Search Results: Stupa

A stupa (literally “heap” or “pile”) is a reliquary, a shrine containing the remains of a holy or sainted person and/or artifacts (relics) associated with them, originating in India prior to the 5th century BCE as tombs of holy men and evolving...

A stupa is a reliquary containing the remains (relics) of an individual associated with great spiritual power and insight, most often (since the 3rd century BCE) with the Buddha (l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE). The form, a hemisphere topped by a...

When it comes to ancient history, Pakistan contains its fair share of treasures, one of the prominent of these being the ancient metropolis of Taxila. It is a city of the Gandharan civilization, sometimes known as one of its capitals, whose...

The Dhameka Stupa, as seen from the Dharmarajika Stupa. The Dhameka Stupa was built during the Mauryan period (3rd century BCE) and enlarged in the 11th century CE. It is said to mark the spot where the Buddha gave his first sermon to a group...

The oldest stupa in India, and possibly in the world, construction of the Great Stupa at Sanchi was decreed and overseen by Ashoka the Great (268-232 BCE). It stands 54 feet (17 meters) high and 120 feet (37 meters) wide with a spire (yashti...

The 'Great Stupa' located at Sanchi, a village in the Raisen District of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. This stupa was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE. According to some Buddhist accounts...

Kapilavastu (“Place of Kapila”) is the name of the city where Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha, l. c. 563-483 BCE) grew up and lived for the first 29 years of his life before leaving to pursue the spiritual path which led to his enlightenment...

An isometric image of Badalpur stupa showing the various elements which make up a stupa. Dated to 2nd - 5th Cent CE

The small but well-preserved stupa at Jinnan Wali Dheri missing its dome (at the hands of ancient looters). The stupa is exquisitely decorated and is a compact version of the larger monuments seen around Taxila and has been recently restored...

The Gandhara Civilization existed in what is now Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan from the middle of the 1st millennium BCE to the beginning of the 2nd millennium CE. Although multiple major powers ruled over this area during that time...