Caitya
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An early chaitya at Bhaja Caves. 2nd century BCE.
caitya. (P. cetiya; T. mchod rten; C. zhiti 支提). Refers to a shrine, sanctuary, temple or prayer hall in Indian religions.[1][2]
The Princeton Dictionary states:
- The term is used sometimes to refer to a Buddhist reliquary, or stūpa, sometimes to a cave or sanctuary that enshrines a stūpa, and sometimes to local or non-Buddhist shrines. Where a distinction is made between caitya and stūpa, a stūpa contains a relic (śarīra) of the Buddha or an eminent saint, while a caitya does not and is erected solely as a commemorative shrine.[2]
- Further reading
Chaitya, Wikipedia
Notes
- ↑ Kevin Trainor (1997). Relics, Ritual, and Representation in Buddhism: Rematerializing the Sri Lankan Theravada Tradition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 33–38, 89–90 with footnotes. ISBN 978-0-521-58280-3.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: 2014), s.v. caitya