Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/423

 CHAP. I. THATON. 357 storey is of moderate height, and that the roof consists of four storeys, set back one behind the other, with ogee roofs between resting direct on the vaults of the corridors (see Woodcut No. 450). The antefixae and cresting above the eaves of the roof are apparently copies of the carved woodwork which is found on the Pyatthat of a Kyaung or monastery, and in fact the whole structure bears some resemblance to a Pyatthat when built in brick instead of in wood, except that it is only about half the height. The corridors are lighted through perforated stone windows on three sides. On the fourth or entrance front are three doorways with approaches between balustrades with carved termina- tions in front, like those in Fig. 455 and 456. This suggests that in Thaton the original library was raised a few feet above the ground as a precaution against inunda- tions, and that the masons who J 450. Section of Vault and Roof. built this one reproduced the balustrade and termination in front of the doorways as a necessary approach. The feature crowning the building is called a dubika in the Burmese archaeological report, and is similar to the finial of the Pyatthat of the king's palace at Mandalay (Woodcut No. 455). In later examples of the Pitakat-Taik and of the Shwe-daik or sacred treasury at Amarapura and Mandalay, the buildings are raised on a platform with flights of steps to the entrance door. They are either in one or two storeys, and with flat roofs. THATON OR THAHTUN. The earliest really authentic notice we have of these countries is in the ' Mahawansa.' It is there related that, after the third convocation B.C. 246 A^oka despatched two missionaries, Sono and Uttaro, to Suvarna-Bhumi, the Golden Land, to carry the glad tidings of the religion of the Vanquisher. 1 It is now perfectly ascertained that this place was almost certainly the Golden Chersonese of classical geographers, situated on the Sittang river, and now called Thatdn, about 1 Tumour's ' Mahawanso,' p. 71. In Burma the two missionaries are known as Thawna and Uttara.