Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/403

 CHAP. I. CIRCULAR PAGODAS OR CHAITYAS. 345 Two other pagodas of exceptional form in and near Sagaing exist, the Tupayon or Stuparama and the Kaung Hmaudau: the former was built in the I5th century by Narapati, King of Ava. Its plan is circular, and it consists of three storeys set back one behind the other with low pitched roof over the two lower storeys and a flat weathered top. On the vertical sides of the three storeys are projecting features like dormer windows, with a niche sunk in each ; there are forty-eight of these on the lower, forty- two on the middle, and thirty-six on the upper storey. The Kaung Hmaudau pagoda, not far from Mingun, on the same side of the river, bears a close resemblance to the Indian topes ; the mass of the dome, according to Colonel Yule, 1 is about 100 ft. diameter. It is taller than a semicircle which would indicate a 446. Kaung Hmaudau Dagaba, near Sagaing. (From Yule.) modern date and stands on three concentric bases, each wider than the other. Round the whole is an enclosure, consisting of 812 stone posts, each standing 4 ft. 6 in. out of the ground, with receptacles in their heads for lights, each head being hollowed out to hold the same, and divided into four quadrants by four stone gateways (Woodcut No. 446). An inscription, on a white marble slab, records the erection of this pagoda between the years 1636 and 1650. This fixes its date, and is curious as showing how little real change had occurred during the eighteen centuries which elapsed between the erection of the tope at Sanchi (ante, vol. i., Woodcuts Nos. 12-14) an< ^ the i /th century. Perhaps the most important pagoda in the Burmese Empire 1 ' Mission to Ava,' p. 65.