of
their architectural features, as well as their religion, from India; but
as this form was adopted by both Jains and Hindus in the north of
India, from the mouths of the Indus to the Bay of Bengal in that age,
it hardly enables us to point out the particular locality from which
it was derived, or the time at which it was first introduced. It is,
however, so far as we at present know, the only instance of its being
found out of India Proper.
Circular Daqobas.
Leaving these square quasi-Jaina temples, which are clearly excep-
tional, the dagobas of Burmah are found to be generally much more
like those which are found in India and Ceylon, though many, having
been erected only in the present century, are of forms more complex
and attenuated than those in India Proper.
The one most like the Indian type is that known as the Kong
Madu, not far from Mengun, on the same side of the river. The
mass of the dome, according to Colonel Yule,2 is about 100 ft. diameter.
It is taller than a semicircle—which would indicate a modern date—
and stands on three concentric bases, each wider than the other.
Bound the whole is a railing, consisting of 784 stone pillars, each
standing about G ft. out of the ground, and divided into four quadrants
1 I of course except the arches in the
tower at Bnddh Gr&ya, which, I believe,
were introduced by these very Burmese
in 1305. See ante, p. 69.
- 'Mission to Ava,' p. 65.