Stupa

Initially a grave, memorial and sacred burial mound shaped like an inverted round bowl, it first appeared in India to contain the relics and/or the ashes of important Buddhist persons. It later evolved into a massive reliquary with a spire in its top, an axis mundi symbol of the imaginary line through the earth’s center around which the universe revolves. Small stupa or other shaped images (reliquaries) are used as ritual objects. The top of a Burmese offering container called a hsun ok recalls the shape of the height of tall decorative stupas.