750 Report of a Trial for Rebellion, at Moulmein. [No. 166. 



1 f 44 io " * n P ursuance °f these promises the inquiries, at least 

 those judicially made, have been limited to what suffic- 



Case of Nga e $ f or ^g conviction of the prisoners. It will be seen 



Pyan and 20 * 



others. that Nga Pyan first gained influence by works of religi- 



ous merit ; that he raised funds enough to build a number 

 of Pagodas, and that during the prevalence of the cholera, 

 people flocked to him for safety, trusting to his miraculous 

 powers. Over the place where he sat at the White 

 Pagoda, was hung one of the Burmese religious paintings 

 setting forth his religious visions, and the superior beings 

 indicating to him the site and the form of the Pagodas 

 he was to build. This painting accompanies the pro- 

 ceedings, (See Plate.) The Pagodas are actually similar 

 to those represented, save the gilding, which is not com- 

 pleted; but a great number of others, of smaller size, 

 were built or begun all around them, by subscription of 

 persons who had become Nga Pyan's disciples. It is the 

 custom to fill the centre of them with images of Goda- 

 ma, bearing the name of the donor, and it was the names 

 on these which enabled me first to obtain a good clue 

 to the affair — a few of these, out of many hundreds, are 

 also forwarded. 



" The proceedings show how all this was directed 

 beyond mere superstition. The people were by the 

 reading and expounding of prophecies, led to look for 

 the revival of a national dynasty of this country (Pegu) 

 in the Burmese year 1206, the present year — and the 

 future ruler was to be the person who should put the 

 zee, or umbrella- shaped ornament on the new Pagodas 

 — for the ordinary magistrate was not to do this. On 

 the time approaching, it will be seen, Nga Pyan retired 

 to Daloung with a few of his own devoted followers, to 

 practise the austerities usual in such cases, — he seized 

 the traders moving through the country, and made them 

 swear allegiance, and before proceeding to the rendezvous 

 at Gyne, learning that a part of the local corps was 

 despatched against him, he issued the proclamations 



