1. Religious Landscapes Pagoda Protestant Buddhist Hindu Catholic
(Taoist/Buddhist)
Protestant
Buddhist
Hindu
Catholic
Orthodox
Orthodox 2) Hindu Temple 3) Jewish Synagogue 4) Buddhist Shrine 5) Protestant 6) Muslim Mosque 7) Catholic
The stupa is the oldest Buddhist religious monument and was originally only a simple mound of mud or clay to cover relics of the Buddha (cetiya). After the parinirvana of the Buddha. his remains were cremated and the ashes divided and buried under eight stupas with two further stupas encasing the urn and the embers. Emperor Asoka had his remains dug up and redistributed among the several thousand Stupas he had built. Now it is an object of veneration. The stupa evolved into the pagoda as Buddhism spread to other Asian countries. The pagoda has varied forms that also include bellshaped and pyramidal ones. Today, in the Western context, there is no clear distinction between the stupa and the pagoda. But in general stupa is used for a Buddhist structure of India or south-east Asia, while pagoda refers to a building in east Asia which can be entered and which may be secular in purpose.
Jewish
Muslim