Ramagrama stupa

Ramagrama stupa (Nepali: रामग्राम नगरपालिका, also Ramgram, Rāmgrām, Rāmagrāma) is a stupa located in Ramgram Municipality, in the Parasi District of Nepal. This Buddhist pilgrimage site containing relics of Gautama Buddha was constructed between the Mauryan and Gupta periods, according to research by Nepal’s Department of Archaeology.^[2]^[3]

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Ramagrama stupa
रामग्राम नगरपालिका
Ashoka (right) visits the Ramagrama Stupa (center), at his failed attempt to take relics of the Buddha from the king (left)
Religion
Affiliation	Buddhism
Sect	Theravada Buddhism
Status	Preserved
Location
Location	Ramgram, Parasi District, Lumbini Province, Nepal
Location in Ramgram, Nepal
Geographic coordinates	27°29′52″N 83°40′52″E
Architecture
Type	Stupa
Style	Buddhist, Gupta
Specifications
Length	50 metres (160 ft)^[1]
Width	50 metres (160 ft)^[1]
Materials	brick and earth

Gautama Buddha's parents were from two different mahājanapadās (kingdoms) of the Solar dynasty — his father (Śuddhodana) belonged to the Shakya kingdom, while his mother (Maya) was from the Koliya kingdom. According to Buddhist texts, after Buddha's Mahaparinirvana, his cremated remains were divided and distributed among the princes of eight of the sixteen mahājanapadās. Each of the princes constructed a stupa at or near his capital city, within which the respective portion of the ashes was enshrined.^[4] These eight stupas were located at:

Allakappa, a settlement of the Bulī people. The precise location of this place is not currently known.^[5]^[6]
Kapilavastu, capital city of the Shakya kingdom^[7] (the location of this stupa is the subject of some controversy; there is evidence it was actually constructed at Piprahwa)^[8]^[9]
Kusinārā, capital city of one of the two Malla republics^[10]
Pāvā, capital city of the other Malla republics^[11]
Rājagaha a major city of the Magadha kingdom^[12]
Rāmagrāma, a major city of the Koliya kingdom (this settlement is sometimes referred to as Koliyanagara)^[13]^[14]
Vesāli, capital city of the Vajjika League^[15]
Veṭhadīpa, a settlement of Veṭhadīpaka Brahmins. The precise location of this place is not currently known.^[16]

About three centuries later, Emperor Ashoka sought to remove the relics from all of these eight original stupas, with the intent to distribute them among 84,000 new stupas to be constructed in his kingdom to honor the memory of the Buddha. According to Mahavamsa, when Ashoka reached the Ramagrama stupa, he encountered a powerful Nāga (mythological hybrid creature, part-human and part-snake) that was guarding the stupa, preventing him from removing the relics. This is why the Ramagrama stupa is the only undisturbed stupa of the original eight stupas.^[2]^[17]

In the Mahavamsa, Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty chooses not to retrieve Buddha relics in the possession of Nagas at Ramagrama. It was said that on his deathbed, Buddha told a prophecy that of the eight donas of his body relics, one would be venerated by the Koliyas of Ramagrama, then the relics would belong to the Nagas until being enshrined in Sri Lanka. Ashoka is told more prophecy by arhats, who speak of the future enshrinement of these relics by king Dutthagamani.^[18]

King Dutthagamini then received from the Sangha the Buddha’s relics upon his head in a casket and departed from the golden pavilion in the midst of manifold offerings and honours made by gods and ‘‘Brahmas’’. He circumambulated the relic-chamber three times, entered to it from the east, and when laid the relic-casket on a silver couch one ‘‘koṭi’’ worth, that was arranged in the north side. An image of the Buddha was then, according to the Buddha’s determination, created in the lion’s reclining posture (‘‘sīhaseyya’’), and all the relics were enshrined within that image. When the enshrining of the relics in the Great Stūpa Ruvanveli was completed, the two novices Uttara and Sumana closed the relic-chamber with the stone-blocks that were previously hidden to be used as a

In the Thupavamsa numerous types of beings attended the enshrinement of the relics into the Mahathupa; including the Naga king Mahakala who until recently guarded them. The relics were to be placed atop a golden throne crafted by Visvakarman the divine artificer; the throne brought by Indra. Brahma offers his invisible umbrella of sovereignty, with the king Dutthagamani offering his own. The arhat Indagutta creates a metal canopy over the universe, so that Mara will not interfere, as monks chanted the Sutta Pitaka (the Collection of Discourses delivered by the Buddha). Dutthagamani ceremoniously enters with the urn atop his head; but as he is about to place the urn on the golden throne, the relics rise into the air and form Buddha, with each of the 32 major signs and 80 lesser signs of a great man. In this form he performs the twin miracle of fire and water, fulfilling the fifth of his death bed resolutions. One hundred and twenty million gods and humans gain arhatship from this experience. The relics return to the urn and they are laid to rest and the chamber sealed with forty meter stone slabs.^[19]

"The relic-chamber shall not shake even by an earthquake; flowers such as jasmine that were offered on that day shall not wither till the end of Buddha Gotama’s Dispensation; the lamps that were kindled with ghee-oil shall not be extinguished; the clay that was mixed with perfume and sandalwood shall not dry; even a single scratch shall not appear within the relic-chamber; stains shall not appear in any of the golden goods that were offered.’ All this occurred by the determination-power of all Arahants present. They determined also that inimical persons should not be able to even see the relic-chamber. Furthermore, by order of king Dutugemunu, the people of Srī Lanka enshrined, along with many other objects such as golden and silver caskets, thousand more of the Buddha's relics over the relic-chamber."^[20]^[21]

History

Archaeological research

Conservation and enhancement

World Heritage status

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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