During the reign of emperor Ashoka,the Great Stupa in Sanchi India was built. Being a country of great diversity,India has a high Buddhism rate. The purpose of the Great Stupa being createdwas for Buddhist to have a place for burial and receptacle in a religious tone.Emperor Ashoka was the first king to be emerged in the Buddhist religion andwas responsible for creating over 84,000 stupas and splitting the ashes of theBuddha between all. Ashoka built the Great Stupa in the birthplace of his wife,Devi, in the village of Sanchi, a place known for its market trading.
The Stupa serves as dirt and stone burial forBuddhist figures. Since the Stupa was used as a burial ground for religiousfigures, people began to affiliate the sacred space as a physical body of theBuddha, the ashes of the Buddha gave the Great Stupa its energy.TheGreat Stupa in Sanchi, India Built in 3rd century BCE,the Great Stupa in Sanchi started off as a modest mound of mud. Around the year150 BCE, it was restored and reconstructed to be double its original size. Thearchitectural design of the building has a unique Buddhist Art and Architecturestyle. The sacred space consists of a torana, anda, harmika, medhi, chattra,and an enclosed wall.
The anda is the domed shaped mound of dirt. Its purposewas to cover the Buddha's remains. Spiritually, the anda symbolizes the factthat the gods are the center of the universe. The chattra serves as aprotection element. Its umbrella shape symbolizes the 'pivot of the universe'.The axis represents the divine descending from heaven and becoming one withhumanity.
The three disks serve to represent the three Jewels of Buddhism:Buddha, Dharma (religious laws), and Sangha (monastic). The harmika surroundsthe chattra and serves as an important piece of the space because it marks thestupa as a sacred burial ground. The torana and medhi surround the structure andsupport the anda serving as a 'platform for ritual circumambulation'. Theburial ground consists of a sandstone pillar that is inscribed with SchismEdict by emperor Ashoka. Visitors aregreeted by 4 gateways, one of which pictured above.
Each gateway is on the 4sides of the site. The gateways have various designs and motifs representingthe Buddha and the life they lived. The images give viewers insight on ancientIndia beliefs. The axis of the stupa symbolizes the cosmos dividing the worldinto 6 directions: south, east west, the nadir and the zenith. TheGreat Stupa in Sanchi, India architecture In regards to the Great Stupa'sharmony with nature, cardinal directions play a significant role.
Openings, ortoranas, were placed at 4 sides of the stupa representing the directions:north, south, east, and west. The use of these cardinal directions suggests thatthey symbolize something more. Spiritual leaders believed that each gaterepresented the four greatest events in the life of the Buddha. East representingthe Buddha's birth, south representing their enlightenment, west epitomizingthe first sermon where he preached dharma, and the North symbolizing nirvana. Inaddition to its harmony with nature, natural elements from the earth, such as mudand dirt, were used in the creation of the stupa. Symbolism plays a notable role inthe Great Stupa in Sanchi.
Although the burial site was made to represent theBuddha; he is not portrayed in human form. Four symbols are portrayed on theStupa to represent the Buddha and other various things. The Lotus or theelephant symbolize the religious birth. The lotus is a symbol of spiritualgrowth and the elephant is a connection the Buddha's conception, his motherdreamt of a white elephant when pregnant and it tapped her on the belly withthe lotus in its trunk.
The tree symbolizes enlightenment. This event is one ofthe most important in the Buddha's life as it made him who he is, theEnlightened One. After seeing the four signs; an old man, a sick man, a corpse,and a wandering monk, the Buddha left home and began his journey ofenlightenment. The wheel symbolizes the Buddha turning of the wheel of dharmaor preaching his first sermon at Sarnath. The Stupa itself symbolizesparinirvana which is the death of someone who attained nirvana during theirlifetime.
The funny thing about the GreatStupa is that one cannot actually enter it. It is a solid mound of dirt thathas relics of the Buddha therefore elucidating the impression that this is theonly sacred object within the site. Considering the Great Stupa inSanchi is not an actual place to enter, worshippers do things a different way: circumambulating.The belief is that if worshippers circumambulate three times clockwise aroundthe stupa, all devas, dragons, yakshas, and ghosts will approach them and makeoffers. They follow the path of the sun to be in harmony with the universe. Ifone circled around counter-clockwise, they would generate negative karma.
Thepurpose of this to "meditate on the lives and teachings of the Buddha, and towalk in the teacher's steps." Circumambulation was used by original worshippersin the BCE years and by current worshippers today. The Great Stupa can be compared tomany other sacred spaces such as the Chartres Cathedral. The Chartres Cathedralin France has many similarities and differences in comparison to the GreatStupa.
Both the Great Stupa in Sanchi and the Chartres Cathedral in Francecontain relics of important religious figures. For the Great Stupa, relics fromthe Buddha are held in the mound of dirt within the center. In the ChartresCathedral, relics such as the tunic Virgin Mary wore during the time ofChrist's birth are a part of the sacred building. In addition to thesimilarities of both sacred spaces, both have art built into them thatsymbolizes religious themes. For the Great Stupa, the Buddha's life isrepresented through the placement of the gateways in the different cardinaldirections and other images such the lotus flower or elephant which are used tosymbolize the Buddha's conception and birth. In the Chartres Cathedral, symbolism is found in the rosewindows.
The stained glass is seen as a symbol for Virgin Mary's ImmaculateConception. The light passing through the window entering the space withoutbreaking the glass represents Mary being impregnated with the Holy Spirit whilepreserving her virginity. In relation to differences, the Chartres Cathedral andthe Great Stupa differ in terms of interior space. As stated before, the GreatStupa has no interior area, per say, because one cannot enter it.
The center ofthe stupa is a big mound of dirt and in order for worshippers to use it, theymust circumambulate around it. Incontrast, the Chartres Cathedral has anopen internal room that worshippers and visitors can enter. Another differenceis the architectural type and style. The Great Stupa is a Buddhist stupa andhas Buddhist styled architecture while the Chartres Cathedral is a church andhas French Gothic styled architecture.
Ultimately, both sacred spaces representdifferent religions in alluring ways. The Chartres Cathedral exterior The Great Stupa in Sanchi exterior The Chartres Cathedral interior The Great Stupa in Sanchi interior Overall, it may be said that the GreatStupa is beautiful and unique in its own way. As a source for meditation andgood karma, people of the Buddhist religion have a beneficial space to give into the Buddha. The Great Stupa serves as an educational way to enlightenBuddhist and non-Buddhist folk so understanding of that religion is met.
