DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0390
Chap. I.
CIRCULAR PAGODAS OR CHAITYAS.
347
to have attained its present height and dimension by repeated
casings many feet in thickness. About the middle of the 15th
century the height of the pagoda was raised to 129 ft., terraces
were built round the hill, and the top—a platform—was paved
with flagstones. In 1768 it reached its present height of 321 ft.,
not including the new Hti, which was presented by King Mindon
Min ; the platform now measures 900 ft. by 685 ft. and rises
about 165 ft. above the base of the hill. On the top of the ground
storey of the pagoda, the plan of which is multiplane with seven
angular projections, are several miniature pagodas as at Pegu.
There is, however, no essential difference between the two
buildings, and this is principally interesting as leading us one
step further in the series from the solid hemispherical mound
to the attenuated spire, which, both in Burma and Siam, is the
modern form usually assumed by these edifices, till they lose all
but a traditional resemblance to the buildings from which they
orginally sprang.
The general appearance of these can be judged from the
illustration (Plate XXXVII.) on the right and left of which are
smaller pagodas which, with numerous other structures, are built
round the platform. These are seen in the following woodcut
(No. 447), where is also shown one of the leogriffs which may be
considered as the last lineal descendant of those great human-
headed winged lions that once adorned the portals at the palaces
at Nineveh and which there served a definite constructional
purpose, whereas here they are simply isolated features.
The Shwe-Dagon pagoda, like all the more important ones,
is fabled to have been commenced about 2300 years ago, or
about the era of Buddha himself; its sanctity, however, is owing
to its containing relics, not only of Gaudama, the last Buddha, but
also of his three predecessors—Buddha having vouchsafed eight
hairs of his head to its two founders, on the understanding that
they were to be enshrined with the relics of the three former
Buddhas, where and when found.1 After numerous miraculous
indications, on this spot were discovered the staff of Kakusandha,
believed to have lived some 3000 years B.C., the water-dipper
of Konagamana, and the bathing garment of Kassapa, which,
with the eight hairs above mentioned, are enshrined within this
great pagoda.2 Originally, however, notwithstanding the value
of its deposit, the building was small, and it is not more than
a century and a half since it assumed its present form.
1 An/e, vol. i. p. 63. J on the south, Ivathaba on the west, and
2 ‘ Asiatic Researches,’vol. xiv. p. 270. Gotama on the north.—Conf. ante, vol.
In their Payas, Chaityas or Stupas the : i. pp. 230n, 277*2 ; ‘ Buddhist Art in
Burmese place Kaukasan or Kakusandha j India,’ p. 195.
on the east, Gaunagon or Konagamana 1
CIRCULAR PAGODAS OR CHAITYAS.
347
to have attained its present height and dimension by repeated
casings many feet in thickness. About the middle of the 15th
century the height of the pagoda was raised to 129 ft., terraces
were built round the hill, and the top—a platform—was paved
with flagstones. In 1768 it reached its present height of 321 ft.,
not including the new Hti, which was presented by King Mindon
Min ; the platform now measures 900 ft. by 685 ft. and rises
about 165 ft. above the base of the hill. On the top of the ground
storey of the pagoda, the plan of which is multiplane with seven
angular projections, are several miniature pagodas as at Pegu.
There is, however, no essential difference between the two
buildings, and this is principally interesting as leading us one
step further in the series from the solid hemispherical mound
to the attenuated spire, which, both in Burma and Siam, is the
modern form usually assumed by these edifices, till they lose all
but a traditional resemblance to the buildings from which they
orginally sprang.
The general appearance of these can be judged from the
illustration (Plate XXXVII.) on the right and left of which are
smaller pagodas which, with numerous other structures, are built
round the platform. These are seen in the following woodcut
(No. 447), where is also shown one of the leogriffs which may be
considered as the last lineal descendant of those great human-
headed winged lions that once adorned the portals at the palaces
at Nineveh and which there served a definite constructional
purpose, whereas here they are simply isolated features.
The Shwe-Dagon pagoda, like all the more important ones,
is fabled to have been commenced about 2300 years ago, or
about the era of Buddha himself; its sanctity, however, is owing
to its containing relics, not only of Gaudama, the last Buddha, but
also of his three predecessors—Buddha having vouchsafed eight
hairs of his head to its two founders, on the understanding that
they were to be enshrined with the relics of the three former
Buddhas, where and when found.1 After numerous miraculous
indications, on this spot were discovered the staff of Kakusandha,
believed to have lived some 3000 years B.C., the water-dipper
of Konagamana, and the bathing garment of Kassapa, which,
with the eight hairs above mentioned, are enshrined within this
great pagoda.2 Originally, however, notwithstanding the value
of its deposit, the building was small, and it is not more than
a century and a half since it assumed its present form.
1 An/e, vol. i. p. 63. J on the south, Ivathaba on the west, and
2 ‘ Asiatic Researches,’vol. xiv. p. 270. Gotama on the north.—Conf. ante, vol.
In their Payas, Chaityas or Stupas the : i. pp. 230n, 277*2 ; ‘ Buddhist Art in
Burmese place Kaukasan or Kakusandha j India,’ p. 195.
on the east, Gaunagon or Konagamana 1