This page needs to be proofread.
37* FURTHER INDIA. BOOK VIII. is, with mere difference of detail, reproduced at Ava or Amarapura ; and the palaces of Persepolis are rendered infinitely more intelligible by the study of these edifices. Burma is almost equally important in enabling us to under- stand what an active, prosperous Buddhist community may have been in India at a time when that religion flourished there ; l and altogether, if means were available for its full elucidation, it would form one of the most interesting chapters in the History of Architecture in Asia. 1 For a succinct account of the history of Burma to 1837, the reader may consult Sir Arthur P. Phayre's ' History of Burma including Burma proper, Pegu Taungu, Tenasserim, and Arakan.'