Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/407

 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 1 5th century the height of the pagoda was raised to 1 29 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 Ante, vol. i. p. 63. 2 ' Asiatic Researches,' vol. xiv. p. 270. In their Payas, Chaityas or Stupas the Burmese place Kaukasan or Kakusandha on the east, Gaunagon or Konagamana on the south, Kathaba on the west, and Gotama on the north. Conf. ante, vol. i. pp. 230^, 277 ; ' Buddhist Art in India,' p. 195.