Stupas: Origin & History
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by NAEEM AHMED
Art History 1996
"The Stupa is truly the image, or rather the epiphany, of the Buddha, of
his Law that rules the universe, and is moreover a psycho-cosmogram. The
form, suggested by the apparent aspect of the vault of the sky, implies
in its turn the total presence and intangibility of the Buddha, who in
this way is seen not as a human teacher but as the essence of the
Universe."
The Stupa (India), Dagoba (Sri Lanka) and Chorten (Tibet) have an
ancient and detailed history, and within the confines of this monograph
it has been my attempt to provide as much information with regard to
their structure and symbolism as possible. By detailing specific
examples from chosen categories, I have ventured to typify the Stupa in
terms of architectural style and symbolism to give the reader an
introduction to the structure that is the most quintessential object of
Buddhist adoration and worship.
The study of the Stupa may be approached from three tangents, namely,
its historical, stylistic and regional development. The historical
development of the Stupa can be roughly divided into two phases:
1. Hinayana or Theravada,
2. Mahayana,
The Hinayana (c. 400 B.C- 250 A.D.) was the 'doctrine of the elders',
and Mahayana or later phase (c. 251- 700 A.D.), 'the great vehicle' of
Buddhism. The latter phase witnessed a shift from iconic to aniconic
imagery of the Buddha, but the Stupa architecture itself remained
distinct from all previous monuments and future architecture.
In terms of construction, the Stupa is found in two major forms. First,
the free standing or 'built-up', and second the rock-cut or excavated
(chaitya hall). Stupas, variegated in size, shape and adornment, are
located mainly in India, Tibet, Nepal, Sri Lanka and regions of East
Asia. This text deals with the former four regions, concentrating mainly
on the Indian Stupa and its variants.
After a brief introduction to its origin, I have ventured to discuss in
detail two of the Stupa's major stylistic occurrences: free standing
(Sanchi) and rock-cut (Bhaja), both originating from India.
Parallel developments in other regions are then outlined and the styles
that characterize Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism are identified as they
occur.
ORIGIN
The word 'Stupa' is said to have been derived from the Sanskrit root
'Stu' meaning 'to worship' or 'to praise'. The Stupa developed as the
nucleus of Buddhist faith and worship, but its origin cannot be regarded
as Buddhist for evidence of its roots date back to c. 2000 B.C.
Burial mounds containing relics were raised from earth and rock
according to an age old custom that had survived from as early as
Neolithic times. These burial mounds were also common during the
lifetime of the Buddha and he instructed his disciples to erect them at
cross-roads to commemorate great kings, sages and heroes. Naturally,
after the death of the Buddha, a Stupa was to be raised in his honor,
and eight of the mightiest princes fought for his ashes and bones. These
relics were thus distributed to eight different kingdoms and Stupas were
erected over them. During Ashoka's reign p(c. 273-232 B.C.), they were
redistributed and a portion is said to have been enshrined in the Great
Stupa at Sanchi.
It is perhaps only in Buddhism that a particular structure has been
recommended by its founder for worship and salvation, for the Stupa
enables the worshiper to not only think of the Buddha as an imminent
reality (by regarding the Stupa as a visual manifestation of the
Buddha), but also epitomizes his enlightenment and nirvana. In this way
the Buddhist Stupa transcends its predecessor, the burial mound or
tumulus, by shifting the emphasis from a particular relic to a higher
transcendental actuality as realized by the Buddha, i.e. the Buddha's
attainment and the worshiper's goal.
SANCHI
The monastery at Sanchi was originally constructed by Bimbisara, king of
Magadha and contemporary of the Buddha. It owes its present form to
renovations by Ashoka and the later Shunga kings who through their
support and patronage established Stupa worship as an institution in
Buddhism.
The main structure of the Great Stupa (Figure 1) consisted of a
flattened hemispherical cupola or dome, called an anda, placed atop a
cylindrical base. Anda, literally an egg, alluded not only to the shape,
but to its deeper significance as a symbol of latent creative power. The
anda was also intended as an architectural replica of the infinite dome
of heaven, representing the cycle of death and rebirth (anda related to
the universe in ancient Hindu mythology and was also sometimes called
the Garbha or 'womb').
The harmika, located at the summit of the anda, symbolized the zenith
beyond life and death (nirvana) and its resemblance to a sacrificial
altar was of particular significance, for the attainment of nirvana
required the sacrifice of the self and the world (what was below needed
to be sacrificed to reach the top).
DETAILS
A torana (entrance gate).
B vedika (stone fence railing).
C pradaksini patha (circumambulatory path).
D foundation, base.
E medhi (terrace or upper pradaksina patha).
F anda (hemispheric cupola or dome).
G harmika (kiosk).
I chattra (honorific umbrella).
J staircase leading to the terrace for cirumambulation.
K Ashokan column
Illustration from ROWLAND, BENJAMIN. The Art and Architecture of India,
3rd revised ed. (New York: Penguin, 1977), p. 78.
Details from GOVINDA, LAMA ANAGARIKA, Psycho-cosmic Symbolism of the
Buddhist Stupa (California: Dharma Publishing, 1976), p. 13.
Figure 1. The Great Stupa at Sanchi
Rising from the harmika was one of the most important elements of the
stupa. The yasti or pole (that was imagined to run through the anda into
the ground) represented the axis-mundi (world axis) that connected
heaven and earth. This link was duplex: a pathway of ascent from the
limited physical world to the unlimited and unbounded, and a channel for
the down-flow of reality into the world (an influx that imbues the world
with meaning and the finite with infinite). Above the anda the yasti
serves as a support for tiers of circular umbrellas or chattras that
signify the supremacy of the whole structure. The parasol was always a
distinguishing feature that implied royalty and dignity, but moreover,
as a crowning feature of the stupa it symbolized the sacred Tree of Life
or enlightenment. The three elements of the chattra at Sanchi
represented the Three Jewels of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Law, and the
community of monks. The idea of the chattra as a tree is summarised by
Govinda: "…the Tree of Life and
Enlightenment grows out of the ashes of the sacrificial altar (harmika)
which crowns the dome, the monumental world-egg and the womb of a new
world which has been fecundated by the seeds of a glorious past… thus,
the spiritual birth of the world starts in the mind of man, and the Tree
of Life grows out of his own heart, the center of his world, and spreads
into ever new infinities, into ever higher and purer realms, until it
has turned into a Tree of Enlightenment."
Keeping with the ancient tradition of enclosing a sacred tree with a
fence, the chattra was enclosed by a railing or vedika. Similar vedikas
were repeated around the stupa and on the terrace on which the anda
rested (medhi level). They served to demarcate the boundary of the
sacred precinct with the secular world.
The lowest vedika had four entrance gateways or toranas, and enclosed
the main pradaksina patha (circumambulatory path). The orientation of
the toranas (east, south, west and north), and the direction of
ritualistic circumambulation corresponded with the direction of the
sun's course: to sunrise, zenith, sunset and nadir.
The decoration of the Stupas during the Hinayana period was restricted
almost entirely to the sculpture of the vedikas and toranas. Fig. 2
shows a reconstruction drawing of a torana from the Bharut Stupa (Madhya
Pradesh, India). By contemplating the imagery on the toranas, the
worshiper entered the necessary state of mind required prior to
circumambulation. The elaborate reliefs give the torana a striking
contrast to the plain body of the stupa. It was only during the Mahayana
and later periods that the body of the stupa became the subject of
relief sculpture and aniconic depiction of the Buddha was seen on the
anda itself (in the chaitya halls of Ajanta).
Figure 2. Reconstruction drawing of eastern torana from Bharut.
From Huntington, Susan L. The Art of Ancient India (New York:
Weatherhill, 1993), p.64.
CHAITYA HALLS
The term 'chaitya' is derived form the Sanskrit word 'chita', the mound
of ashes formed by the cremation of a dead body. Eventually it came to
mean the earth mound heaped over the ashes or relics of a saint, and
chaitya became 'that which is worthy to be gazed upon,' thus
'worshipful'.
The earliest 'rock-cut' sanctuaries date back to c. 200 B.C. These
chambers were carved as retreats for ascetics and monks of various
sects. The architecture resembled the wooden structures of the time,
with barrel vaulted interiors and vertical grooves on the walls to
imitate wooden beams and members (even the thatched vedikas and toranas
of the 'built-up' stupas were made to resemble parallel developments in
wood-work).
Figure 3. The chaitya hall and viharas at Bhaja, Maharastara (mid-second
century B.C.) Illustration from Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and
Architecture of India, 3rd revised ed. (New York: Penguin, 1977), p.
114.
As Buddhism developed from isolated asceticism to a monastic
organization, the single cell chamber developed into a monumental
chaitya hall that could accommodate a much larger assembly.
One of the earliest chaitya hall and vihara (monastery) complexes is the
one at Bhaja (Figure 3), in western India. The chaitya hall, as
described by Craven, "is a long apsed chamber divided longitudinally by
two rows of columns which create a broad central nave flanked by two
narrow aisles [the circumambulatory passage]. In the apse the aisles
meet and curve around the stupa, which, when seen from the entrance
door, is centered dramatically at the nave's end." The chaitya arch that
makes up the façade is the main source of daylight for the hall, and
its pattern is reminiscent of the windows of similar wooden structures.
In fact, the entire façade was once constructed of wood and wooden
ribs were affixed to the vault, thus imitating the structure of free
standing buildings. Even the pillars that divide the nave and the aisles
were tilted inwards to provide the necessary 'thrust' that would be
needed to support a free standing structure. But this similarity to
wooden buildings gradually disappeared, and with it the Hinayana period
of chatiya architecture. The Mahayana period not only detached rock-cut
architectural style from its wooden predecessor, but also introduced
anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha on the stupa. The chaitya
halls at Ajanta (Figure 4) represent the apex of Buddhist rock-cut
architecture and bear the theistic imprint of Mahayana Buddhism.
Figure 4. Interior of Cave 19, Ajanta, Maharastra (late fifth century
A.D.)
From Huntington, Susan L. The Art of Ancient India (New York:
Weatherhill, 1993), p. 249.
The chaitya halls embodied the same metaphysical symbolism that was
attached to the stupa form. One of the reasons, according to Stierlin,
for the preference given to rock-hewn monuments was: "the stupa, in its
meaning as cosmic egg, could be represented directly in the 'primeval
matter', stone, in the dark depths of a subterranean chamber, without
the substance of the anda having to be transported or reconstructed by
human hand." The chaitya hall itself was thought of as a universe in a
microcosm, with the entrance arch as a doorway to the world. But as
rock-cut chaitya halls became more popular, the stupa began to lose its
original meaning and became merely symbolic.
TIBET, NEPAL AND SRI LANKA
As Buddhism faced decline in India (c. sixth and seventh centuries), it
found its way to Tibet and Nepal in the north and Sri Lanka in the
south. The growth of the religion in these regions saw a parallel
development of the stupa, though the original shape was retained almost
perfectly in the Dagobas of Sri Lanka (Figure 5). Whereas the
fundamental symbolism of the anda as the universe and the floor plan as
a cosmic diagram remained the same, the chattra evolved into a spire or
elongated cone, with a number of horizontal rings which progressively
diminished toward the summit. The different strata of the cone
corresponded to stages of consciousness on the way to enlightenment.
Figure 5. Elevation of Ruvaneli Dagoba, Andhrapura, Sri Lanka.
(Second-first century B.C.) From Govinda, Lama Anagarika, Psycho-cosmic
Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa (California: Dharma Publishing, 1976),
p. 18.
Figure 6. Elevation of a Tibetan Chorten.
From Snodgrass, Adrian. The Symbolism of the Stupa (New York: Southeast
Asia Program, Cornell University, 1991), p. 367.
Above the harmika of the chorten (Figure 6) rose a stepped pyramid in
thirteen stories, reinforcing the idea of the Tree of Life or
enlightenment and typifying the thirteen heavens of the devas. This in
turn was surmounted by an honorific umbrella or flame finial.
The homology of the stupa and the Body of the Buddha is expressed quite
literally in the Tibetan Chorten (Figure 7). The axis of the stupa was
identified with the Buddha's spinal column and the supporting base with
his legs and thighs.
The harmika was his head, and accordingly the Nepalese painted his eyes
on its four sides (Figure 8), to depict the 'all-seeing' Buddha.
Figure 7. The assimilation of the Body of the Buddha and the Chorten.
From Snodgrass, Adrian, p. 361.
Figure 8. Buddhist Stupa at Swayambhanath, Kathmandu.
From URL:
http://www-lib.usc.edu/~bhall/dome.jpg
NIRVANA
Just as the construction of a legendary 84,000 stupas by Ashoka led to
Buddhism's establishment in India, the first ten centuries of Buddhist
architectural development acquired the stupa a place of its own in the
history of Asian Architecture and Civilization. In Sushila Pant's words:
"The Stupa as an architecture, though religious in character and sui
genere, assimilated the secular, religious folk art practices of the
past and the traditions of the alien art and thus contributed to the
development of art in India."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Craven, Roy C. Indian Art (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1985).
Govinda, Lama Anagarika,
Psycho-cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa (California: Dharma
Publishing, 1976).
Huntington, Susan L. The Art of Ancient India (New York: Weatherhill,
1993).
Pant, Sushila. The Origin and Development of Stupa Architecture in
India, 1st ed. (Varanasi, India: Bharata Manisha, 1976).
Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India, 3rd revised ed.
(New York: Penguin, 1977).
Snodgrass, Adrian. The Symbolism of the Stupa (New York: Southeast Asia
Program, Cornell University, 1991).
Stierlin, Henri. Architecture of the World: India (Germany: B. Tascken,
n.d.)