Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/398

 34* FURTHER INDIA. BOOK VIII. crowned with two features, the lower one a bold torus moulding, the upper one a conical finial, with cavetto sinkings between the bell and the torus and between the latter and the finial. A similar bulbous form is found in the pagoda of Ngakwe Nadaung in the province of Myingyan, dating from the loth century, and in a less pronounced form in the Petleik-paya pagoda, where the torus becomes an important feature, we find here also the earliest example of the decorative bands carried about two- thirds up the bell, which has probably given rise to the idea that the upper part of the same represents the begging bowl of the mendicant monks. There are, besides, three or four early examples in which a different outline is given to the bell. The Baubaugyi pagoda in Prome consists of a solid mass in brickwork of a cylindrical form, about 80 ft. high, raised on a triple base and surmounted by a finial carrying the Hti 1 or umbrella, which is always in iron-gilt, a feature which crowns every pagoda, the total height being about 150 ft. It is ascribed to the 7th or 8th century, as also two other examples in Prome, the Payagyi and Payama pagodas. These, however, have convex outlines and resemble a bee-hive in shape. In all these cases the relative proportion between the height and the lower diameter is about 3 to 2, differing therefore greatly from the Indian tope. These are, however, exceptional examples, as from the I ith century, when the great development of Burmese architecture commenced, the Stupa or tope always took the form of a bell, sometimes of great size with decorative bands round, and raised on a series of three to five stages or platforms decorated with boldly pro- jecting mouldings with square panels between. These plat- forms are generally either square on plan 2 or have a series of projecting planes one in front of the other. In early examples the projections are greater than in later ones, but their appearance can best be judged from Plate XXX VI I., representing the Shwe- Dagon at Rangoon, where the four planes on each face have resulted in seven projecting angles at each corner of the platform. These projecting angles which occur so frequently, not only in the platforms, but sometimes in the 444. Conjectural Plan of superstructure, may have arisen from a desire a Temple. j. Q enr j c j 1 anc [ gj ve more interest to the original square plan. Assuming A (Woodcut No. 444) to be the first structure, and B and C successive applications on each face, 1 Ante, vol. i. p. 70 and note 2. I in the Dhammayazika pagoda near Pagan, 2 There is one exceptional example | which is pentagonal.