Stupa:

1. How stupa came and related to Buddha

Introduction:

1. Stupas are some of the oldest structures of worship in India before I go into Buddha
Architecture. Let me give a small intro about why these stupas were built in the first
place and what is the significance of stupas in Buddhism.

Origin of Stupas:

1. In India, Stupas were built before the Indus Valley Civilization. Later, the remains of
kings and great teachers were buried in mounds out of respect and fear of death.

Later, stupas were also built to honor Buddha and essential teachers and monks in Buddhism.
Stupa became the most recognized form of Buddha architecture in every Buddhist country.
According to Mahaparnibbian Sutta, when Buddha was asked how to honor his remains after his
Parinibbana, He instructed his chief disciple Ananda that his body should be treated like that of
Chakrawarti or Universal King. After his cremation, the relics should be placed in a stupa where
four roads meet. In this way, the Buddhist stupas were placed across India and later worldwide.

Now coming to Buddhist Stupa. Stupas are divided into four categories based on their Structure
and Function. There are 4 Categories of Buddha Stupa which are Saririka Stupa, Paribhogika
Stupa, Uddhesika Stupa,Votive Stupa.

Types:

1. Saririka Stupa: It enshrines the bodily remains (relics) of Buddha and his disciples,
Buddhist teacher, and monks.
The stupa of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh and the Vaishali Stupa are examples for saririka.
2. Paribhogika Stupa: These stupas enshrine the objects such as bowls and robe that
Buddha used.
Kanishka stupa near Peshawar is a Parribhogika stupa, it enshrines the bowl.
3. Uddhesika Stupa: It contained no relics where worshipping and enshrining scriptures
took place. Commemorative of the incidents of Buddha’s life, including those of his
previous births.
 Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath, commemorates the first sermon of Buddha.

4. Votive Stupa: They are constructed to commemorate pilgrim visits or to gain spiritual
merits.
They are generally found near major sites of pilgrimage which can found in Sarnath,
Bodhgaya and Sanchi. These can be made from stones, glass.

Architecture:

1. The basic shape of the stupa represents the seated buddha. The square base represents the
Buddha's cross legs as he sat on the earth. The middle section called mound or anda, is
Buddha’s Body, and the conical spire or cone at the top represents Buddha's Head.
The structure of the stupa tends to follow the same general layout.
2. Many stupas are placed on square base and the four sides represents four directions.
There are gates in four sides, where visitors can enter. The gates are called Torana. Each
gate also represents four great life events of the buddha. East represents Buddha's birth,
south the enlightenment, west the first sermon, and north represents nirvana.
3. The role of the drums is to raise the hemisphere. Circling the drums and hemisphere are
railings that define a circumambulatory path used by devotees to ritually walk around the
stupa as a form of worship. The paths are generally a few meters wide. The railings and
torrents of the paths also served as locations for inscriptions recording the donations of
Buddhist monks, nuns and laity from different regions.
4. At the top of the stupa is a Yasti or spire which symbolizes the axis of the earth. The Yasti
is surrounded by a Harmika, which is a stone or wooden gate or fence and is topped by
Chattras or parasols which is a symbol of royalty and protection. They also symbolize the
Bodhi tree, the location where the Buddha gained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya.
Sometimes the Harmika is topped by multiple parasols. The base of the Harmika is the
place where the urns containing the remains of the Buddha or the great teachers were
placed in a gold or silver casket. With very few exceptions, the majority of relic deposits
are not those of the Buddha but of saints and senior monks.
5. The stupa generally contains a treasury filled with various objects which are offerings,
while jewelry and other precious objects are also placed within. It is believed that the
more the objects are placed into the treasury, the stronger the stupa's energy.
6. A wooden pole covered with gems and mantras is an important element of a stupa and is
placed in the stupa's central channel during the initiation ceremony. The relic casket made
with precious metals or stones along with the treasury made the abandoned stupas target
of treasure hunters. Unfortunately, many of the stupas were damaged or destroyed by
treasure hunters including those from Europe during the colonial times.
7. The earlier stupas contained portions of the Buddha's ashes and as a result, the stupa
began to be associated with the body of the Buddha. These early stupas were
hemispherical with a low base, while the later ones assumed an increasingly cylindrical
form with a well-developed drum. In the later stupas, the base terraces and the umbrellas
were multiplied.

Rock-Cut Caves:
8. However, open-air stupas or pilgrimage stupas were not the only types of stupas built in
India. Stupas were also constructed inside the rock-cut caves or chaityas of Buddhist
monasteries. Stupas in the rock-cut caves were usually simpler than the open-air stupas.
These stupas typically consisted of three parts, one or two drums, the Andha or
hemisphere, and a Harmika. In all of these complexes, the stupa is located at one end of a
columned chaitya hall, opposite the entrance and a large window, which provides only
natural light.
9. While the rock-cut monastic chaitya halls did have circumambulatory paths, they are
situated along the perimeter of the chaitya halls rather than immediately adjacent to the
Andha or hemisphere, as in open-air stupas.
10. Unlike open-air stupa complexes, the stupas in most of the rock-cut caves did not contain
relics, although a few complexes did, but this was more of an exception.
11. The lack of relics suggests that the nature of stupa worship in rock-cut stupa complexes
was different from the larger open-air stupa complexes.

12. Initially, stupas were worshiped for what they contained, and the relics of Buddha were
taken as the presence of the living Buddha.