The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-05-27

both sides. These slabs together ,.
tain all the writings of Buddha. a...
the smaller pagodas, viewed from tn.
central one, present an imposing spec
tacle- These pagodas are we'll kept
and all the buildings are snowy white.
/ emphasize the fact that these are in
good repair. because so many Of the
Buddhist pagOdas and monasteries are
In state Of decay. Whether this is
due to decrease in the zeal OF the fol-
lowers Of BUddha or to the fact that
the Burmese king, Thebaw, has for
more than twenty years been a poll
teal prisoner on the west coast Of In
ola, 1 do not know. A writer for one
OF the Rangoon newspap ers naively de-
sCTibed the annexation of Burma bv
the English as necessary" and this
necessity" has deprived the Buddhist
buildings Of the governmental patron
age which they formerly enjoyed.
About six miles above Ma0deI9v
near the Irawadi stands the foun
dalton Of a pagoda which its builder
intended should be the largest in the
world It was begun by King Bodo-
paya IN 1870. after an unsuccessful
campaign against Siam. In his disap-
pointment his mind turned to religion.
and he hoped TO acquire merit" as
the Buddhists say, by the erection
this temple.
The structure begins with four ga
leries; the first is 500 feet square. am
each succeeding one is a little hiehe7
but fifty feet less in diameter. The
the base Of the pagoda proper. abor
z9V rect square. rises to a height Of l.
feet The entire building as plannl.
would have reached to a height Of s.
rect, but the labor expended had d.
come SO great that the people con
planned and he was compelled I,
aoandon MS enterprise He We
warned Oy the experience Of a forme5
king, whose extraVagance gave rise f.
the proverb, The pagoda is finished
and the country is ruined" King 30
dopaya IS not the only captain of in
dustry who has attempted to "ac-
qulre merit by constructing monu-
mental buildings with the labor OF
others, but he was not so successful as
some OF our trust magnates have been.
To match this great pagoda a bell
Was cast weighing ninety tons, said to
be the largest sound bell in the world
The great bell Of Moscow is larger but
is cracked. The Mingoon bell. as this
one near Mandalay is called. is eight
cen feet in diameter at the base. nine
feet at the top and thirty-one feet in
height to the top Of the shackle It was
formerly supported on immense teak
wood beams, but the foundation of one
Of these gave way, and for years one
side Of the bell rested on the ground
Lord Curzon, while viceroy of India
caused the bell to be suspended from
iron beams and put a roof over it.
The Buddhist priests seem TO have
made Mandalay their Mecca. for of the
$1,000 in Burma, more than 1000 re
side there The Buddhist priesthood
is the greatest mendicant order in tbe
world. the members of it being nIedead
to live by begging. Having Occasion IN
ride out early one morning We saw 106
or more, bareheaded, bare footed. their
only sarb a yellow robe. carr,iT,a
their rice bowls from door IL dooT
They cannot ask for food BY word Of
mouth; they simply hold out the howl
ana II FOOD IS denied they move Silent
iy TO another house. They are ner-
mitted to own no properly except a
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