ould
produce little scriptural warrant and appealed to late authorities or
the practice in Ceylon, thus neglecting sound learning. For the Vinaya
frequently[163] prescribes that the robe is to be adjusted so as to
fall over only one shoulder as a mark of special respect, which
implies that it was usually worn over both shoulders. In 1712 and
again about twenty years later arbitrators were appointed by the king
to hear both sides, but they had not sufficient authority or learning
to give a decided opinion. The stirring political events of 1740
and the following years naturally threw ecclesiastical quarrels into
the shade but when the great Alompra had disposed of his enemies he
appeared as a modern Asoka. The court religiously observed Uposatha
days and the king was popularly believed to be a Bodhisattva.[164] He
was not however sound on the great question of ecclesiastical dress.
His chaplain, Atula, belonged to the Ekamsika party and the king,
saying that he wished to go into the whole matter himself but had not
for the moment leisure, provisionally ordered the Sangha to obey
Atula's ruling. But some champions of the other side stood firm.
Alompra dealt leniently with them, but died during his Siamese
campaign before he had time to unravel the intricacies of the Vinaya.

The influence of Atula, who must have been an astute if not learned
man, continued after the king's death and no measures were taken
against the Ekamsikas, although King Hsin-byu-shin (1763-1776)
persecuted an heretical sect called Paramats.[165] His youthful
successor, Sing-gu-sa, was induced to hold a public disputation. The
Ekamsikas were defeated in this contest and a royal decree was
issued making the Parupana discipline obligatory. But the vexed
question was not settled for it came up again in the long reign
(1781-1819) of Bodopaya. This king has won an evil reputation for
cruelty and insensate conceit,[166] but he was a man of vigour and
kept together his great empire. His megalomania naturally detracted
from the esteem won by his piety. His benefactions to religion were
lavish, the shrines and monasteries which he built innumerable. But he
desired to build a pagoda larger than any in the world and during some
twenty years wasted an incalculable amount of labour and money on this
project, still commemorated by a gigantic but unfinished mass of
brickwork now in ruins. In order to supervise its erection he left his
palace and lived at Mingun, whe