Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c42.5

c42.5

These earlier structures consist of three examples at Hmawza (Old Prome) dating from about the 10th century A D., and two others of the 11th century at Pagan. The former group comprises a stupa, the Bawbawgyi, and the two temples of Bebe and Leymethna. The stupa is a massive pile composed of a conical superstructure based on five diminishing terraces, the appearance of the whole recalling similar Buddhist monuments in India, and thus supporting the assumption that this architectural movement was derived from that country. But it is on the two temples mentioned above that interest chiefly centres, as although relatively small in size, they appear to have been the models for the much larger structures evolved slightly later at Pagan. The Leymethna is a type of temple gradually becoming characteristic of the religious architecture of the Buddhists at about this period in which the predominant features are a substantial central core of masonry surrounded by corridors with a portico projected from each of the four cardinal faces. Over the whole is carried the superstructure of the central block rising above the vaulted ceilings of the encircling corridors, so that the roofs of these form elevated terraces around the upper portion of the building.