`pə) [Sanskrit,=mound], Buddhist monument in tumulus, or mound, form, often containing relics. The words tope and dagoba are synonymous, though the latter properly refers only to a Sinhalese Buddhist stupa. The stupa is probably derived from a pre-Buddhist burial mound. The oldest known prototypes (c.700 B.C.) are the enormous mounds of earth at Lauriya Nandangarh in NE India, which were the burial places of royalty. The wooden masts embedded in the center of these mounds probably carried the umbrellas that served as a symbol of royalty and authority; early Buddhists appropriated not only the royal symbol of the stupa but also used the umbrella as a symbol for the Buddha. The Emperor Asoka Asoka , d. c.232 B.C., Indian emperor (c.273–c.232 B.C.) of the Maurya dynasty; grandson of Chandragupta. One of the greatest rulers of ancient India, he brought nearly all India, together with Baluchistan and Afghanistan, under one sway for the first time in..... Click the link for more information. was the first to encourage the building of stupas. The earliest mound forms that can properly be termed stupas, those at Sanchi and Bharhut (see Indian art and architecture Indian art and architecture, works of art and architecture produced on the Indian subcontinent, which is now divided among India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In the Western world, notable collections of Indian art can be seen in the British Museum, in the Victoria and
..... Click the link for more information. ), are hemispherical masses of earth raised on a base and faced with brick or stone. The structure is surrounded by a processional path, the whole being enclosed by a stone railing and topped by a balcony. Though in its development the stupa often became elaborate and complex, in its purest form the plan consisted of a circle within a square. Many of the most significant monuments of the Buddhist world are stupas, and they can be found in every country in which Buddhism has been practiced. Some examples are the Thuparama dagoba (244 B.C.) in Sri Lanka, Borobudur in Java (8th or 9th cent. A.D.), and the Mingalazedi stupa in Myanmar (A.D. 1274). In East Asian Buddhist architecture, the function of the stupa has been taken over by the pagoda.
stupa
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Stupa
in Buddhist architecture, a large structure used as a reliquary. The earliest stupas, such as the Great Stupa at Sanchi (third and second century B.C.), already had a standardized three-part structure: a terraced foundation, a central mound, and a superstructure in the shape of a multitiered umbrella crowning the mound. Stupas may be hemispheric (India, Sri Lanka), square and terraced (Sri Lanka, Thailand), tower-shaped (Vietnam, China), bell-shaped (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia), or bulb-shaped (Mongolia, China).
Stupas are usually faced with stone or plastered bricks with a filler of earth or gravel; they are often painted and gilded. The term “stupa” is used only in India and Nepal; in Sri Lanka the corresponding term is dagoba, in Burma zedi and pato, in Thailand chedi and prann, in Laos that, in Mongolia suburgan, and in China and Vietnam pao t’a and pagoda.
S. S. OZHEGOV
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