48 The Remains at Pagan. [No. 1. 



Some distance south of Sembyo-Ku is Thein-ma-tiet, of a size 

 considerably larger thaii the common run of the Pagan temples, 



arc also two empty places for upright images right and left of the throne ; and 

 above these are deep niches for smaller images, one of which is still occupied. 



An image of either kind, standing and sitting, has been displaced from the 

 original position, and these now lie on the ground in the temple. They are of 

 stone. One of the standing figures has disappeared altogether. 



That which has come from the smaller niche above is a seated figure with the 

 legs crossed, somewhat in the Buddha attitude. The figure has four arms, long 

 pendent ears, and a high cap or crown upon the head. The two left arms hold 

 a conch shell, and a mallet (?) ; the upper right hand has a tseJc* or discus ; 

 the other hand is broken. The figure is supported by a,ga-loon* or bird with 

 a man's head. This is evidently an image of Vishnu. 



The standing figure is about four feet high, and was pronounced by the 

 Woondouk who accompanied me, to represent the same person as the sitting 

 figure. Tins, however, is an error. It also has four arms ; in the two right 

 hands are placed a sword and a trident, (supposed by the Burmese to be a 

 lotus bud.) In the left hands are a club and a mallet. The image is much dis- 

 figured, but its Indian anklets are visible, and beneath the feet is an animal 

 half broken away, but which probably represents a bull. The image no doubt 

 is that of Siva. 



The figure up in the niche was too much concealed by the gloom to be minute- 

 ly observed. It was apparently riding on a bird. 



The Woondouk considered the standing and the seated figures above de- 

 scribed as being images of Pa-ra-mee-thwa,t a Nat worshipped by Brahmans, and 

 that they, as well as some standing figures of plaster around the central throne, 

 had been introduced as subordinate guardian Nats, in honour of Buddha's 

 image, which once occupied the central place. This image was no doubt of 

 plaster and has decayed by time. 



This view of the fact of Hindu deities being introduced into a Buddhist 

 temple is quite consistent with the practice of the present day in Burma. At 

 the Shwe tsee-goon Pagoda in Pagan, which attracts more worshippers than any 

 other, there are in the enclosure figures of Nats to which the people make 

 offerings, in the very presence of Buddha's images, though such is contrary to 

 the tenets of strict Buddhism.^ 



That these stone figures were, as supposed by Crawfurd, the principal objects 

 of worship in the small temple where they are found, I see no reason for con- 



* The chakr and Garur (Sansc.) are both appendages of Vishnu. (Y). 

 t This term seems a corruption of Purmeshwar, applied I believe, to Siva. 

 X Sec page 226. (Y), 



