The first thing that strikes the inquirer on examining these temples is their remarkable dissimilarity with anything on the continent of India. They are not topes in any sense of the term, nor are they viharas. The one building we have hitherto met with which they in any way resemble is the seven-storeyed Prasada at Pollonarua ([Woodcut No. 106]), which, no doubt, belongs to the same class. It is possible that the square pagodas at Thatún, when properly examined, may contain the explanation we are searching for. They evidently were not alone, and many other examples may still be found when looked for. On the whole, however, I am inclined to believe, improbable as it may at first sight appear, that their real synonyms are to be found in Babylonia, not in India. The Birs Nimroud is, like them, a seven-storeyed temple, with external stairs, leading to a crowning cell or sanctuary. Of course, during the seventeen centuries which elapsed between the erection of the two buildings, considerable changes have taken place. The lowest stairs in Burmah have become internal; in Babylonia they were apparently external. At the head of the third flight at the Birs, Sir Henry Rawlinson found the remains of three recesses. At Pagan these had been pushed into the centre of the third storey. The external flights were continued on the upper three storeys at both places; but in Babylonia they lead to what seems to have been the real sanctuary, in Burmah to a simulated one only, but of a form which, in India, always contained a cell and an image of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated.
It may be asked, How is it possible that a Babylonian form should reach Burmah without leaving traces of its passage through India? It is hardly a sufficient answer to say it must have come viâ Thibet and Central Asia; because, in the present state of our knowledge, we do not know of such a route being used. It is a more probable explanation to say that such monuments may have existed in the great Gangetic cities, but, like these Burmese examples, in brick and plaster; and have perished, as they would be sure to do in that climate, and where hostile races succeeded the Buddhists. But, however it may be eventually accounted for, it hardly appears to me doubtful that these Burmese seven-storeyed temples are the lineal descendants of the Babylonian examples, and that we shall some day be able to supply the gaps which exist in their genealogy.
Meanwhile one thing must be borne in mind. The earliest capital of the Burmese was Tagoung in the north, and their real affinities are with the north. They got their religion by the southern route from Bengal, but it was engrafted on a stem of which we know very little, and all whose affinities have yet got to be traced to their source.
Before leaving these square temples, it may be well to point out some peculiarities which are new to us. In the first place it is a purely brick style, and, as such, using true radiating arches, not only to span the openings but to roof their passages and halls. This is so unlike what we find in any part of India Proper, that it seems to point with certainty to some foreign—most probably a northern—country for its origin. As frequently mentioned above, no Buddhist arch is known to exist in India,[577] and, except in the reign of Akbar, hardly a Hindu one, in any temple down to the present day. It could hardly, in consequence, be derived from that country, but there is no reason for believing that the Chinese or Tartar nations ever showed any aversion to these forms. We know, at all events, that the Assyrians and Babylonians used brick arches long before the Christian Era, and the art may have been communicated by them to the nations of Northern Asia, and from them it may have come down the Irawaddi.
It would be a curious speculation to try and find out what the Jains in western India would have done had they been forced to use brick instead of stone during the 11th and 12th centuries, which was the great building epoch on the Irawaddi and in Gujerat. Possibly they would have arrived at the same conclusion, in which case we can only congratulate ourselves that the westerns were not tempted with the fatal facility of bricks and mortar.
Another peculiarity is, that these square Burmese pagodas adopt the curvilinear sikra of the Indo-Aryan style. This may be considered a sufficient indication that they derived some, at least, of their architectural features, as well as their religion, from India; but as this form was adopted by both Jains and Hindus in the north of India, from the mouths of the Indus to the Bay of Bengal in that age, it hardly enables us to point out the particular locality from which it was derived, or the time at which it was first introduced. It is, however, so far as we at present know, the only instance of its being found out of India Proper.
Circular Dagobas.
Leaving these square quasi-Jaina temples, which are clearly exceptional, the dagobas of Burmah are found to be generally much more like those which are found in India and Ceylon, though many, having been erected only in the present century, are of forms more complex and attenuated than those in India Proper.
The one most like the Indian type is that known as the Kong Madú, not far from Mengûn, on the same side of the river. The mass of the dome, according to Colonel Yule,[578] is about 100 ft. diameter. It is taller than a semicircle—which would indicate a modern date—and stands on three concentric bases, each wider than the other. Round the whole is a railing, consisting of 784 stone pillars, each standing about 6 ft. out of the ground, and divided into four quadrants by four stone gateways ([Woodcut No. 350]). An inscription, on a white marble slab, records the erection of this pagoda between the years 1636 and 1650. I, at one time, thought it must be older; but the evidence of recent explorations renders this date more probable than it formerly appeared. If correct, it is curious as showing how little real change had occurred during the sixteen centuries which elapsed between the erection of the tope at Sanchi (Woodcuts Nos. [10-12]) and the seventeenth century.