Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/404

 346 FURTHER INDIA. BOOK VIII. is the great Shwe-Hmaudau l at Pegu, of which a plan and eleva- tion are given in Symes' account of his embassy to Ava. As will be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 445), it deviates from the usual type, which is exclusively used in the edifices of this class hitherto described, having an octagonal base together with those elaborated multiplane forms which are affected by all the Hindu builders of modern date. It returns, however, to the circular form before terminating, and is crowned, like all Burmese build- ings of this class, by an iron Hti richly gilt. Another peculiarity is strongly indicative of its modern date, namely that around its base, is a double range of miniature pagodas a mode of ornamentation that subsequently became typical in Hindu architecture their temples and spires being covered, and, indeed, composed of innumerable models of themselves, clustered together so as to make up a whole. As before remarked, something of the same sort occurs in Roman art, where every window and opening is surmounted by a pediment or miniature temple end, and in Gothic art, where a great spire is surrounded by pinnacles or spirelets ; but in these styles it is never carried to the same excess as in Hindu art. The building stands on two terraces, the lower one about 10 ft. high, and 1391 ft. square ; the upper one, 20 ft. in height, and 684 ft. square ; from the centre rises the pagoda, the diameter of whose base is 395 ft. The small pagodas sur- rounding the base are 27 ft. high, and 40 ft. in circumference : they are in two tiers, the lower one of 75 and the upper 53, in all 128 ; while the great pagoda itself rises to the height of 324 ft. above its terrace, or 354 ft. above the country, thus reach- ing a height about equal to that of St. Paul's Cathedral : while the side of the upper terrace is only 83 ft. less than that of the great Pyramid. Tradition ascribes its commencement to two merchants, who raised it to the height of 12 cubits, at an age slightly subsequent to that of Buddha himself. Successive kings of Pegu added to it from time to time, till at last it assumed its present form, most probably about three or four centuries ago. The next in importance, so far as we know, is the more generally known Shwe - Dagon pagoda at Rangoon (Plate XXX VII.), a building very similar in dimensions to the last named, and by no means unlike it, except that the outline of the base is cut up to even a greater extent, and the spire more attenuated both signs of a comparatively modern date. Its history in fact follows that of many of the pagodas of Burma : originally it is said to have been only 27 ft. high and 1 Literally " Golden great god."