Stūpa and Tīrtha: Tibetan Mortuary Practices and an Unrecognized Form of Burial Ad Sanctos at Buddhist Sites in India

Perhaps the most characteristic element of Buddhist sites in India is the presence of a stūpa which is—where topography allows—the fixed focal point of the entire complex. There are, in fact, literary sources which declare that the stūpa was to be the first element established and that its position should determine the position of all monastic residential quarters. A glance at the site plans of almost any moderately well preserved or studied monastic complex in India will show how frequently this pattern—again, when topography allows—holds. But those same site plans will also show a second, almost equally characteristic, element: the “main” stūpa at almost all well preserved or studied sites is not only the focal point of the surrounding monastic residential quarters, but it— in almost every case—also seems to have attracted to itself a more or less dense and jumbled array of secondary structures, structures which mirror or mimic it in miniature. These secondary stūpas have habitually been called “votive” stūpas, but little thought has been given to what “votive” could possibly mean here, and little attention—with some few exceptions—has been given to the fact that these stūpas, when well preserved, frequently contain things.