Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 4).djvu/212

196 as a frontier garrison town, having been occupied immediately after the taking of Mandalay.

Amarapura. Amarapura (7866), a decaying town, practically a suburb of Mandalay, is chiefly notable as a former capital. It still has some economic importance, with an exceedingly useful silk-weaving institute and with many carvers of images. Here used to be the kheddah, the enclosure into which wild elephants were enticed in the king's time and in our early years. Here are many famous pagodas; the Shwegyetyet group, 600 years old; Patodawgyi, a very large and beautiful pagoda decorated with glazed tiles, the work of King Bagyidaw in 1818; and Kyauktawgyi built by Pagan Min in 1847 on the model of the Ananda at Pagan, its porches adorned with frescoes.

Pagan. Pagan (6254), on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, below Myingyan, is one of the most remarkable places in the world. The most renowned of ancient Burmese capitals, it is still a wonder-house of archaeological relics. So long ago as the 2nd century of our era, a city was built on this site. But Pagan, of which the ruins are extant, was founded by King Pyinbya in 847 A.D. In 1057 Anawrata, most renowned of Burmese kings, destroyed the kingdom of Thatôn and brought to his capital King Manuha and many Talaing captives. From this date begins the epoch of pagoda-building at Pagan, lasting till the sack of the city by the Mongols and Chinese of Kublai Khan in 1284, and