Stupa (Chaitya): Main Page

Stupa Masterworks

- Art History

- Iconography

- Religious Context & Sites

Videos:
- Stupas, Introduction
- Deities & Stupas
- Stupa Pilgrimage Art
- Stupa Shapes
- Chariot Ritual
- Boudhanath Stupa

Sanskrit: Chaitya Tibetan: Chorten

General Study Topics:
- Two Dimensional (painting)
- Three Dimensional (ritual/funerary)
- Architectural (geographically placed)
- Iconographic (deity yoga)

Stupa Shapes Study Topics:
- Regional
- Chronological
- Function

Arising historically from the chaitya (funerary mounds) of early Buddhism and symbolically from the tope (ushnisha), bundle of hair, on the crown of the Buddha's head, the stupa is viewed as a physical representation of the unseen enlightened mind of a Buddha. Later the stupa became a symbol incorporating both the blueprint for the path to enlightenment and enlightenment itself (see an example).

Database Search: All Images | Painting | Sculpture

Jeff Watt 8-2005 [updated 4-2017]