DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0392
Chap. I.
CIRCULAR PAGODAS OR CHAITYAS.
349
upon us. Thus the buildings of one country supplement those
of the other, and present together a series of examples of the
same class, ranging over more than 2000 years, if we reckon
from the oldest dagabas in Ceylon to the most modern in
Burma.
Another example of importance, the Shwe-zigon pagoda
near Pagan, might here be included, especially as, although the
original pagoda founded in 1094 was, according to Mr. Nisbet,
built over and increased in 1164, it at all events is less attenuated
than either the Shwe-Tshandau or the Shwe-Dagon. It retains
also in its three lower storeys, with terraces and processional
paths round, the primitive form of the early dagabas.
At a place called Mingun, about half-way between the
former capital of Amarapura and the present one at Mandalay,
are two pagodas, which are not without considerable interest for
our present purposes ; if for no other reason, at least for this—
that both were erected about a hundred and twenty years ago,
and show that neither the forms nor aspirations of the art were
wholly extinguished even in our day. The first, the Sinbyume
pagoda, is circular in form, and was erected in the year 1790,
in the reign of King Bodauhpaya (1781-1819). As will be seen
from the woodcut (No. 448), it is practically a dagaba, with five
concentric procession-paths. Each of these is ornamented by
a curious serpent-like balustrade, interspersed with niches con-
taining, or intended to contain, statues of Buddha, and is
accessible by four flights of steps facing the four cardinal
points. The whole is surrounded by a low circular wall
750 ft. in diameter, said to represent the serpent Ananta.
Within this is a basement, measuring about 400 ft. across,
and this, with the procession-paths and dagaba on the summit,
make up seven storeys, intended, it is said, to symbolise the
mythical Mount Meru.1
The building was severely damaged by the earthquake of
1838, but was restored by King Mindon Min in 1874; above
the central tower shown in the woodcut (No. 448) a low storey
has been built with projecting dormers and niches in them as
in the Tupayon pagoda and, crowning the same, an octagonal
base in two tiers supporting the bell, the finial with rings
round and the Hti; a series of five consecutive entrance porches
1 The above particulars are abstracted
from a paper by Col. Sladen in the
‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’
vol. iv. (N.S.) p. 406, with remarks by
Col. Yule and others. It is curious that
there is a discrepancy between the native
and the European authorities as to the
number of storeys—not mechanical, of
course, but symbolical; whether, in fact,
the basement should be counted as a
storey, or not. The above I believe to
be the correct enumeration. We shall
presently meet with the same difficulty
in describing Boro-Budur in Java,
CIRCULAR PAGODAS OR CHAITYAS.
349
upon us. Thus the buildings of one country supplement those
of the other, and present together a series of examples of the
same class, ranging over more than 2000 years, if we reckon
from the oldest dagabas in Ceylon to the most modern in
Burma.
Another example of importance, the Shwe-zigon pagoda
near Pagan, might here be included, especially as, although the
original pagoda founded in 1094 was, according to Mr. Nisbet,
built over and increased in 1164, it at all events is less attenuated
than either the Shwe-Tshandau or the Shwe-Dagon. It retains
also in its three lower storeys, with terraces and processional
paths round, the primitive form of the early dagabas.
At a place called Mingun, about half-way between the
former capital of Amarapura and the present one at Mandalay,
are two pagodas, which are not without considerable interest for
our present purposes ; if for no other reason, at least for this—
that both were erected about a hundred and twenty years ago,
and show that neither the forms nor aspirations of the art were
wholly extinguished even in our day. The first, the Sinbyume
pagoda, is circular in form, and was erected in the year 1790,
in the reign of King Bodauhpaya (1781-1819). As will be seen
from the woodcut (No. 448), it is practically a dagaba, with five
concentric procession-paths. Each of these is ornamented by
a curious serpent-like balustrade, interspersed with niches con-
taining, or intended to contain, statues of Buddha, and is
accessible by four flights of steps facing the four cardinal
points. The whole is surrounded by a low circular wall
750 ft. in diameter, said to represent the serpent Ananta.
Within this is a basement, measuring about 400 ft. across,
and this, with the procession-paths and dagaba on the summit,
make up seven storeys, intended, it is said, to symbolise the
mythical Mount Meru.1
The building was severely damaged by the earthquake of
1838, but was restored by King Mindon Min in 1874; above
the central tower shown in the woodcut (No. 448) a low storey
has been built with projecting dormers and niches in them as
in the Tupayon pagoda and, crowning the same, an octagonal
base in two tiers supporting the bell, the finial with rings
round and the Hti; a series of five consecutive entrance porches
1 The above particulars are abstracted
from a paper by Col. Sladen in the
‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’
vol. iv. (N.S.) p. 406, with remarks by
Col. Yule and others. It is curious that
there is a discrepancy between the native
and the European authorities as to the
number of storeys—not mechanical, of
course, but symbolical; whether, in fact,
the basement should be counted as a
storey, or not. The above I believe to
be the correct enumeration. We shall
presently meet with the same difficulty
in describing Boro-Budur in Java,