An "Extraordinary Folly"? Author(S): Donald M. Stadtner Source: Archaeology, Vol
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An "Extraordinary Folly"? Author(s): Donald M. Stadtner Source: Archaeology, Vol. 53, No. 3 (May/June 2000), pp. 54-59 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41779317 Accessed: 30-07-2015 16:27 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 30 Jul 2015 16:27:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions /';-=09 )(8*=-0/'] This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 30 Jul 2015 16:27:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions New evidence suggests that Asia's greatest brick monument was not abandoned unfinished. by Donald M. Stadtner mall is beautiful" is a maxim unknownin Burma,where lavish and massive Buddhist temples reflected both royal piety and temporal power. It is therefore surprising that the Mingun pagoda, the nations largestshrine, symbol- ized neither.One colorfullegend has it that the pagoda was leftunfinished by a despotic king unable to meet the demands of the enormousproject, a fancifultale spread by the British,who were eager to discreditthe Burmese court to justify annexation of Upper Burma in the nineteenthcentury. The stuntededifice was a visiblemetaphor forBurmas regressivespiritual and material condition, which only rational European rule could ameliorate.One Britishvisitor, HenryYule, dubbed the pagoda an 'extraor- dinaryFolly" The Mingun pagoda was, in fact, the jewel in the crownof an ambitiousbuilding campaign sponsored by King Bodawpaya (ruled 1782-1819). Indeed, it is the largest bricktemple in Asia, its outlinedominating the westernbank of the IrrawaddyRiver in the hamletof Mingun.Its base is 256 feet square and it rises some 150 feet.But it is now viewedas littlemore than a "curiosity," enhanced by dramaticfissures in its wall created by an earthquakein 1839. Visitors climb to the top by a modern stairway mountedon the most ruinedcorner of the monument,but no access to the summit existed originally.Also at Mingun is Asias largestbell, 13 feet tall and weighing90 tons. Cast by Bodawpaya to complement the huge pagoda, it stands in its original This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 30 Jul 2015 16:27:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions locationsome 50 yardsto the northeast.The pagoda is still Yule attributedthe temples missingsuperstructure to a consideredunfinished, since it is withouta tower,the hall- prophesyhe heardfrom local people at Mingun:"Some say markof a Burmesetemple, as exemplifiedby the graceful that it had been foretoldto him [King Bodawpaya] that and loftybrick pagodas built between the eleventhand thir- when the templewas finishedhis lifewould come to an teenthcenturies at Pagan, a little more than 100 miles end." That the kingbowed to a mere portentsignified to downstreamon the Irrawaddy(see Archaeology, Septem- the Britishnot only Oriental superstitionbut cowardice. ber/October1992, pp. 34-41). "An unfinishededifice that Burmese,to the contrary,probably saw the prophesyas a impressesonly by its heaviness,"is how one blunt critic, moralimperative for the kingto completethe pagoda. Indian scholarNiharranjan Ray, described the pagoda in To quit workin orderto escape death would have the 1940s. But recentpublication by Burmesehisto- defied the fundamentalBuddhist law of imperma- rianThan Tun of hundredsof royaldocuments from nence, i.e., our demise is unavoidable. Another the era of Minguns construction,together with I Burmeseruler, Narathihapade, faced withan identi- accountsby foreigntravelers and Burmesecourt prophesy,contemplated haltingwork on his chronicles,suggests that its designlikely sacri- Lcal pagoda, but he was rebukedby his spiritualadvi- ficedheight for girth from the verybeginning, sor: "Must this countryand thou, its king, forsakinga tall,tapering tower for a massive abide foreverand not die?"The monarchrec- base. The pagoda we see todaywas, there- V ognized his errorand finished his pagoda fore,probably considered finished by Bodaw- withoutdelay, lest futurekings "laugh me to payaand his subjects. scorn."This incidentwas set in the Pagan period A pairof huge,crouching guardian lions on the but is foundin an earlynineteenth-century chronicle Irrawaddysbanks marks the beginningof the formal compiled by courthistorians in the reignfollowing processionalpath to the monumentthat leads to Bodawpayas. What Yule heard at Mingun in 1855 stairwaysset into fiveascending concentric square was probablypart of oral traditionthat developed brickbases. Each of the fourfaces of the pagoda has an afterthe kings death. ornamenteddoorway some 30 feet tall, leading to a tiny Yule also reportedthat the kingproclaimed him- roomwhose originaluse is unknown.Inside the chamber self a messianic Buddha, antagonizinghis chief facingthe riveris a new Buddha image that local people monkswho refusedto acknowledgehim as such. honordaily with candles and flowers. (A Buddha of the Futurewas believedto appear Pagodas were built to veneratesacred objects interred 5,000 years afterthe Buddhas death in the fifth beneaththem. Adoration of relicsconcealed withinmonu- centuryb.c.). The kings frustrationwith the monkswas ments had spread fromIndia throughoutthe Buddhist said to cause the monarchto flee Mingun to Amarapura. world by the fifthcentury A.D. These relics were never Yules colorfullanguage inspired generations of historians: meantto be viewed;worship occurred outside the temples. Bodawpaya "threwup his pretensions to Buddhahood, The word pagoda derivesfrom dagaba (relic chamber),a returnedto his seraglio [harem],and cherisheda lasting termadopted into English after it was encounteredin Bud- hostilityto the ecclesiastics."For this episode,Yule relied dhistSri Lanka. on an earlierand unreliableaccount by an ItalianCatholic missionary to Bodawpaya's Burma, Father Vincentio HE IDEATHAT THE PAGODAWAS NEVER FINISHED Sangermano.The cleric had never met Bodawpaya and stemmedfrom a visitby a Britishdelegation from neversaw the pagoda, but his storyof King Bodawpayas Calcuttato Upper Burma flightwas irresistibleto Yule since it T in 1855. By that time helped explainwhy the pagodawas Britainhad ruled Lower Burmafor leftwithout its tower.Yules fabri- 25 years and the annexation of cated accounthas been acceptedas Upper Burma appeared imminent. history and gone unquestioned The Burmese capital was then untilnow. Amarapurabut the delegationalso The legend of the Mingun visited nearby Mingun, derelict pagoda was elastic, however,and since the tremorsof 1839. Pho- bits and pieces could be graftedon tographsand watercolorsmade by to suit the outlook of later ob- British officials prove that the 3G servers.Some added, withno justi- had sustained the 38 that constructionceased pagoda already S fication, damage visible today. A popular % because the pagoda drained the account of the mission M and the was on the publishedM v treasury country threeyears later by HenryYule, its Í vergeof ruinand revolt.In Among secretary,was the firsttö propose SiS Pagodas and Fair Ladies (1896), the notion that the pagoda was I Gwendelon Cascoigne wrote that V abandoned beforethe completionť3 the Burmese"did not firstsit down ofits tower. oO and calculatethe cost of such a vast 56 Archaeology• May/June2000 This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 30 Jul 2015 16:27:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions undertaking,and so afteraccom- plishinga portionof it,the funds were exhausted, and the great" pagoda was never completed. But thecommon thread was that this Oriental court and its monarchwere incapable of fin- ishingthe worldslargest pagoda. Even Burmesehistorians joined hands withBritish colleagues in affirmingthe legend, since it provided a contrast to the "golden age" symbolized by Pagan. This nostalgic view is capturedin Maung Htin Aungs I influentialsurvey of Burmese V history published in 1967: i "Unlike the great temples of I Pagan, the Mingun temple was 1 ■3 not a laborof love and its work-5 men...started to whisper,'When 5 the is the pagoda completed, I greatking shall die.'" M •c■a The unfinishedpagoda grewco to representthe kings delusionsI of grandeurand his weakness,since he caved in to both inspectthe pagoda under construction.None of the Eng- monksand prophecies.Since he identifiedhimself with the lish embassiesmakes any suggestion that work was delayed Buddhaone daybut retreatedto the seraglioon another,he or discontinued.It is onlyYule, reachingMingun decades was eithera hypocrite,a hedonist,or both. By any yard- afterthe kingsdeath, who believedthat the derelictpagoda stick,the kings clothes fit those of an Orientaldespot. was unfinished. Bodawpayas pride in the pagoda was matched by his traditional views need reexamining. hands-on involvementwith it fromthe outset. Even the Yule and othersignored the factthat the pagoda designof the monumentwas creditedto the king,accord- itself shows no physical signs that work was ing to FrancisBuchanan, a visitorfrom