Build the stupa as a solid hemispherical mound (anda) over relics, on a circular terrace (medhi), and crown it with a railed enclosure (harmika) and a mast of parasols (chattra).
Sanchi: Ø ≈ 36.6 m, height ≈ 16.5 m (without the crown)
Small stupas round the great one
Let monks and pilgrims raise small stupas for merit close round the great stupa, so that its terrace fills over the centuries with lesser monuments.
Merit was believed to accrue to anyone who built even a tiny stupa, and burial near the relics of the Buddha or his disciples was sought by monks. At Sanchi, Marshall’s excavations found dozens of small stupas and platforms crowding the terrace round Stupa 1, many over relic caskets and ashes.
Related rules
Provide a path for circumambulation (pradakshina) in the clockwise direction, keeping the sacred object on the right, and enclose it with a railing that separates the sacred ground.
Place the monastery where it is neither too far from the town nor too near: easy to come and go for all who wish to visit, not crowded by day, quiet at night, apart from the noise of people, fit for seclusion.
Give the monks dwellings of cells round a court with a verandah, a single gateway, and a wall round the whole; add halls for assembly and worship, wells and a bath-house, as they are needed.
Enshrine the relics of a Buddha, like those of a universal king, in a stupa raised where four great roads meet, so that all who pass may honour them.
Settle the four varṇas in four quarters of the town: Brahmins to the north, Kṣatriyas to the east, Vaiśyas to the south and Śūdras to the west.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “Small stupas round the great one”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/votive-stupas. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.