SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This article examines how time is recursively presented and structured by the stupas of Pagan to form a chronological narrative, and to what purpose. Recursion — the reproduction of something within itself in a potentially infinite pattern — is seen in the stupas’ provision of temporal closure that returns to a beginning. Stupas’ recursive treatment of time can be seen through their reproduction of the past to provide meaning to the present, their restating of the present to contribute to ritual continuity and finally how their function as a syntactic end simultaneously creates the possibility of a future. The reproduction of time and timelessness prompts a reconsideration of the periodical notion of historical time. Periodisation is the idea that time progresses in a linear fashion according to periods marked by a beginning or end. In Pagan, the recursive treatment of time confounds these beginnings and ends, structuring and presenting time in a unique fashion for its ideological goals. This essay explores how the recursive manner of organising time provides narratives of significance to events, art, and architecture in Pagan’s history.