TO THE COURT OF AYA. 
479 
of the religious opinions and manners of the 
people. 
The first inscription commemorates the build¬ 
ing of a temple in honour of the arrival of a 
saint from Ceylon, bringing with him certain 
relics of Gautama. The principal date in it, or 
794 of the common Burman era, corresponds 
with the year of Christ 1432. The founder was 
a king, whose capital was Ava, and whose reign 
commenced in the Burman year 788, correspond¬ 
ing with the year of Christ 1426. This circum¬ 
stance is mentioned in the inscription, and cor¬ 
roborated by the Burman chronological MS. 
which I have already mentioned. 
The second inscription seems to be a grant of 
land endowing several pagodas and monasteries. 
The date of this corresponds with the year of 
Christ 1454. 
Close to the Aracan temple there is a large 
wooden building, containing a single handsome 
image of Gautama. We were induced to visit 
this place, for the purpose of seeing some images 
of brass which were among the trophies brought 
from Aracan, along with the celebrated idol al¬ 
ready described. They consisted of several gi¬ 
gantic statues in the human form, three griffins, 
and one three-headed elephant. The human 
figures, all more or less mutilated, were lying 
