#stupas

My new article discusses how Chinese temple decorations of strongmen supporting the roof on their shoulders are connected to Greco-Buddhist sculptures conflating Atlas and Heracles from Greek myth.

Fire, air and space

Thiksay Monastery | Resamble to Tibet’s Potala Palace

Image Credits Thiksey Monastery is the biggest gompa in central Leh. It’s a must destination in the surroundings of Leh. It is one of India’s most magnificent Tibetan Buddhist style monasteries. It is located between the icy deserts of Ladakh and Leh, at the height of around 3,600 meters high. Thiksey monastery, the oldest Tibetan monastery in Ladakh, includes many stupas, sculptures, and other…

Ruins of the Niya Stupa seen from the north-west and south-east (2nd or 3rd century AD, China).

The stupa is a Buddhist construction that originated in India around the 3rd century BC, as a funerary mound covering relics of the Buddha or his disciples.  Over the centuries, it took on more functions – housing objects used by the Buddha or his disciples; commemorating actions or events in their lives; symbolizing aspects of Buddhist theology; or functioning as shrines at important places. The stupa was a focus for ritual and worship.

In India, the original stupa form was a dome on a circular base.  But as Buddhism spread north, then east, across the Parim Mountains and into the Tarim Basin, the stupa took on new forms.  The base became square and stepped, with staircases on one or all four sides, and the dome became more elongated and tower-like.

These forms are seen in the Taklamakan Desert, with the earliest probably dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, at Miran and Niya.