Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c41.s14.5

v6.c41.s14.5

The ancient buildings in Burma are known by a curious expression pagoda, coined by the early European visitors. The term 'Pagoda' (Payā in Burmese) 'seems to be applied by Europeans in Burma indifferently to two very different kinds of structure, namely, the bell-shaped *stūpas*, and the square temples.' The former was 'raised on a series of terraces or platforms and crowned with a conical finial. To these the term 'Tsedi,' or 'Zedi,' which corresponds with the Chaitya in Nepal, and Chedi of Siam, is sometimes given.' The latter was a type of 'temple which is square on plan with sometimes projecting porches or vestibules, and, in the thickness of the walls, narrow corridors, the walls of which are decorated with frescoes or sculpture, with niches at intervals containing images of Buddha. Their roofs are pyramidal, consisting of a series of storeys of moderate height set back one behind the other and crowned with the curvilinear *śikhara* of the Indo-Aryan,’ or northern style practised both by ‘Jains and Hindus in the north of India, from the mouth of the Indus to the Bay of Bengal.’¹