OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL 1G5 



purpose was to receive the relics of Buddha, or the remains of such 

 of his disciples as distinguished themselves by piety or learning. 

 Thus, according to tradition, the remains of Buddha, after cremation 

 of his body, were divided into eight portions and distributed among 

 his followers, who erected pagodas over them, and legend makes 

 King Asoka, the patron and propagator of Buddhism in the thinl 

 century B. C, build 84,000 stupas all over India in commemoration 

 of the same number of discourses supposed to have been delivered 

 by Buddha, or in honor of the number of atoms of which Buddha's 

 body consisted. But already in the early periods of Buddhism 

 stupas were constructed ex voto either for marking some important 

 event in the life of Buddha and the history of Buddhism or for 

 decorating the monasteries and temples. At present pagodas are 

 built chiefly as an act of devotion on the part of some pious person 

 desirous of acquiring merit. In keeping with the original purpose 

 of the pagoda, its earliest architectural style was derived from the 

 tomb or tumulus. The earliest stupas are simple cupolas or hemi- 

 spheres raised on a low basement, about half the diameter in height. 

 With the exception of the small chamber for the ashes or relics, 

 these shrines were solid masses of bricks or stone. One of the most 

 important surviving structures of this kind is the Sanchi stupa, also 

 known as the Bhilsa tope, in central India, which is a solid dome of 

 stone, 106 feet in diameter and 46 feet in height, and which Cunning- 

 ham would ascribe to the third century B. C. Gradually the plinth 

 was increased until it rose from 1 to 2 diameters in height, of which 

 the finest existing example is the great stupa of Dhamek at Sarnath, 

 Benares, which was built about the sixth century A. D.* 



The apex of the dome was usually surmounted by a disk placed 

 horizontally, on which rose, as a terminal, an opened umbrella, the 

 most common emblem of royalty and state among eastern nations, 

 or perhaps to symbolize the wandering mendicant monks of Bud- 

 dhism. Ferguson " surmises that the umbrella, or tee, in its earliest 

 form was, or at all events represented, a relic box, assuming that 

 originally the relic was very likely not placed in the tope but on its 

 top. Later the number of umbrellas was increased to 3, 7, 9, 11, 

 nd even 13 (always on odd number), placed one above the other. 



In Tibet, and more especially in China, the terminal has frequently 

 become the whole monument, the dome being wholly omitted. The 

 most magnificent example of this style is the porcelain pagoda of 

 Nankin, China, generally called the "Temple of Gratitude," which 

 in its nine stories rises to a height of 236 feet. 



The pyramidal shape observed in the Wat Chang pagoda is the 

 most common for these religious edifices of Buddhism, and in this 



" Compare A. Cunningham, Mahabodhl, or the Great Buddhist Temple under the Bodhi Tree at 

 Buddha-Qaya, London, 1892, p. 47. 

 •' Handbook of Architecture, London, 1859, p. 10. 



