164 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



begging from house to house, and an alms bowl, rice spoon, and fruit 

 bag belong to the equipment of a Buddhist priest. They are bound to 

 abstain from meat and intoxicating liquors, and from partaking of any 

 food after midday. Length, 6 inches. Siam. (Plate 566, Cat. No. 

 127163, U.S.N.M.) 



288. Buddhist monk's rice spoon. — Made of alabaster. Length, 4 

 mches. Tokio, Japan. (Plate 56c, Cat. No. 127552, U.S.N.M.) 



289. Fly flap. — Lacquered and gilt. The feathers are arranged in 

 shape of a heart. "It is properly a screen, and is never used as a fan 

 but to cover the face when presenting the alms bowl for alms so that 

 the monk may receive the gift without knowing the giver. The Bud- 

 dhist beheves it is more blessed to give than to receive, and the merit 

 belongs to the giver." Length, 26 inches; width, 14 inches. Laos, 

 Further India. (Cat. No. 217665, U.S.N.M.) 



RELIGIOUS KDIFICES AND THEIR PARAPHERNALIA 



290. The Wat Chang pagoda of Bangkok, Siam. — The Wat Chang 

 (''great monastery") pagoda, of which the United States National 

 Museum possesses a model in wood, is considered the most magnificent 

 one in Bangkok, the capital of Siam. It is an octagonal brick structure 

 rising in three elegantly tapering stages upon a quadrangular platform, 

 the whole conveying the idea of a gigantic bell. Staircases lead up 

 from one stage to the other. Upon the last rests the dome, which, how- 

 ever, is more in the form of a come or an octagonal prism with a rounded, 

 dome-like top, than of a hemisphere, terminating in a metal tree-shaped 

 spire. Four smaller domes, likewise surmounted by spires, surround 

 the principal one. Underneath each of these are rectangular niches 

 which formerly held images of Buddha. Rows of sculptured images of 

 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (candidates for Buddhahood, or future 

 Buddhas, and saints) seated on mythical animals, surround the octa- 

 gon at various stages, and the whole building is lavishly adorned both in 

 color and carving. Its outside plastering is wTought into a mosaic by 

 means of porcelain of different colors set in it so as to form figures of ele- 

 phants, griffins, demons, flowers, etc. It is assumed that the pagoda 

 measures, from the base to the tip of the spire, about 250 feet in height. 

 It is surrounded by an ornamental carved rail, at the four corners of 

 which are small pagodas of a design similar to the central one, and in the 

 niches are still seen the Buddha images riding elephants. In the center 

 of each side is a kind of decorative gate, joining by platforms with the 

 main pagoda, the whole thus constituting a cruciform plan. Inside 

 the inclosure are dwellings for the monks in attendance on the sanctu- 

 ary, flower and fruit gardens, ponds, grottos, and various stone images. 



Pagodas ^^ are religious structures which originated with Buddhism 

 in India and are characteristic of Buddhist countries. Their original 



" The word paffoda is probably derived from the Singhalese dojofia or dapafta; in Sanskrit s<«po, Pali tftupo, 

 whence Anglo-Indian tope. 



