A stupa is a mound-like or hemispherical structure that contains relics, such as the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns, and is used as a place of meditation in Buddhism. Stupas were originally traditional burial mounds for everyday people in ancient India, but Buddhas death changed that, and they became significant religious monuments. Stupas are classified based on form and function into five types: the relic stupa, the object stupa, the commemorative stupa, the symbolic stupa, and the votive stupa.
The Great Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India, is the most famous and best-preserved early stupa in India. Large stupas have or had vedikā railings outside the path around the base, often highly decorated with sculpture, especially at the torana gateways, of which there are usually four. At the top of the dome is a thin vertical element, with one or more horizontal discs spreading from it. These were chatras, symbolic umbrellas, and tend not to have survived, if not restored.
Worship of a stupa consists of walking around the monument in the clockwise direction, and even when the stupa is sheltered by a building, it is always a freestanding monument. Small stupas can function as votive offerings, and individuals could sponsor the casting of a votive stupa to gain merit and improve their karma. Indian and Tibetan stupas typically have inscriptions that state that the stupa was made "so that all beings may attain Enlightenment." Votive stupas can be consecrated and used in home altars or utilized in monastic shrines.
