Pagodas are the principle form of Buddhist architecture,
which are used as religious multistory Buddhist towers, erected
as a memorial or shrine. They are symbols of five elements
of the universe - earth, water, fire, air and ether, and along
with them, the most important factor - Consciousness, which
is the ultimate reality.
The early Buddhists had started using the royal symbol of
'Pagoda', by applying an umbrella-like structure to symbolise
the Buddha, which soon took over the functions of the Stupas.
In the 3rd century BCE, an Indian emperor Ashoka, who had
converted to Buddhism, promoted the Pagodas by building 84,000
of them throughout India, and since then, Pagodas have been
an inseparable parts of all those countries, which practice
Buddhism : China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia.
Myanmar houses the Mahamuni Pagoda, one of the most important
pagodas in Mandalay, which has an ancient statue of the Buddha,
brought there by king Bodawpaya in 1784 CE.
The Indian Pagodas, full of carvings and sculptures, are
mainly pyramidical in shape and taper to apex, whereas those
of China and other Asian regions are stereotypical pagodas
with tiled and upward curving roofs.
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