Stupa

Also called: Thupa · Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 5 "The Rise of Empires"; Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

A stupa (Pali: thupa) is a sacred mound, usually a solid dome, built over relics of the Buddha. Relics here means bits of his bodily remains or objects he had used. The whole mound was worshipped as a symbol of the Buddha and of Buddhism.

Stupas are among the oldest surviving monuments in India. Their carvings and inscriptions tell us how Buddhism spread, how people worshipped, and who paid for religious buildings.

Explanation

Background: why stupas were built

• An older custom, given a new meaning
• People may have raised mounds over the dead before Buddhism began. The custom was probably pre-Buddhist.

• Buddhism took this old idea and made it its own.

• The relic made the whole mound sacred

• Devotees did not worship only the bone or bowl hidden inside.

• They worshipped the entire stupa as an emblem (a standing symbol) of the Buddha.

• A stupa had three roles at once:

• a grave, because it holds remains;
• a symbol, because it stands for the Buddha, who is not shown as a human figure in the earliest art;

• a place of ritual, because devotees walk around it.

• The texts gave Buddhists reasons to build

• Mahaparinibbana Sutta (the Buddhist text on the Buddha's death): the dying Buddha tells his disciple Ananda to raise a thupa "at the four crossroads". That means a public place where roads meet and all kinds of people pass. The stupa was meant to be open to everyone, not hidden inside a monastery.
• Ashokavadana (a later Buddhist text about Asoka): Asoka sent relics to every important town and ordered a stupa to be built over each one.
  • Sharing the relics turned one burial into many shrines.
  • Buddhism spread along with the relics.

Main parts of a stupa

• Anda: the solid dome, shaped like half a sphere. "Anda" means egg. It is the main body of the stupa and hides the relic [5].
• Medhi: the round terrace, or drum, on which the dome sits. A railing runs around it. Devotees walk on it clockwise. This is called circumambulation: walking round a sacred object while keeping it on your right [5].
• Harmika: a small, box-shaped (cubical) relic chamber on top of the dome [5].
• Yashti: the central pillar that rises from the harmika. It stands for the axis of the universe [5].
• Chattra: the triple umbrella carried on the yashti. The three umbrellas were read as the Three Jewels of Buddhism [5]:
• the Buddha;
• the dharma (his teaching);

• the sangha (the community of monks and nuns).

• Railing and gateways: a heavy stone railing goes around the Sanchi stupa. It is broken by four gateways (toranas). The gateways are covered with carvings of scenes from the Buddha's life and stories of his earlier births (Jataka-type legends) [2][3].

Materials and style

• The core was brick or rubble (rough broken stone), covered with a layer of stone.
• The carving was placed on the railings, gateways and drum slabs. These are the parts a visitor saw and touched while walking round.
• Carved railings are the mark of the great early stupas: Bharhut (Madhya Pradesh), Sanchi and Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [5].
• In this early art, the Buddha appears only as symbols, never as a human figure. The later Gandhara and Mathura schools broke with this and showed him in human form.

Who paid for them

• Votive inscriptions are the proof
• These are short gift records cut into railing pillars, cross-bars and gateway parts.
• Each one names the person who gave that one piece, not the whole monument.

• So huge monuments could be built without a single patron.

• The donors included:

• Kings, including the Satavahanas;
• Guilds (groups of craftspeople or traders). The ivory workers of Vidisha are named at Sanchi, and at least one gateway is credited to an ivory carvers' guild [2];
• Hundreds of ordinary men and women, who recorded their place, their occupation and the names of relatives;

• Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis (Buddhist monks and nuns), even though they were supposed to own nothing.

• Result: these monuments were paid for from below as much as from above, not only with royal money.

Time, place and evidence

• Period
• The first stupas date to about the 3rd century BCE.

• By the 2nd century BCE, the stupas at Bharhut, Sanchi and Sarnath were standing.

• The Great Stupa at Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh)

• It was first built in the 3rd century BCE under the Mauryan emperor Asoka. It is believed to hold the ashes of the Buddha [2][3].
• Excavation there has found relic caskets (small containers holding remains) and more than 400 epigraphical records (inscriptions) [2].

• Heritage status: the Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi were put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1989 [2][3].

• Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh)

• The stupa had four ayaka platforms: ledges that stick out from the drum, each carrying five pillars.
• These platforms gave seven crystal relic caskets and one ivory casket.

• Some caskets held bone pieces, pearls, precious stones and gold flowers [4].

• Bharhut (Madhya Pradesh) is known for its early carved railings [5].

• Key people: the Buddha, Ananda, Asoka, the Satavahana kings, and guilds such as the ivory workers of Vidisha.
• How we know
• Texts: the Mahaparinibbana Sutta and the Ashokavadana.
• Inscriptions: votive (gift) records on railings and gateways.
• Archaeology: relic caskets dug up at Sanchi and Amaravati.

Don't confuse with

• Chaitya: a Buddhist prayer hall, often cut into rock, with a small stupa inside for worship. A stupa is the solid mound itself, which you cannot enter.
• Vihara: a monastery where monks lived. A stupa is a relic monument, not a place to live.
• Mahaparinibbana Sutta vs Ashokavadana: in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, the Buddha tells Ananda to build a thupa at the four crossroads. In the Ashokavadana, Asoka sends relics to every important town.
• Harmika vs anda: the harmika is the small box-like relic chamber on top of the dome. The anda is the dome itself.

Prelims Hooks

• The dying Buddha asks Ananda to build a thupa "at the four crossroads". This is in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta.
• Anda = dome; medhi = round terrace or drum; harmika = cubical relic chamber; yashti = central pillar (axis of the universe); chattra = triple umbrella (the Three Jewels) [5].
• Great Stupa, Sanchi: built under Asoka in the 3rd century BCE. It has a stone railing with four gateways and over 400 inscriptions. Its monuments became UNESCO World Heritage in 1989 [2][3].
• Ivory workers of Vidisha paid for part of a Sanchi gateway [2].
• Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh): its four ayaka platforms gave seven crystal caskets and one ivory casket [4].
• Stupas standing by the 2nd century BCE: Bharhut, Sanchi, Sarnath. Trap: the first stupas date to the 3rd century BCE, not earlier.

Mains Points

• Patronage came from many groups, not only kings.
• Votive inscriptions name Satavahana kings, guilds such as the ivory workers of Vidisha, monks and nuns, and hundreds of ordinary donors with their place and trade [2].
• This goes against the idea that early Indian monumental art was made only for royal courts.

• It shows wealth in towns among craftspeople, a wide social base, and women donors whose names are visible in the records.

• Sharing relics helped spread the religion and helped rulers claim authority.

• The Ashokavadana says Asoka sent relics to every important town. This explains why stupas appear in many regions in the 3rd–2nd centuries BCE.

• Building over a relic linked a ruler to the Buddha and made a new site sacred at once.

• Continuity and change: design, worship and belief go together.

• An older, possibly pre-Buddhist burial mound was given a new Buddhist meaning.
• The medhi exists so devotees can walk round clockwise. The yashti stands for the axis of the universe, and the chattra for the Three Jewels [5].
• Early railings at Bharhut, Sanchi and Amaravati show the Buddha only through symbols [5]. The later Gandhara and Mathura schools, and later temple forms, moved towards worshipping images.

Related concepts

• Donations to stupas
• Sanchi stupa
• Bharhut stupa
• Amaravati stupa
• Deorkothar stupas
• Kesariya stupa
• Bhattiprolu stupa
• Kanaganahalli
• Nagarjunakonda
• Diamond Triangle of Odisha

Read more

• Why and how stupas were built