164 Discovery of Buddhist Images, #c. [March, 



who was seven years of age, when king Theehapadb alias Men- 

 byouk ascended the Tsagain throne, and to whom at the age of 16 

 that king had granted the city of Tagoung as ajaghir, together with 

 the title of Thado men-bya. We are informed, that in the Burmese 

 year 725, A. D. 1363, when the Shan chief Tho Khyeen bwa came 

 down from Mogoung and Monhyeen to attack Tsagain, his army was 

 first stopped at Tagoung by Thado men-bya, but that the Shans soon 

 took that city, and completely destroyed it, its governor flying to 

 Tsagain with a single elephant. This governor, Thado men-bya, 

 afterwards took possession of the Tsagain and Penya kingdoms, and 

 in the Burmese year 726, A. D. 1364, founded the city oiAva, and the 

 line of the kings of A va. 



Tagoung, after the Shans destroyed it, does not appear to have 

 been restored, and it is now but a village with a few ruins. The dis- 

 trict of Tagoung is the jaghir of the late Wungyee of Rangoon's 

 daughter, who is one of the inferior queens, styled Tagoung Men-tha- 

 mi, princess of Tagoung. Thado was a title peculiar to the 

 Tagoung royal race. It is remarkable, that some of the names in the 

 two lists of the kings of Tagoung correspond. The Burmese chroni- 

 cles give no details of the reign of any of these kings, excepting of 

 the first in each list, and of the last in the second list. One old 

 work, Zabudipa kwon-gya, takes notice only of the second list of 

 sovereigns ; and states that Daza Yaza retired from Central India, and 

 came to Tagoung, about 300 years before the appearance of Gaudama. 

 As the last mentioned, or 17th king, Maha Yaza, is also stated to 

 have ascended the throne 20 years after Gaudama's death : this would 

 allow a duration of about 1 8 or 20 years to the reign of each of the king's 

 preceding, corresponding with the average of king's reigns as fixed 

 by Sir Isaac Newton. The great point with the Burmese histo- 

 rians is to show that their sovereigns are lineally descended from the 

 Thakira.ce of kings, and are " Children of the Sun* ;" and for this pur- 

 pose, the genealogy of even Alompra, the founder of the present 

 dynasty, is ingeniously traced up to the kings of Pagan, Prome, and 

 Tagoung. The countenances of the figures in the accompanying 

 images are very different from those you see in all modern Burmese 

 magesf. 



* One of the king of Ava's titles is Ne dwet bhuyen, Sun-descended Monarch. 



t They are very nearly of the same character as those found at S&math, and 

 may have been made there or at Gaya for exportation, as is the custom to the 

 present time. — Ed. 



