1873.] 
Sir Arthur P. Phayre —On the History of Pegu. 
31 
each. They floated down the stream on the hanks of which the rafts had 
been made, and after many perils, reached the spot where the city Han-tha- 
wa-ti was to he built. Some people who dwelt on the west side of the river, 
numbering in all three hundred and thirty families, now joined the two 
princes, who thus had with them in all five hundred families. When they 
were considering how to lay out the city, they were suddenly joined by two 
venerable men, who were Tha-kya Meng (Sekra, or Indra), and an attendant 
deva. They appeared in the guise of carpenters, with instruments, measures, 
and ropes, and offered to help the princes. This offer was accepted with 
joy ; but when they were about to measure the ground, the nobleman who 
had been sent by the king of Bij-ja-na-ga-ran appeared with his followers, 
and claimed the ground for his master. The two princes replied saying, 
“ You are foreigners, you have no right to our native land.” The nobleman 
answered that when thirteen fathoms of water existed over the spot, an 
ironstone pillar, with the name, title, and seal of the king of Bij-ja-na-ga-ran 
had been placed there. The disguised Tha-gya Meng now replied for the 
princes that a golden pillar had been placed in that spot before the stone- 
pillar had been deposited, on which their names were inscribed, and it would 
be found deeper down than the other. It was argued, therefore, to dig for 
the pillars, and the right to the land was to be determined by the ownership 
of the older pillar. Now Tha-gya Meng foresaw by his superior sagacity 
that, if western foreigners were to be supreme in this land, false hereti¬ 
cal opinions would arise ; whereas the divine prediction was, that true reli¬ 
gion was to be built up; the hidagdt (pitalcattayd) was to be recited and 
reverenced, and holy relics were to be worshipped. He, therefore, created a 
golden pillar, on which were inscribed the names of former kings of Tha-htun, 
and by his power it was conveyed under ground ten fathoms beneath the stone 
pillar of the Kuhis (western foreigners). So when they assembled to dig, 
and the Kulas had found their stone pillar, Tha-gya Meng said, “ Yours 
“ is true, but it was placed after ours, which is deeper down, and by which 
“ our claim will be proved.” The Kulas replied, “ If you have an ' inscrib- 
“ e d pillar beneath ours, we will acknowledge ourselves defeated.” Then 
they dug down, and lo ! at ten fathoms depth was found a golden pillar, 
with a date more ancient than that on the stone pillar. The Kulas then 
acknowledged themselves defeated, and went away taking their stone pillar 
with them. The spot where the golden pillar was found, being the place 
where the golden Kansas fed, was made the centre from which the city was 
marked out. Tha-gya Meng measured the ground with a rope on which 
pearls were strung, so that the land might be sacred, and set apart for ever, 
free from the rule and ownership of foreigners, or any but its own princes. 
The golden pillar was moved a little to the south, and a pagoda was then 
built within which it was enshrined, and in memory of the defeat of the 
