WD540(26)

‘Boo Phya, or Pumkin Pagoda, bank of the River, Pagân.’

THIS singular Temple, the circular sloping base of which is washed by the waters of the Irrawaddy, crowns a succession of four terraces with parapets, and forms not the least remarkable object of a remarkable place. In itself it has certainly more claims to the curious than the beautiful. Small flights of steps are seen to lead to the several terraces, and in addition to these a large flight, with ornamented parapets, form a ghat or landing place from the river, the first thing of the kind which had been observed.

Rain would appear to be almost as scarce at Pagan as in Cairo, as it is said to occur only about twice in the year. Should it occur thrice, the poor inhabitants, who are principally cultivators of pumpkins, beans, and vetches, consider themselves fortunate. This prolonged dryness of atmosphere and soil has of course every connection with the remarkable preservation of the ruins of the place.

The extensive cultivation of the pumpkin at Pagan is suggestive of an idea connected with the Boo-Phya Pagoda which, without any extravagant venture in the regions of surmise, might be found to furnish a less imaginative origin than is afforded by the legend of the place. In the fabulous story connected with the building it is narrated that about one thousand years ago a being was, near this spot, born of a serpent, and that on reaching the land he there built this Temple. The story adds that to the temple, so built, additions were made by people living on the spot from the profits of the sale of pumpkins; and it is said that from that time to the present, it has always been kept in repair by the poor people of the place out of the proceeds of the sale of their pumpkins. Imagination, busy in connecting the odd pumpkin shape of the building with the ‘additions’ made by the poor cultivators of the fruit, suggests that habit had induced veneration for that which produced the most immediately tangible benefit. The name seems to imply a consistency in such a connection, and links the fable with the only tie of meaning or sense which it appears to possess. The tasteful formation of the base, with its parapets, renders it hard to believe that this and the ‘lame and impotent conclusion’ it supports, could have been the work of one and the same hand.

The English Vessels at anchor are the Steamer ‘Bentinck’ and Flat ‘Sutlege’, which conveyed the members of the Mission; and in the rear the Steamer ‘Nerbudda’ and Flat ‘Panlany’, having on board a Company of Her Majesty’s 84th Regiment, fifteen of the 8th Irregular Cavalry with their horses, and twenty five Seamen of the War Steamer ‘Zanobia’, as escort, together with other followers of the Mission. The cabin boat made fast to the ‘Nerbudda’ Steamer, bearing the royal flag of Ava, conveyed one of the Burmese Officers of the Deputation.