■THE GbSIPA. 



255 



The chhortens,^ literally " receptacle for offerings" (Skt. Da-garbha, 



Chaltija or stupa"), are solid conical structures 



Chhortens. originally intended as relic-holders, but now are 



mostly erected as cenotaphs in memory of Buddha or canonized saints, 



and they have a suggestively funereal appearance. The original form 



of the stupa was a simple hemisphere with 

 its convexity upwards and crowned by one 

 or more umbrellas. Latterly they became 

 aiore complex and elongated, especially in 

 regard to their capitals. The details of 

 many of the Lamaic Chaityas are cajoable 

 of an elemental interpretation, symbolic 

 of the five elements into which a body is 

 resolved on death. Thus, vide figure in 

 margin modified from Remusat,^ the lov/est 

 section, a solid rectangular block, typifies 

 the solidity of the earth, above it tvater is 

 represented by a globe, fire by a triangular 

 tongue, air by a crescent — the inverted 

 vault of the sky, and ether by an acumi- 

 nated cii'cle. The Chaityas of Sikhim are 

 mainly of two forms. Each chhorten 

 consists of a solid hemisphere — the true 

 relic-holder — which stands on a plinth 

 of several steps. The hemisphere is 

 surmounted by a narrow neck bearing 

 in a lotus-leaved basin a graded cone 

 usually of 13 tiers, which are considered 

 to represent umbrellas — the symbol of 

 royalty ; they are by others said to re- 

 present the 13 Bodhisatwa heavens of 

 Nepalese Buddhist cosmography.* And 

 the whole is topped by a horizontal disc bearing a smaller vertical disc 

 set within a crescent, which popularly are said to typify the sun and 

 moon, but which may have the elemental character already noted. 



In the most common form, the hemisphere has its curved surface 

 directed downwards. The second form especially common in Nepal, 



EARTH. 



' TOchliod rten. ^ 



^ Ba-garhha (Pali Da-goba) = relic receptacle. %si Chaitya (= chi -f styai = to 

 heap together, a mound) came afterwards to be called stupa (^ q) and in Pali 

 T/iupa or vulgarly Tope, but was especially applied to a relic-holder in an 

 Assembly Hall, while stupa denoted the larger one in the open air. 



^ Foue Koue Ki, Chap. XIII. 



* Hodgson's Essays on the Languages, &c., of K^epal and Tibet, Lond. 1874, page 30. 



