Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c29.34

c29.34

**Stūpas erected at Monasteries in honour of Teachers and Texts.** We may now turn to the other features of monastic life as observed by Fa-Hien. Monasteries had topes erected in honour of the sacred characters in the history of Buddhism, such as Sāriputra, Mahā-maudgalyāyana, and Ānanda, to whom the full-fledged monks usually made offerings, the Śrāmaṇeras making their offerings to Rāhula. The Bhikshuṇīs usually made their offerings at the tope of Ānanda, "because it was he who requested the world-honoured one to allow females to quit their families and become nuns" (p. 45). Topes were also erected to sacred texts like the Abhidharma, the Vinaya, and the Sūtras, the Professors of each of these subjects making offerings to the tope connected with it (p. 46). The students of Mahāyāna "present offerings to the Prajñā-pāramitā, to Mañjuśrī, and to Kwan-she-yin (= Avalokiteśvara)". Thus every monastery, whether Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna, was equipped with a sort of a chapel where the inmates offered their worship.