With reference to ancient India, consider the following statements:The concept of Stupa is Buddhist

Question

With reference to ancient India, consider the following statements:The concept of Stupa is Buddhist in origin.Stupa was generally a repository of relics.Stupa was a votive and commemorative structure in Buddhist tradition.How many of the statements given above are correct?

Accepted Answer

Stupa, Sanskrit for heap, is a mound-like (hemispherical) burial structure containing relics of Buddhist monks. E.g. Sanchi Stupa built over Buddha relics. Hence statement 2 is correct.However, the concept of stupa does not have Buddhist origin. The word Stupa is mentioned in the Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Vajasaneyi Samhita, Taittriya Samhita, etc. Hence statement 1 is not correct.Rigveda refers to a Stupa raised by the King Varuna above the forest in a place having no foundation. The word ‘estuka’ is also used in the same sense in Rigveda, probably by then anything raised on the ground like a heap/pile might have been known as Stupa.However, the Pali word ‘thupa’ is quite similar to the term Stupa. Thupa means a conical heap, a pile or a mound or a conical or bell shaped shrine containing a relic. Stupa is regarded as a monument for veneration.But as Stupa seems to be associated with votive and commemorative and offering purposes; Stupa thus gradually was related to the ritualistic and commemorative with sectarian, affiliation with school of philosophical obligatory and was bound by aspects of social-economic life. Hence statement 3 is correct.The Buddhist texts like the Avadana Satakam, Mahavadana and Stupavadanam mention about the commemorative aspects of the Stupa even the Jaina literature like Raya Pasenaiya Sutta refers to it.Probably in the later period, due to deep desire of the common mass to worship the lord for the sake of salvation, Stupa acquired its votive character as well.Source Attribution: Upinder Singh: A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, Introduction to Indian Art Part