Buddhist architecture

The stupa is the most ancient form of Buddhist art, symbolizing the monumental funerary mounds of ancient India that were appropriated into Buddhism as depositories for Buddha relics. The stupa is usually designed in the non-enterable circular burial mound topped by the honorific multi-tiered parasols. In later periods, the simple form of the early Stupas became more elaborated with mouldings.

Borobudur is one of the great monuments of Southeast Asia. It is a colossal Buddhist stupa that rises out of the rice paddies and palm trees with the nearby volcano Gunung Merapi in the distance. This mysterious and beautifully constructed monument has survived volcanic eruptions, a 2006 earthquake, and even terrorist bombs.

Built in the 6th century before Islam had traveled to the central Afghanistan region, the two Buddhas of Bamiyan were famous for their beauty, craftsmanship and of course, size. The taller of the two Buddhas stood at more than 170 feet high, with the second statue at nearly 115 feet. They were once the world’s largest standing Buddhas.

Stupa is a hemispherical structure containing Buddhist relics and place of meditation used by Buddhists monks. In the period between the Mauryas and the Guptas the older stupas were greatly enlarged and beautified. Of these three are noteworthy—those at Bharhut and Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, and at Amaravati in the lower Krishna valley.

Vaishali, considered to be World’s First Republic and currently an Archaeological site, is situated in the district with the same name, Vaishali, in the Bihar state of India.

The Pillars of Ashoka are a series of columns dispersed throughout the northern Indian subcontinent, erected by the Mauryan king Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BC.

Rising high out of the earth from where the dying Buddha donated his begging bowl, the enormous Kesaria Stupa is an enthralling example of how nature can reclaim a deserted monument.

The pillars of Ashoka are a series of columns dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent, erected or at least inscribed with edicts by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka during his reign from c. 268 to 232 BC.

One of the most important places to visit in Varanasi, the Chaukhandi Stupa at Sarnath is believed to have been constructed in somewhere between the 4th and 6th century, during the Gupta era.