Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/411

 CHAP. I. CIRCULAR PAGODAS OR CHAITYAS. 351 also rising one behind the other have been carried up to the height of the central tower. It will be recollected that, when speaking of the great dagabas of Anuradhapura in Ceylon, it was pointed out (ante, vol. i. p. 230) that they had three procession-paths round their bases, ascended in like manner by flights of steps opposite the four cardinal points of the compass. It is interesting to observe here, after a lapse of 2000 years, and at a distance of nearly 1500 miles, the changes have been so small. It is true the number of procession-paths has increased from three to five, and the terraces become relatively much more important than in the older examples ; but, barring this and some changes in detail, the monuments are practically the same, notwithstand- ing all the curious varieties that have sprung up in the interval. The other building known as the Mingun-pay^ was com- menced by Bodauhpaya, who spent twenty years over it, and died in 1819, leaving it incomplete. It would seem to have been an attempt to revive the old square forms of Pagan, in the same manner as the other was intended to recall memories of the older forms of early Indian Buddhism. " It stands on a basement of five successive terraces, of little height, the lower terrace forming a square of 450 ft. From the upper terrace starts the vast cubical pile of the pagoda, 230 ft. square in plan, and rising, in a solid mass, to the height of about 100 ft, with slightly sloping walls. Above this it contracts in successive terraces, three of which had been completed, raising the mass to a height of 165 ft., at the time the work was abandoned." 1 From a model standing near, it is inferred that, if completed, it would have risen to the height of 500 ft. ; it is even now a solid mass containing between 6,000,000 and 7,000,000 cubic ft. of brickwork. Had it been carried out, it would have been the tallest building in the world. It was, however, shattered by an earthquake in 1838 ; but, even in its ruined state, is as large and imposing a mass of brickwork as is to be found anywhere. 2 Since the pyramids of Egypt, nothing so great has been attempted, and it belongs to the iQth century! Belonging to the same century and in its way a remarkable building is the Kyauktaugyi temple at Amarapura, built in 1847 A.D. by King Pagan Min on the model of the Ananda at Pagan. The illustration (Plate XXXVIII.) shows that the temple is raised a few feet from the ground so as to allow of a broad flight of steps in front of the principal front, and that instead of A the two ranges of windows on the ground storey, as in the Ananda, are lofty doorways which give great import- 1 ' Mission to the Court of Ava,' p. 169.
 * A view of this ruin will be found in Yule's ' Mission to Ava,' plate 23.