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.c47.7328

v7.c47.7328

HARMIKĀ—The kiosk, the altar-like structure that rises on the summit of the cupola of a stūpa. The Nepalese stūpas ‘decorate the *Harmikā* with painted human eyes, thus suggesting a human figure, in the posture of meditation hidden in the stūpa: the crossed legs in the base, the body up to the shoulders in the hemisphere, the head in the *Harmikā*. It was crowned by one or more umbrellas of stone and served as a receptacle of relics. “The resemblance of the *Harmikā* to a sacrificial altar is perhaps not unintentional, because the Holy one (Buddha), instead of sacrificing other beings, sacrifices himself to the world.” Railing on the top of stūpa, Tee, Burmese Hti; the lower part is called Gala (neck) and the whole chūḍāmaṇi. The umbrellas grouped over it are chhatravali and the shaft on which they are supported is Yashṭi. (Foucher, *L'Art Greco-Buddhique*, *tome i*, p. 97; Fergusson, Vol. I, p. 70, note 2.)