The finest architectural remains in Burma are to be seen in the deserted city of Pagan, but many of the most magnificent have been greatly shattered by earthquakes. The bow and the pointed arch, as well as the flat and the circular, have been in use long before their employment in India. Modern buildings are chiefly of wood. Palaces and monasteries, carved with extraordin ary richness of detail, and often gilt all over, present an aspect of barbaric splendour. The dhagobas, relic chambers, which form at once the objects and the localities of Buddhist worship, are almost the only brick structures now erected, and these are often gilt all over ; £40,000 are said to have been expended on a single temple. The ordinary buildings are chiefly built of bamboo and thatched with grass, and well raised from the ground on piles. In carving, the Burmese artisans give full scope to the working of a luxuriant and whimsical fancy.
Chinese joss-houses are simple structures, but ornamental from their pleasingly contrasted colouring.
In the common form of a Hindu temple, the adytum containing the object of worship is in variably covered with a sikar,' or bell-shaped spire ; the mandap, or ante-chamber, is open, and contains in temples of Siva a figure of the attendant bull Nandi. Vaishnava temples, especi ally, have frequently two ante-chambers, in which case the first is open and the second closed. These, as also the temples of the Jain religion, have occasionally three spires, the centre one rather higher than the other two. The temple is sur rounded by a Dharmsala, or house of accom modation for attendants and worshippers. The surrounding structure is, however, still sometimes, especially in Jain temples, formed of numerous small spire-covered shrines, and the lodging-houses are in that case detached, but the whole mass of buildings is frequently encircled by a fortified wall. A large temple presents, in fact, the appear ance of a village ; the auxiliary buildings look like substantial private houses, but are more liberally adorned with carved woodwork ; and sometimes nearly the whole exterior of them is covered with rude paintings, representing mar riage or other domestic festivals, or more frequently the achievements of the gods. Small reservoirs of water called koond, circular wells, and more way or bowlee, and sometimes majestic are the more or less indispensable accom cuts of places dedicated to the religion of Hindus. Like the Christian churches of the iddlo ages, the Hindu temples of Gujerat arc usually placed in situations highly favoured by nature. The awful gloom of tho grove, the
romantic beauty of the mountain glen, the bright ness of tho river's bank, the wildness of the cloud enveloped peak, or the solemn calm of the ocean bay, are necessaries of which the religions of Siva and of Adinath fully avail. The officiating priests are, in the temples of Siva, usually Gosai ; in those of Vishnu, Brahmans or Viragi ; in temples of Devi, low caste Brahmans or Gosai. The priest in a Jain temple may be of any caste, with the curious provision that he be not a Srawak, or layman of that religion. Low caste Brahmans, especially the class called Bhojak, are frequently employed. The Gosai are members of a monastic order which follows Siva. They wear orange-tawny clothes, and the tilak, or sectarian mark upon their foreheads, is horizontal. The Viragi is a Vaishnava monk, and wears a white dress and a perpendicular tilak. Those who are servants of the Deo add to the tilak a chandlo or red spot, made with a preparation of turmeric. The Jain monk is commonly called a Jati, but the general name applying to all these orders is that of Sanyasi, or ascetic. The Sanyasi are often persons who have lost their property, or have been deprived of their children, or suffered some other calamity, against which they have not had resolution to bear up. The intended recluse having arranged with a guru, or monkish dignitary, for his reception into the order, and having ascertained the favour able day by astrological calculation, breaks the sacred cord, if he be of the regenerate classes, removes the hair of his head, assumes the mon astic dress, and with alms and prayers receives initiation. The Sanyasi are, however, sometimes consecrated at an early age ; a person who despairs of having children not unfrequently vows to con secrate one son, if two be granted to his prayers ; and among the Jains, when disciples are scarce, as they frequently arc, the monks purchase children for the purpose of initiating them. The markings which Hindu sects place on their foreheads are alluded to by Moses, Leviticus xix. 28: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you : I am the Lord.' Bishop Patrick notes that this imprinting of marks or signatures was understood to be fixing a badge or characteristic of the person's being de voted to some false deity.—Fergusson, pp. 334-374; Mason; .Moor; Yule; Forbes' liasamala, ii. p.311 ; history of the Panjub, i. p. 123. See Java; Math.