At this time a touching incident occurred which ought to be perpetually remembered to the credit of a brave and unselfish officer. Mr. Cary was the honored guest at the quarters of the chief secretary of government. The Chin chiefs were camped at the Royal Lakes, living in their usual uncivilized manner. They probably were eating more than they ever had eaten before in their lives. At any rate, cholera broke out among them. On receiving report of their distress, Mr. Cary left his comfortable quarters and the society of his superior officers, and went into the camp of these chiefs and nursed the sick and dying. Some of them died in his arms. The cholera is the worst epidemic of the East, and most to be dreaded. Yet this brave man risked his life to nurse these wild men, who had been, until very recently, trying their hardest to kill him. It is such heroism as this on the part of British officers that makes the British rule great throughout the world. They stop at no sacrifice of their own lives to put turbulent countries in order, and then are no less heroic in times of peace in serving their high trust of poor and dependent people.
I rode all day with Mr. Cary and his fifty wild chiefs on their homeward journey. I was greatly interested in the story of the pacification of all that Chin and Lushai country, of which he had the management. I was surprised that Mr. Cary attributed his practical ability in all his arduous labors to the drill he received on an American farm and as a cowboy in the Northwest for four years before going to Burma. Though an Englishman, he had spent these years in America.
The Karens, Chins, and Kachins are being rapidly converted to the Buddhist religion. Christianity and Buddhism are in an unconscious race to win them to one or the other of these faiths. The first to reach them will win them to its system of religious teaching.
CHAPTER VIII
Buddhism
Burma is a land of Buddhism and pagodas. The pagodas are the shrines of the Buddhists. They are found all over Burma in almost countless numbers, in every condition from the newly-completed to the decayed structure. On the higher hills and mountains they are usually built on the most conspicuous spurs, where they can be seen to best effect from all the region round about. In the low hills the same principle is followed, the most conspicuous place being selected. On the flat plains among the rice fields they make artificial mounds, to serve as the site of their temples to be placed thereon.
In the Buddhistic system of religion the building of pagodas is accounted one of the chief works of merit. Their preservation is of little consequence, so that the country is dotted all over with multitudes of abandoned pagodas, overgrown with jungle and in all stages of decay. You can scarcely dig into any old mound anywhere in Burma without finding the brick outlines of some ancient pagoda.
Pagodas are all always built after one pattern. This pattern allows of a structure not higher than a man originally, being enlarged to the size of the Great Pagoda at Rangoon without change of architectural plan. In this respect the pagoda is probably the only style of building ever planned by man that has been commonly adopted, in which this structural possibility is found. The pattern is that of an irregular cone built of brick and earth, most commonly of brick, with the outer surface plastered. At the base is a little cavity, in which some precious relic is placed, and over this rises the solid structure of the pagoda. The base is usually circular, and the superstructure retains the same shape, excepting that it curves irregularly to smaller circles. The top is always finished with an umbrella-like structure often with rings suspended from its outer rim. The rims of the umbrellas are usually made of some kind of metal, from which are suspended a great number of bells. The bells are usually rung by a brass imitation of the leaf of the peepul-tree, the sacred tree of Buddhism. This leaf is loosely, suspended alongside of the bell, and as the gentle breeze peculiar to the tropics, especially Burma, puts them in motion, they gently tap the exterior of the bells. You are likely to be charmed with the delicate melodies of the bells until you come to feel what a hollow, comfortless system Buddhism is. A pagoda is a tomb, or at least a receptacle of relics of some revered personage. The ashes of a priest’s body that has been cremated are often put into a pagoda. Reputed remains of Gautama are, of course, the most valued. However extravagant the fiction that surrounds these cherished objects, the credulous Burman professes to believe in them absolutely. This is conspicuously true of the great temple at Candy in Ceylon, and the great Sway Dagon Pagoda of Rangoon. The managers of the former profess to have in their possession one of Gautama’s eyeteeth, which is shown to pious, or noted visitors. A story is invented accounting for the disappearance of three of these useful dentine members, but the fourth and only possible one, not accounted for otherwise, has found its way by the traditional route to the temple of Candy. It is there the object of great reverence, and pilgrimages, often from long distances, are made to this shrine in order to look upon and worship this tooth. That which is shown as the eyetooth of Gautama is a piece of bone about two inches long, and half an inch thick. It is as large as the tooth of a horse, and could not by any possibility ever have been one of any man’s set of teeth. It is in appearance much like a piece of smoked ivory. Yet this piece of bone is reverenced to a degree that perhaps no other relic of Buddhist tradition possesses. After making great offerings to their own pagodas, the Burmese, two years ago, made a beautiful golden casket and sent a pretentious commission to Candy with this casket, the gift of the Burmese Buddhists, as the permanent receptacle of this much-lauded tooth.
That which makes the great Sway Dagon Pagoda famous above all others, is that it contains relics of Gautama. The story is that Burmese merchants made their way to India, while Gautama was alive, and becoming converts of his teachings, or system of belief, they were about to return to Burma, when Gautama gave them some relics of his person, saying that while they kept these relics they would observe his system of doctrine. He then tore off a small piece of his priestly robe, gave them his simple begging bowl, and pulled eight hairs out of his head, and gave them these also as keepsakes and reminders of his teaching. These gifts they brought back to Burma, and over them erected a small pagoda, which formed the original portion of the present great structure that has become so far famed in the Buddhist world. The original structure must have been as insignificant as many that are seen elsewhere. But as time went on, and the invention, for it could have been nothing else as in the case of the eyetooth at Candy, was accepted, the pagoda became more and more famous, and its size was increased until its present dimensions were reached. It is now 1,350 feet round its base, and rises to the towering height of 328 feet. Its height is exceeded only by the pagoda at Pegu, but its general dimensions are far greater than the latter, and its fame has no rival. Reliable accounts of the time of building the original pagoda are wanting. But it is pretty certain that its present dimensions were reached some five hundred years ago. I have been unable to learn when it was first covered with gold leaf.
Shrine, Sway Dagon Pagoda