1856.] Proceedings oftlie Asiatic Society. 57 8 



The temples are of all kinds, but most of them are not mere 

 ckaitiyas or dead masses of brickwork, but hollow vaulted temples 

 containing images of the Buddha. They are of all sizes from 20 or 

 30 feet square, up to more than 200 feet square ; cruciform in plan, 

 containing vaulted cells and corridors, the upper part rising in suc- 

 cessive terraces, and crowned by a spire resembling that of the 

 more ancient Hindoo temples in Mr. Fergusson's drawings. The 

 number of temples remaining can scarcely be less than 1,000. They 

 cover an area of about 8 miles by 2. 



A detailed description was given of the two most prominent 

 temples, the Ananda (of which the etymology is disputed, but pro- 

 bably Anan ta "the endless,") and the Thapinyu (servagna "the 

 Omniscient.") 



The most singular part of the impression made by these build- 

 ings was their strong suggestiveness of resemblance in general 

 effect to the church architecture of southern Catholic Europe. 



This led to many speculations in the minds of the visitors of the 

 possibility of European aid in their construction ; but there is no 

 good ground for deeming this possible. The first European notice 

 of Burma is Marco Polo's, but he does not seem to speak as an 

 eye-witness. The first traveller on record* visited Burma about A. 

 D. 1440. These temples date from the 11th and 12fch centuries. 



The material is what we call in India kucha pukka, i. e., brick 

 with mud cement, but covered with plaster in which the decoration 

 is executed. We are not in India used to conceive of kucha pukka 

 structures 200 feet high. 



Pointed arches and vaults, doorways surmounted by pediments 

 of singular flamboyant spires or horns, decorated pilasters of an 

 almost perfect Roman character, friezes of festoons of beads sus- 

 pended by tusked and grinning heads, are some of the characteris- 

 tics of the architecture. In one temple flat brick arches beauti- 

 fully executed were disclosed by the decay of the plaster. 



Many of the details of the ornament were shown to be found in 

 Indian buildings in the South of the Peninsula, in Central India, 

 in Assam, in Sarnath near Benares, in the temples of Orissa, and 

 in the great Javanese remains described by Baffles. 

 * Nicolo da Conti. 



