Chaitya
Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"
Meaning
A chaitya was a sacred place. It was often a site with a special tree, an unusual rock or great natural beauty, and it sometimes had a small shrine. The word may come from chita, meaning a funeral pyre, so it may first have meant a funeral mound. Later, Buddhists used the word for a prayer hall, often cut into rock, with a small stupa at one end. A stupa is a dome-shaped mound that holds holy relics. The chaitya shows how ordinary sacred places grew into planned religious buildings.
Example
The Karla caves near Lonavala in Maharashtra hold a great rock-cut chaitya hall from the Satavahana period. It was made for Buddhist monks and has fine pillars and a stupa cut from the rock.
Don't confuse with
- Vihara: a monastery where monks lived. A chaitya was a place of worship.