Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v7.c47.6217

v7.c47.6217

ŚMAŚĀNA (*see* CHAITYA)—Funeral and memorial structures, tombs of various shapes, round and dome-shaped (parimaṇḍalā, *Śat. Brā.*, XIII, 8, 1), hemispherical bowl-shaped (chamū) resembling a vault, enclosed by an indefinite number of enclosing stones (*ibid.*, XIII, 8, 2, 2) or bricks (*A.-V.*, XVIII, 4, 55), square or quadrilateral (*Śat. Brā.*, XIII, 8, 1, 1), as also pyramidal as in later temples and śikharas. Compare Buddhist stūpas. The three main types described in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* and referred to in *R.-V.*, and *A.-V.*, Vāstu (reliquary of bones, etc.) or tumulous, round or square; Grihān or house with many chambers probably dedicated to some religious or philanthropic use and ‘erected over or beside the grave in memory of the deceased or built underground as rock-cut caves; and Prajñānam or a memorial monument or pillar four of which were set up in four corners of the grave out of which Buddhist memorial pillars might have grown up’. (For further details, compare Sarkar, *ibid.*)