TO THE COURT OF AYA. 
397 
He was the fourth son of Alompra, the founder 
of the present dynasty. His first and second 
brother, and his nephew, the son of the last, had 
respectively succeeded Alompra. Maong-ma- 
ong, the son of the elder brother, had been ex¬ 
cluded from the throne by his uncle, who first 
occupied it himself, and then left the succession 
to his own son, Senku-sa. Men-ta-ra-gyi, the 
founder of the temple, conspired against the son 
of his younger brother, raised the son of the el¬ 
der brother to the throne, and in a few days 
seized the throne for himself, and caused his ne¬ 
phew, the legitimate successor of Alompra, to 
be drowned in the Irawadi. It was to conse¬ 
crate such deeds as these that he built the costly 
temple which I have just described, and upon 
the very spot where his own house, as a prince, 
had stood, and from which he had commenced 
his successful rebellion. The persons made slaves 
were the unoffending inhabitants of the district 
allotted for subsistence, while a prince, to the 
nephew whom he had murdered. To make this 
picture of tyranny complete, it is necessary to 
understand what is the lot of those condemned 
to be slaves to a temple. They are reduced, 
hereditarily and for ever, to the same degraded 
rank in society as the Chandalas, or burners of 
the dead. They cannot intermarry with the 
