1857.] The Remains at Pagan. 15 



One of the peculiar features of the Ananda is the curved slope 

 given to the roofs both of the porches and of the main building, 

 as if preserving the extrados of the arch which lies beneath. In 

 all the other temples the roofs are flat. This, with the massive 

 gables which are thus formed at the ends of the porches, and the 

 great scrolls, if we may call them so, at the wings of these gables, 

 probably go far in producing that association with the churches 

 of southern Europe to which I have alluded.* Still these scrolls 

 are perfectly Burman, and seem identical with the horn-like orna- 

 ments which are so characteristic of the Burman timber buildings. 

 Here they are backed (another unique circumstance) by lions 

 rising gradatim along each limb of the gable or pediment. The 

 windows also of the main building, standing out from the wall 

 surface with their effective mouldings, pilasters, and canopies, recall 

 the views of some of the great Peninsular monasteries. 



But not the exterior only was redolent of kindred suggestions. 

 The impression on us, (I speak of Major Allan, Mr. Oldham, and 

 myself,) as we again and again paced the dim and lofty corridors 

 of the Ananda, was that of traversing some sombre and gigantic 

 pile appropriated to the cabals and tortures of the Inquisition. 

 No architecture could better suit such uses. And in the evening, 

 as I sat in the western vestibule sketching the colossal idol before 

 me, the chaunted prayers of the worshippers before the northern 

 cell boomed along the aisles in strange resemblance to the chaunt 

 of the priests in a Roman Catholic cathedral. 



Of the details of architecture I shall speak below, but before 

 proceeding to describe any of the other temples, it may be well 

 to notice the material of which they are built. This, I believe to 



I should have mentioned that on the outside of the building, and about three 

 feet above the ground, glazed tiles are set closely all round it, having rude figures 

 of monsters on them, some riding camels and other animals unknown in Burmah. 

 These have Pali inscriptions on them, intimating that the figures represent the sol- 

 diers of the evil spirit, who sought to alarm Grautama from his resolution of be- 

 coming an ascetic and attaining Buddhahood. 



* Compare the elevation of the entrance to one of the vestibules of the Ananda 

 with that very common facade of Italian churches. The analogy in the com- 

 position is, I think, very striking. The R. C. Church at Agra has a facade of this 

 type. 



