Dagoba (stupas) in Sri Lanka are mound-like structures built to protect and proclaim sacred relics enclosed within them.
Stupas in Sri Lanka S tupa or Dagoba (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාවේ දාගැබ්, ස්තූප), also known as Chetiya , Vehera , Dhatugabbha (Pali), Dhatugharbha (Sanskrit), Pagoda is a dome-shaped Buddhist monument built to enshrine the corporeal relics ( Saririka-dhatu ) or other related relics of the Buddha (The National Atlas of Sri Lanka, 2007). Construction of Stupas in Sri Lanka began with the introduction of Buddhism to the country by Arhat Mahinda Thera (Bandaranayake. 1990). Since then, Stupas have been built in every Buddhist monastery, with the exception of the monasteries in forests (The National Atlas of Sri Lanka, 2007). Presently, Sri Lankan Stupas are considered the largest brick structures in the world (Held & de Panthou, 2001; Ranaweera, 2004; Ranaweera & Abeyruwan, 2006). History In the beginning, Stupa was a burial mound containing relics and on which a mast had been raised (Held & de Panthou, 2001). According to the view of some scholars, this mound was the reproduction of Mount Meru, the famous co…
