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Art. X.—Some Account of the Senbyú Pagoda at Mengún, near the Burmese Capital, in a Memorandum
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
1. The Pagoda was built in the reign of king Bodo Piyah, in the Burmese year 1178 (A.D. 1816), by his grandson, Noungdau Gyee, now known as Bagyeedau Piyah, which specifies his relationship as paternal uncle to the present reigning king.
2. It is situated at Mengoon, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy, a couple of hundred yards only from the huge brick ruin which is known as the Mengoon pagoda.
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References
page 406 note 1 Bhodau Phra is the title given to the king who reigned from 1781 to 1819, called by Symes, who visited his court, Minderawji Praw(Mantarágyí).—H. Y.
page 406 note 2 Phagyi-Dau is the title of the king who reigned 1819–1837, and in whose time our first Burmese war took place. —H. Y.
page 406 note 3 Mengún is on the west bank of the Irawadi, about six or seven miles from Mandalé, the present capital. An account of the great pagoda there will be found in the Narrative of Major Phayre's Mission, p. 168.—H. Y.
page 409 note 1 Is not this the Midgard Serpent Jörmundgand of the Edda, “that holding his tail in his mouth encircles the whole earth.” (Translation of the Prose Edda, 410.)—J. F.
page 409 note 2 These names restored from Burmese alteration are, I imagine, Asura, Nága, Garuda, Kumbháņḍa, Yaka, Gandharva.—H. Y.
page 409 note 3 I find on reference to a Burmese book, that Soo-la-mă-nee is the name of a pagodafar up in the celestial regions, and worshipped by the Nats. I do not know the meaning of the word. From Sladen's note I do not understand whether the name is given to the great central structure of the Senbyoo pagoda, which in fact represents Mount Meru, or whether there is a separate building which carries the name of Soo-la-mă-nee. The real Soo-la-mă-nee in heaven is said to be three Yojana high, so in the model at Mengún, it would, or ought to be proportionably small, if compared with the representation of Mount Meru.—A. P. Phayre.
page 412 note 1 “Burmese Devtas or genii.”
page 413 note 1 Mission to Ava in 1855, p. 172.
page 413 note 2 Koeppen, Die Religion des Buddha, ii. 262.
page 414 note 1 I desire here to express my obligation to both these officers for this interesting communication.
page 415 note 1 Nay, how near to Dante's wonderful Image of the Great Rose even come the Visions of a Chinese Buddhist monk in the fourth century: “In the seventh month of the nineteenth year, at eventide, he again had a vision of the Holy ones. The form of Amita filled the span of Heaven; all the saints looked forth from the Halo that encompassed him…Moreover Yuanfasé beheld a stream of bright as light which fell from above, and parted into fourteen branches,” etc. (Sehott, üuber den Budáhaismus in Hoch-Asien und in China, p. 99).
“E vidi lume in forma di riviera Fulvido di fulgore intra duo rive dipinte di miradil primavera
“E sì come di lei bevve la gronda Delle palpebre mie, cosi mi parve Di sua lunghezza divenuta tonda
“Sì sopprastando al lume intorno intorno Vidi speechiasi in più di mille sogile Quanto di noi lassù fatto ha ritorno.”
page 416 note 1 In the Transactions of the Batavian Soc. of Arts and Sciences, Vol. xxii p. 33. CaptainCunningham, Joseph also alludes to the “ Jain Models of Meru” (in Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, xvi. 755)Google Scholar.
page 417 note 1 The number of these niches is stated on the. face of Raffles‘s plate as 136, a mistake for 436, which last number is that stated by Mr. Fergusson. But 436 would give an uneven number to each side (109), a circumstance inconsistent with the design. I make the niches by the plan to be 440, or 110 to the side. But it seems probable that the real number of niches, or at any rate of images, was 108 to the side, that being a number in high and sacred esteem among the Buddhists as well as the Hindus. It will be seen that the number of figures in the concentric circles above is 72 =⅔ 108.
page 419 note 1 Kawi Sprache I., 126.
page 420 note 1 Sammlungen, ii. 86. Pallas knows the names of these as “the Five Beneficent Burkhans,” but not their character, apparently, as distinguished from the Earthly Buddhas, or their relation to these.
page 420 note 2 In the province of Surabaya and district of Malang. There are various finely sculptured images also at this temple, which, from the descriptions given, appear to represent persons, male and female, of the Dhyáni Buddha system (see Batavian Transactions, xxvi. 84–5).
page 421 note 1 This is noticed by Humboldt, u.s.
page 421 note 2 See Pallas, , sammlungen, Vol iiGoogle Scholar, Plate iii, Fig. 1; and Plate is., Fig. 2.
page 421 note 3 For Pallas assigns this attitude to Divongarra (Dipankara), “the Ruler of the preceding World-period,” who, along with Sakya and Maitreya, forms the triad, called by the Tibetans Dissum Sanji, “The Three Lordly ones;” and in Mongol Gurban Tsagan Burchan, “The Three White Gods” (Sammlungen ii., 85). But, according to Schott, the third member of the group receiving these titles is not Dipankara, but the immediate predecessor of Sakya, or as Pallas himself says, “the Ruler of the preceding World-period,” i.e. Kasyapa. So I suppose Kasyapa to have the attitude of Amogha Siddha, or of the northern figures of Boro Bodor (See Schott, Ueber den Buddhaismus, p. 40).
page 422 note 1 I have not the “Bhilsa Topes” and do not know whether General Cunningham gives the characters by which he distinguished the different Buddhas. And unfortunately I made no note of the distinctive positions in the Ananda.
page 422 note 2 I have not the Journal nor the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society accessible, but I have a copy of Mr. Hodgson's paper from vol. xviii., which he kindly sent me some years ago, accompanied by tracings of the Dhyáni Buddhas and Bodhisatwas. It is well known, and indeed apparent from that paper, that he does not acknowledge the distinction so often made between Northern and Southern Buddhism. Even if the Java buildings proved to belong to the Dhyáni system, however, it would not settle that question, as Friedrich's researches seemed to point to a movement from Bengal towards Java in the middle ages, which might have introduced the Dhyani system into the island without at all affecting the Indo-Chinese countries which received their Buddhism from Ceylon at an earlier date.
page 424 note 1 Yule's, “Mission to Ava,” p. 35et seqqGoogle Scholar. See also my “ History of Architecture, II. 516 et seqq.
page 429 note 1 So far as my experience goes, the conclusions I have arrived at are entirely in accordance with Mr. Home's suggestions. At Ajanta, for instance, especially in Cave 19, Buddha is represented in all these four attitudes, and so frequently, but with such similarity of form and emblems, that I hardly think it can be doubted but that one and the same person only is meant to be represented. The same thing occurs at Kenheri and elsewhere in the western caves, yet I never heard it suggested that these figures were intended to represent any other person than the one Sákya Muni.—J. F.