Earthen Stūpas of Pre-ancient Nepāl

Abstract

The initial stūpas of pre-ancient Nepal were erected using earthen mounds. However, the
Pāli and Sanskrit Buddhist texts do not mention that stūpas have to be earthen mounds.
Only the Pāli Jātaka story Sujāta mentions the presence of earthen mound stupa containing
the relics of a deceased person. The earthen mound stūpas were initially made in the Indian
sub-continent after Buddha’s Mahāparinibbāna. There were ten preliminary stūpas that
were erected containing the Buddha’s relics, a vessel and ashes. One of them, Rāmagrāma
stūpa, is still in existence in its original form. When Emperor Asoka converted to Buddhism,
he erected 84,000 stūpas with small relics of the Buddha, extracting those relics from the
seven original stūpas. Not only that, he also went on to enlarge the size of a few original
stūpas using bricks in the construction process. Piprahavā stūpa of Kapilvastu, Nibbāna
stūpas of Kanakamuni and Krakuchhanda, twin stūpas of Dhamnihavā were renovated by
enclosing the earthen mound with bricks. The Bhishvā stūpa of Birgunj and three stūpas
of Pātan and a stūpa of kothuvahī are still in existence in their original form. However, all
these stūpas are enclosed by walls built in the later part of the centuries to preserve them.
The Chārumatī stūpa and the Yampi stūpa were built in Vajrayāna tradition. However, in
recent times the infrastructure developments in the cities have led to the use of modern
materials like cement and white plaster and altering even the architectural styles of some
of the stupas. The north-east section of Chārumatī stūpa and the Yampi stūpa have suffered
this impact.