Among its ruins the most notable are the dagobas (pagodas), some of such enormous size that the number of bricks used in their construction baffles conception.
These Buddhist dagobas of Ceylon have the bell-shape form, and serve the same purpose as the Shwe Dagon in Rangoon, viz.
These Ceylon dagobas are only one class of monuments, and are to be considered in connection with other vestiges of vast public structures, the origin and purpose of which have been lost sight of in the lapse of ages.
The pyramids and dagobas are crude, barbaric embodiments of bulk and imposing loftiness; the other is a realization in marble of a poetic dream.
These peculiarly shaped dagobas are scattered all over the island, each being the receptacle of some saintly relic.
Numerous medallions in clay bearing representations of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas andDagobas have been found there but dates are wanting.
The former are simply the ancient cetiyas, called dagobasin Ceylon and zedis in Burma.
We are not informed upon the point but presumably the columns were arranged, in respect to the structure, in the same manner as those accompanying the dagobas of Ceylon, or the mounds of Chichen-itza.
Similar instances of gems being attached to the chattas of dagobas are recorded in the same work, ch.
Dagobas and statues of Buddha were multiplied without end during his reign, and temples of every form were erected both at Pollanarrua and throughout the breadth of the island.
Exceptions to the extortion of forced labour for public works took place under the more pious kings, who made a merit of paying the workmen employed in the erection of dagobas and other religious monuments.
Yakkhos assisted at the building of dagobas to enshrine them, and the Brahmans were the first to respect the Bo-tree on its arrival in Ceylon (Ib.
Dagobas were raised in various places, and cultivation was urged forward by the formation of tanks and canals.
The vast mounds of brickwork which constitute the remains of the Dagobas at Anarajapoora and Pollanarrua are covered densely with trees, among which the figs are always conspicuous.
The grounds in the neighborhood of these towering dagobasare strewn with ruins.
These structures are covered with verdure, for grasses and shrubs have eaten their way into the mortar on the sides, until the dagobas resemble conical natural hills.
The bestdagobas were crumbling, immense tanks broken, and general devastation succeeded where splendor had long reigned.
Although Mahagam is the only vestige of an ancient city in this district, there are many ruined buildings and isolated dagobas of great antiquity scattered throughout the country.
Ruined dagobas and temples jutted their rugged summits above the tree-tops, and many lines of stone columns stood in parallel rows, the ancient supports of buildings of a similar character to those of Pollanarua and Anarajahpoora.
For what is the use of erecting dagobasfor relics, if we neglect the spirit of the Master's teachings?
In representing the buildings of the great dagobas of Anuradhapura, the proportions are no better preserved and these artificial mountains appear to be little larger than the persons employed in finishing them.
Buddhists of the east raise monumental dagobas over the relics of their deity, and the Irish round towers, as is alleged, (by a nameless interpolation in a nameless Irish MS.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "dagobas" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
