Stūpa

A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.

In Buddhism, circumambulation or ''pradakhshina'' has been an important ritual and devotional practice since the earliest times, and stupas always have a ''pradakhshina'' path around them. The original South Asian form is a large solid dome above a tholobate or drum with vertical sides, which usually sits on a square base. There is no access to the inside of the structure. In large stupas there may be walkways for circumambulation on top of the base as well as on the ground below it. Large stupas have or had ''vedikā'' railings outside the path around the base, often highly decorated with sculpture, especially at the torana gateways, of which there are usually four. At the top of the dome is a thin vertical element, with one of more horizontal discs spreading from it. These were ''chatra''s, symbolic umbrellas, and tend not to have survived, if not restored. The Great Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, is the most famous and best-preserved early stupa in India.

Apart from very large stupas, designed to attract pilgrims, there were large numbers of smaller stupas in a whole range of sizes, which typically had much taller drums, relative to the height of the dome. Small votive stupas paid for by pilgrims might be less than a metre high, and laid out in rows by the hundred, as at Ratnagiri, Odisha.

As Buddhism spread, other forms were used for the same purposes, and the chortens of Tibetan Buddhism, and the pagodas of East Asian Buddhism are some of these. In South-East Asia various rather different elongated shapes of dome evolved, leading to high, thin spires. A related architectural term is a ''chaitya'', which is a prayer hall or temple containing a stupa.

Description and history

Stupas may have originated as pre-Buddhist tumuli in which śramaṇas were buried in a seated position called chaitya.

In early Buddhist inscriptions in India ''stupa'' and ''caitya'' appear to be almost interchangable, though ''caitya'' has a broader meaning, and unlike ''stupa'' does not define an architectural form. In pre-Buddhist India ''caitya'' was a term for a shrine, sanctuary or holy place in the landscape, generally outdoors, inhabited by, or sacred to, a particular deity. In the ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'', near the end of his life the Buddha remarks to Ananda how beautiful are the various ''caitya'' round Vaishali. In later times and in other countries Cetiya/caitya implies the presence of important relics. Both words have forms prefixed by ''maha'' for "great", "large" or "important", but scholars find the difference between a ''mahastupa'' and a ''stupa'', or ''mahacetiya'' and ''cetiya'' hard to pin down.

Some authors have suggested that stupas were derived from a wider cultural tradition from the Mediterranean to the Ganges Valley, and can be related to the conical mounds on circular bases from the 8th century BCE that can be found in Phrygia (tomb of Midas, 8th c. BCE), Lydia (such as the tomb of Alyattes, 6th c. BCE), or in Phoenicia (tombs of Amrit, 5th c. BCE).

Archaeologists in India have observed that a number of early Buddhist stupas or burials are found in the vicinity of much older, pre-historic burials, including megalithic sites.Schopen, Gregory. 2004. Buddhist Monks & Business Matters, pg. 361-74 This includes site associated with the Indus Valley civilization where broken Indus-era pottery was incorporated into later Buddhist burials. Structural features of the stupa- including its general shape and the practice of surrounding stupas with a stone or wooden railing- resemble both pre-Mauryan era cairn burials, as well as pre-historic relic burials found in southern India. Some stupas not believed to have been looted have been found to be empty when excavated, as have some pre-historic cairn sites, and animal bones are suspected to have occasionally been deposited at both types of sites.

Mounds for the relics of the Buddha (5th century BCE)

Religious buildings in the form of the Buddhist stupa, a dome shaped monument, started to be used in India as commemorative monuments associated with storing sacred relics of the Buddha.Encyclopædia Britannica (2008), ''Pagoda''. After the parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated and the ashes divided and buried under eight mounds with two further mounds encasing the urn and the embers.

According to some early Buddhist sources, the Buddha himself had suggested this treatment, and when asked what a stupa was, had demonstrated the basic design: he folded his robe on the ground, placed his begging-bowl upside down on it, with his staff above that.

The relics of the Buddha were spread between eight stupas, in Rajagriha, Vaishali, Kapilavastu, Allakappa, Ramagrama, Pava, Kushinagar, and Vethapida. The Piprahwa stupa also seems to have been one of the first to be built.
Lars Fogelin stated that the Vaisali relic stupa and Nigali Sagar stupa are likely the earliest archaeologically known stupas.

Guard rails —consisting of posts, crossbars, and a coping— became a feature of safety surrounding a stupa.Chandra (2008) The Buddha had left instructions about how to pay homage to the stupas: "And whoever lays wreaths or puts sweet perfumes and colours there with a devout heart, will reap benefits for a long time".Buddhist Architecture, Lee Huu Phuoc, Grafikol 2009, p.143 This practice would lead to the decoration of the stupas with stone sculptures of flower garlands in the Classical period.

Expansion under Ashoka (250 BCE)

According to Buddhist tradition, Emperor Ashoka (rule: 273—232 BCE) recovered the relics of the Buddha from the earlier stupas (except from the Ramagrama stupa), and erected 84,000 stupas to distribute the relics across India. In effect, many stupas are thought to date originally from the time of Ashoka, such as Sanchi or Kesariya, where he also erected pillars with his inscriptions, and possibly Bharhut, Amaravati or Dharmarajika in Gandhara.Buddhist Architecture, Lee Huu Phuoc, Grafikol 2009, p.140-174 Ashoka also established the Pillars of Ashoka throughout his realm, generally next to Buddhist stupas.

The first known appearance of the word "Stupa" is from an inscribed dedication by Ashoka on the Nigali Sagar pillar (spelled in Pali in the Brahmi script as 𑀣𑀼𑀩𑁂 ''"Thube"'' ).

Decorated stupas (from 125 BCE)

Stupas were soon to be richly decorated with sculptural reliefs, following the first attempts at Sanchi Stupa No.2 (125 BCE). Full-fledged sculptural decorations and scenes of the life of the Buddha would soon follow at Bharhut (115 BCE), Bodh Gaya (60 BCE), Mathura (125-60 BCE), again at Sanchi for the elevation of the toranas (1st century BCE/CE) and then Amaravati (1st-2nd century CE).Buddhist Architecture, Lee Huu Phuoc, Grafikol 2009, p.149-150 The decorative embellishment of stupas also had a considerable development in the northwest in the area of Gandhara, with decorated stupas such as the Butkara Stupa ("monumentalized" with Hellenistic decorative elements from the 2nd century BCE) or the Loriyan Tangai stupas (2nd century CE).

File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3660.jpg, Sanchi Stupa No.2, the earliest known stupa with important displays of decorative reliefs, circa 125 BCEDidactic Narration: Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China, Alexander Peter Bell, LIT Verlag Münster, 200
p.15ff
/ref>
East Gateway and Railings Bharhut Stupa.jpg, East Gateway and Railings of Bharhut Stupa. Sculptured railings: 115 BCE, toranas: 75 BCE.
File:Sanchi1 N-MP-220.jpg, The Great Stupa at SanchiWorld Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India, Volume 1 p.50 by Alī Jāvīd, Tabassum Javeed, Algora Publishing, New Yor

/ref> Decorated toranas built from the 1st c. BCE to the 1st c. CE.
File:British Museum Asia 14.jpg, Amaravati stupa, 1st-2nd century CE

Development in Gandhara (3rd century BCE-5th century CE)

The stupa underwent major evolutions in the area of Gandhara. Since Buddhism spread to Central Asia, China and ultimately Korea and Japan through Gandhara, the stylistic evolution of the Gandharan stupa was very influential in the later development of the stupa (and related artistic or architectural forms) in these areas. The Gandhara stupa followed several steps, generally moving towards more and more elevation and addition of decorative element, leading eventually to the development of the pagoda tower. The main stupa type are, in chronological order:

#The Dharmarajika Stupa with a near-Indian design of a semi-hemispheric stupa almost directly on the ground surface, probably dated to the 3rd century BCE. Similar stupas are the Butkara stupa, the Manikyala stupa or the Chakpat stupa.
#The Saidu Sharif Stupa, pillared and quincunxial, with a flight of stairs to a dome elevated on a square platform. Many Gandhara minutiures represent this spectacular type (1st century CE).
#The Loriyan Tangai