The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2348 page)

 
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see
ROT
PANNA
.

 
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Street called Straight
:

see
DAMASCUS
.

 
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(Skt.; P
li,
th
pa
). A reliquary (
relics
) monument ubiquitous throughout the Buddhist world and which, as an object of formal devotion and as a symbol of Buddhahood itself, has been compared in role to the
cross
in Christianity. The st
pa originated in India from the earlier
caitya
, a funeral mound commemorating regional kings. Instructions from the
Buddha
that he himself should be so commemorated—in order to remind people of the possibility of
nirv
na
—are contained in the
H
nay
na
Mah
parinirv
a S
tra
.
The earliest form of the st
pa (e.g. from the 1st cent. CE, at Sañci, C. India) consisted of a simple base supporting an egg-shaped dome (
a
a
) which contained the relics, and a spire with three rings—a combination in meaning of the ceremonial parasol and the
Three Jewels
. The whole was surrounded by railings which circumscribed the st