4 The Remains at Pagan. [No. 1. 



jungle, but covered with the remains of brick buildings as far as 

 the eye can reach. There are also the ruins of several large tem- 

 ples which have now more the appearance of earthen mounds than 

 the remains of the brick buildings, and they are covered with jungle 

 to the top." The people on the spot told Capt. Hannay that the 

 city was much more ancient than the other Pagan. And indeed we 

 heard this upper city spoken of as " old Pagan," when we were at 

 the capital. 



Some interesting discoveries in Burmese history and antiquities 

 may yet be made among the ruins of which Capt. Hannay speaks. 



Nine of the oldest temples at Pagan are ascribed, according to 

 Crawfurd, to king Pyan-bya, circa 850. This coincides with the 

 reign and date to which Mr. Mason's account assigns the foundation 

 of the city. 



Here then twenty-one kings reigned in regular succession from 

 the middle of the 9th to the end of the 13th century, and here in 

 the year 997, under the apostleship of A-rahan and the reign of 

 Anau-ra-men-zan, Buddhism was established in its present shape as 

 the religion of the country.* 



The history of the destruction of Pagan has been related by Col. 

 Burney from the Burmese chronicles.t Indignant at the murder 

 of an ambassador by the Burmese king, the Emperor of China sent 

 a vast army to invade Burma. The king, Narathee-ha-pade, in his 

 anxiety to strengthen the defences of his capital, pulled down, for 

 the sake of the materials, (so the chronicle relates), one thousand 

 large arched temples, one thousand smaller ones, and four thousand 

 square temples. But under one of these temples a prophetic 

 inscription of ominous import was found : the king lost heart, left 

 his new walls defenceless and fled to Bassein. The Chinese 

 advanced, occupied the city, and continued to pursue the Burman 

 army as far as Taroup-mau, or Chinese point, a considerable distance 

 below Prome. This was in 1284. 



Colonel Burney has indicated that this is the same Chinese 

 invasion which is spoken of by Marco Polo. Turning to that 

 traveller (in Purchas, vol. III. 93,) we find that when the Great 



* Judson's Life, I. 199, and Crawfurd, p. 491, 

 t J. A. S. B. Vol. IV. p. 402. 



