What are stupas? why were they made ? Also,mention about their construction ?

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Exam ! in just 2 hrs

1)  Stupas were the places where the image of the deity was installed.

2)  They were made generally to safeguard certain precious things such as bodily remains (such as teeth, bone or ashes) of the Buddha or his followers, as well as precious stones, and coins.

3)  A path, known as the pradakshina patha, was laid around the stupa.

4)  The room known as the garbhagriha was built, where the image of the chief deity was placed.

5)  Shikhara was built on top of the garbhagriha, to mark this out as a sacred place. 

6)  Most temples also had a space known as the mandapa. It was a hall where people could assemble.

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(Most of the stupas under construction have information also)Well, what sort of information do you want? By saying I have been (trying to) practice Tibetan Buddhism for the last (censored) number of years, my bias is visible. But then that should have been obvious from the front page.

From this perspective, the best introduction I have read is byVenerable Thubten RinpocheThe Immeasurable Benefits of Stupas

Lama Zopa explains the 10 benefits of stupashere

This Singapore site has a pagelisting benefits

Last updates / links checked November 2007.Please let me knowif you find any that don't work

Ven Lama Samten. who taught me all about stupas, likes these two translations from the Kangyour best:

Benefits resulting from the building of stupasand

Symbolic meaning of stupas

A quickvisual guidefrom Great Stupa of Dharmakaya

Khandro.net- Lots of links, an overview

An a Tibetologist from Torino (Italy) sent me this useful passage:

"Stupais a sanskrit word and it is translated as "a knot or tuft of hair, the upper part of the head, crest, top, summit". In Rigveda texts stupa means "tree's stem". The root "stup" and the noun "stupa" was a living lexeme as evidenced by its derivatives in several languages distribuited over vast areas from Afghanistan to Lahndi in the eastermost region of India. Stupa is also a "pile-up of clay", meaning supported by its hindi derivatives. This is confirmed by the chinese traveller I-Tsing who visited India in the seventh century A.D. The word "stupa" can also be derived from "stup" which means "to raise well up, raise aloft, elevate". The word is also attested in Greek stupos "stem, stump, block. Compare the cognates in Latin stipes, stipa, stupeo, and in Lithuanian stups, stupe, pl. stupas. In Icelandic stupa is "tower". We can catch glimpses of the very beginning of the stupa as an element of the agricultural economy of early man. In its earliest stages it was a "tethering post" for an animal made out of a wooden stump to keep the animal in place. The animal was the symbol of wealth, Latin pecunia "money", originally property in cattle, from pecus "cattle". In its earliest form and function, the stupa represented a stabilisation of the socio-economic life of the comunity. The word tope for stupa was first introduced into English in 1839. It has three quite distinct origin. In the meaning of a buddhist monument: the word tope is in local use in the North-West Punjab, where ancient monuments of this kind occur, and appears to come from Sanskrit stupa, through the Pali or Prakrit thupo...The word was first introduced to European knowledge by Stewart Elphinstone in his account of the tope in Rawulpindi district, in the year 1839.

Monnier Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, renders stupa as "a Buddhist monument, dagoba (generally of a pyramidal or dome-like form and created over sacred relics of the historical Buddha [563-478 b.C.] or on spots consecrated as the scenes of his acts); a relics shrine or relics casket. The stupa was originally a topknot of hair, designating the upper part of the head but subsequently became used as an architectural term, indicating a monument of a dome-shaped form over the sacred relics of the Buddha or other saints or venerable persons. With the growth of Buddhism in the course of time, the early structural model of stupa underwent gradual architectural trasformation in various regions of India and elsewere. Penetration of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Central Asian, South-East Asian and East Asian countries besides Nepal and Tibet was followed by the trasmission of the religio-cultural traditions, concept, and form of Buddhist architecture including the stupa from their birth place to these foreign lands, where these were preserved , adapted and developed in accordance with local requirements, believes and taste."

Evolution of The Stupa

On Line BookThat's right, a whole on line book, written by a Westerner (Venerable Kusalo, Therevaden Tradition). Chapters include: Origins, Purpose, Evolution and Mandala. Heaps of great photos, and the best single page on Sanchi I have seen. If this link doesn't work, starthereand find your way to the section on stupas.The same indefatigable writer as above has put together (as well as the book above) three extensive sections on stupas: ancient, recent and modern. Here you will find profiles of the types from all countries and ages, lots of sub pages, even a puzzle! You can
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Stupas is a dome-shaped structure erected as a Buddhist shrine.

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