SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No.

2, Autumn 2003, ISSN 1479-8484

Some Documents of Tharrawaddy’s Reign: 1837-1846, Part I

[Letter from Maulmain, 9 April 1839]

By

Eugenio Kincaid

American Baptist Missionary Magazine 20.1 (January 1840)

….… In addition to this, Ava and the neighboring cities have just been visited by
an earthquake more calamitous and awful than was ever before known in the
empire. I will extract a few passages from a letter received this evenings, which
contains some particulars in relation to it. Another letter says, “the destruction
and desolation are most appalling. The three cities are heaps of ruins, wherever
there were brick buildings and pagodas. The waters of the river rose up, and
flowed back. The great shock did not last above five minutes.”

“Amarapura, 23rd March 1839”

A most appalling event occurred between the hours of 3 and 4 this morning. We
were all fast asleep, when a rumbling noise, resembling thunder, awoke us, and
about ten minutes after, our houses shook with such violence that we were
unable to stand, and were obliged to support ourselves by laying hold of one of
the posts. The ground near the residency is rent in different places, and large
quantities of black sand have been thrown upon its surface. In the plains,
immense chasms have been formed, from three to four yards in breadth, and
extending north and south to the distance of a mile and upwards. None of the
individuals attached to the residency were hurt, but I am sorry to acquaint you
that the whole of the brick houses and pagodas in the cities of Amarapura, Ava,
and Sagaing, have become a heap of ruins, burying in their fall the unfortunate
people who were asleep at the awful moment! The loss of lives is supposed to be
great. At this city alone, upwards of one hundred have been already reported.
Forty Burmans have been buried among the ruins of the buildings about the
palace, and upwards of twenty Mussulmans in the different mosques. Ava is
supposed to have suffered most. In a day or two we expect accounts of the loss
sustained in that city and Sagaing.
Chapter VI

Page 169

Ten miles above the capital we landed, at Mengoon, to visit the extraordinary
Folly of the King Men-tara-gyi, or Bodau Phya (the " Grandfather King), as he is
commonly called by the Burmese, the great grandfather of the reigning prince,
and founder of Amarapoora.

This King, who died in 1819, after a rule of nearly forty years, spent twenty years
of the earlier part of his reign in piling together this monstrous mass of bricks and
mortar, employing on it the unpaid services of a vast number of his subjects, and
an expenditure besides, it is said, of 10,000 viss of silver. Some say that it had
been foretold to him that when the temple was finished his life would come to an
end. But, in any case, he left it incomplete, and the great earthquake of 1839
shattered it to the foundations.

This ruin is doubtless one of the hugest masses of solid brickwork in the world. It
stands on a basement of five successive terraces of little height, the lower
terrace forming a square of about 450 feet. From the upper terrace starts up the
vast cubical pile of the pagoda, a square of about 230 feet in plan, and rising to a
height of more than 100 feet, with slightly sloping walls. Above this, it contracts in
successive terraces, three of which had been completed, or nearly so, at the time
the work was abandoned.

Fig. 34.

In one of the neighbouring groves is a miniature of the structure (fig. 34), as it

was intended to be. From this we see that the completed pile would have been
little less than 500 feet high. The whole height of the ruin as it stands is about
165 feet from the ground, and the solid content must be between 6,000,000 and
7,000,000 of cubic feet of brickwork.
The fracture that has taken place is tremendous, and the effects of
earthquake are seen on a scale that rarely occurs. The whole mass is
shattered, torn, and split. Masses of wall 100 feet in height, and from 10 to 20 in
thickness appear as if they had been bodily lifted from their bases, and heaved
forward several feet. The angles have chiefly suffered, and these are fallen in a
vast pile of ruin; blocks of coherent brickwork, as big as small houses, lying
heaped in hideous confusion on one another.

Up among the loose bricks and fallen masses at the north-east angle, there is a
practicable though not easy ascent. Reaching the top, you find the whole surface
rent into prisms by yawning crevasses, like those (as my companion aptly
suggested) of an Alpine glacier. A square projection, which rises in the centre
above all, appears to be a detached pier descending, unconnected with the rest
of the pile, the whole way to the ground. This, too, is thrown much off its
perpendicular.

The whole thing is a perfect geological phenomenon.

Strange to say, many stacks of bricks still stand in place on the top, as they were
left by the bricklayers, probably thirty years before the earthquake; part of the
scaffolding which formed an ascent in the middle of each of the four sides still
makes a staggering attempt to hold on to the wall, tall teak masts, with
fragmentary gangways attached, which kick their heels in empty air; and on the
basement terraces great heaps of lime, ready for the work, have hardened into
anomalous rocks, which will puzzle future geologists.

There is a doorway on each face, pedimented and pilastered in the Pagan style
of architecture; but the cavity does not penetrate more than 14 or 15 feet.

This pagoda was in progress when Captain Hiram Cox was here as Envoy, in
1797; and he gives a curious account of the manner in which the interior of the
basement was formed for the reception of the dedicated treasures. A number of
quadrangular pits or cells were formed in the brickwork for this purpose. These
were all lined with plates of lead, and were roofed with beams of lead about five
inches square. This precious engineering device for the support of a spire 500
feet high was one of his majesty's own conception, and perhaps may have given
rise to various patched cracks in the brickwork, which are evidently of older date
than the earthquake [These cracks are mentioned by Colonel Burney, who says
the natives ascribed them to an earthquake which had taken place about fifteen
years before his visit, i.e. about 1816].

Overlooking the river, in front of the eastern face of the temple, stood two
colossal leogryphs in brick. The heads and shoulders lie in shapeless masses
round about, and only the huge haunches and tails remain in position,
gigantically ludicrous. These figures were originally 95 feet high, as Cox tells us,
and each of the white marble eyeballs, intended for the monsters, measured 13
feet in circumference.

North of the temple, on a low circular terrace, stands the biggest bell in Burma;
the biggest in the world probably, Russia apart. It is slung on a triple beam of
great size, cased and hooped with metal; this beam resting on two piers of
brickwork, enclosing massive frames of teak. The bell does not now swing free.
The supports were so much shaken by the earthquake, that it was found
necessary to put props under the bell, consisting of blocks of wood carved into
grotesque figures. Of course no tone can now be got out of it. But at any time it
must have required a battering-ram to elicit its music.

Page 227

Another event that occurred during Capt. Macleod's residence at Amarapoora

was the memorable earthquake of the 23d March, 1839, which shattered
every brick building in the valley of Ava, and converted the great pile at Mengoon
into the singular phenomenon which I have described in Chapter VI. Repeated
shocks occurred during the succeeding months, one of which threw down the
pillars of the new Palace then in process of erection at Amarapoora.

Page 337

The village of Shanyua is situated close to the junction of the Myit-nge and
Nadoung-gya, and is not more than three-quarters of a mile from the large town
of Shuezayan.

In the latter is an extensive group of temples, clustered together on a rising

ground to the north of the village. One of these is much reverenced. It is
traditionally said to have been built by a Shan princess, probably by a Shan
princess who had become Queen.

The entire group has been greatly shattered by the earthquake of 1839, and
only a few out of the number have been repaired.
Page 349

Note upon Earthquakes in Burma.

The Burman Empire has frequently been visited by severe earthquake-shocks.

To this day many, though seldom serious, shocks occur during the year. While
the Mission remained at Amarapoora, two slight shocks occurred, on the 18th
day of September, and on the 5th day of October; the latter of these was scarcely
felt. But the evidences of former shocks, destructive to houses, Pagodas, and
Kyoungs, meet the eye on every side. Huge masses of masonry overthrown,—
buildings rent from top to bottom,—others half upset, and looking as if the next
slight vibration would bring them down, are scattered in numbers over the hills of
Tsagaing, in the now deserted capital of Ava, and along the river-banks to the
north of Amarapoora.

The majority of these ruined appearances are the result of the severest
earthquake on record in the country, and to the effects of which most of this
destruction is due. It occurred on the morning of the 23rd March, 1839, at
about 4 o'clock A.M. The shock was felt throughout the whole Burman Empire,
from Bamo, on the northern frontier, to Rangoon; but of very varying force, and
with varying destructive effects [It was felt distinctly by Dr. Richardson, then travelling
in Siam, three days north of Bangkok - Jour. As. Soc. Ben. vol. ix.-H. Y]. Mr. Spears,
who was in Amarapoora at the time, has, in reply to some queries, kindly
favoured me with the following description:—

“On Saturday morning, 23rd March, 1839, at about 4 o'clock A.M, Amarapoora
was visited by an earthquake that surprised the oldest inhabitants by its
strength—Burman history mentions nothing of the kind having taken place
before. I was in bed and asleep at the time, but was soon awoke by a
tremendous roar, and the tiles from the roof of the house coming down about my
ears; the motion so great that I had some difficulty in finding the door, but
whether vertical or horizontal, I had not presence of mind sufficient to judge at
the time. I did not even know it was an earthquake until it was finished. The
shock may have taken up about thirty seconds in all.

"When I did get into the open air, I found the heavens without a cloud, and
although there was not a breath of wind, the trees shook as if it were blowing a
gale. The dust rising all round from the destroyed houses gave the sky a peculiar
appearance, not easily to be forgotten.

"From the appearance the ruins presented in the morning, I have little doubt the
motion was from north to south. The river did rise a little, as if its bed had been
obstructed, but did no damage to the boats, even to those that were deeply
laden. I never heard of a wave, but the banks of the river, between Amarapoora
and Ava, were rent in many places, presenting chasms of from five to twenty feet
in width, from which large quantities of water, and sand of a blackish
appearance, had been ejected. The earthquake was not accompanied by any
perceptible smell.

"Judging from the appearance the city walls of Amarapoora and Ava presented
the next morning after the great shock, I am decidedly of opinion that it must
have been felt stronger in the latter than in the former city.

"At Tsagaing, I would not say that it was stronger than at Ava, either on the hill-
tops or on the river-side. My reason for supposing this is that the Pagodas on
both sides of the river presented the same appearance: that is, they were all
deprived of their ' htees,' and the same quantity of brickwork from the top.

"This earthquake was felt at Bamo and Rangoon; in fact, all over the Burman
territory. In Rangoon, the time observed was very nearly the same as here; it did
no damage, but was strong enough to ring pagoda and some house-bells, and
alarm the inhabitants.

"From all I have been able to learn, I think Ava must have been about the centre.

"After the great quake, we had strong shocks all day, every five or twenty
minutes, but none coming up to the first in violence. They were, almost
invariably, preceded a second or two by a sound resembling a cannon fired at a
distance ; or, at other times, as if a number of carriages were passing over a
rough bridge under ground. There were two distinct kinds of earthquakes : that
preceded by the cannon-like sound had little or no rolling motion, but more
resembled some one thumping up from below, as it were ; it made the houses
'dirrl,' and set the slates and glasses a-dancing. The other came like the wave of
the sea, with a motion generally from east to west; at least, that was my
impression at the time.

"The under-ground sounds seemed to come always from the eastwards.

"For four or five days we had nothing but earthquakes, every fifteen to thirty
minutes; and for six months after, scarcely a day passed without one. In fact, it is
only the last three years that we have been tolerably free from them.

"The impression left on the people was, that it was very unsafe to live in brick
buildings, unless a wooden framework is put up inside of them, which is always
done now by any Burman wishing to have a pucka house.

"There never was a correct list of the number of people killed; but there must
have been from three to four hundred. Ava suffered most, from having some
brick Kyoungs, where a great number of Poongyis were destroyed."—
Amarapoora, 24th Sept. 1855.
In a MS. Journal of Captain McLeod, in the Foreign Office, Calcutta, there is a
brief and very uncircumstantial notice of the same earthquake.

"1839, March 23rd.—At about half-past one this morning, we were suddenly
roused from our sleep by two terrible shocks of an earthquake. Though
numerous concussions continued to take place, none were so severe as the two
first. In the morning, not a Pagoda was to be seen standing whole. Every brick
building in the town had either been thrown down, burying in their ruins numbers
of people, or so rent and damaged as to render their being taken down
necessary.

"The Pagodas crowning the height of Tsagaing shared the fate of those at
Amarapoora. In the neighbourhood of the Residency extensive and deep fissures
had spread out, from which large quantities of water had been discharged, and
the earth in many places hove up with water springing up from the centre. The
wells were all choked up and dry."—MS. Journal of Capt. McLeod, for 1839.

Again he notices a shock of earthquake which occurred on March 25th, during

his visit to the King.

He states that the King of Burma informed him that their religious treatises told
him that earthquakes occurred every twenty or thirty years, and were severer on
the sea-coast than inland. The Burmese attributed earthquakes to the movement
of some animal in the earth, but that foreigners maintained that they proceeded
from the sudden union of certain matters in the bowels of the earth, and as a
proof of this hypothesis, that they buried certain preparations in the earth, which
after a few days would cause the same sensation as an earthquake, and throw
open the earth, &c. That during earthquakes eyesight grew dim, and oppression
in the chest was also felt.

I do not find further notices of any earthquakes in Burma, although, probably, the
form in which phenomena attending the death of kings are stated by Padre San
Germano to be recorded in the Royal Chronicle, may be taken as proof of their
not unfrequent occurrence.

The large lake called Endau-gyi, west of Mogoung, is said to cover the site of a
large Shan town, called Tumansye. The natives affirm that it was destroyed by
an earthquake (Journal Asiatic Society Bengal, vol. vi. p. 274).

Col. Burney (MS. Journal), on 24th April, 1830, then just arrived at Ava, records
distinct and severe shocks of earthquake. "The last earthquake occurred about
two years ago." And in visiting Mengoon Pagoda in the following year, 1831, he
mentions that the building was then cracked on every side, and that this was said
to have been occasioned by an earthquake fifteen years before, or in 1816.
Of these and many other earthquakes, there are now unfortunately no records to
be found. But in future years, it is much to be desired that careful notice of such
phenomena should be preserved. It is highly probable that the basin of the Upper
Irawadi will then be found to be connected, and to form one great area of
disturbance, with the Upper Assam valley, where earthquake shocks are by no
means unfrequent.