In Buddhism, the earliest stupas contained portions of the Buddha’s ashes, and as a result, the stupa began to be associated with the body of the Buddha. Adding the Buddha’s ashes to the mound activated it with the energy of the Buddha himself.

Religious significance:-

• The ashes of the Buddha were buried in stupas built at locations associated with important events in the Buddha’s life including Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushingara
• Buddha gave specific directions regarding the appropriate method of honoring his remains (the Maha-parinibbana sutra): his ashes were to be buried in a stupa at the crossing of the mythical four great roads (the four directions of space), the unmoving hub of the wheel, the place of Enlightenment.
• They were also a site of rituals and ceremonies. Their presence eventually attracted other constructions including monasteries.
• The pilgrimage activity around the stupa had an important impact on the social history of Buddhism. Merchants, artisans, and monks alike enjoyed the benefits of the income generated by the activity resulting from the emblematic stupas.
• Along with monasteries (viharas) and prayer halls (chaityas), stupas form one of the three types of religious structures in Buddhism. Later, stupas were included in chaityas

Philosophical significance:-

• Stupas remind the Buddhist practitioner of the Buddha and his teachings almost 2,500 years after his death. Stupas were considered the living presence of the buddha, his protective powers, and his living energy.
• For Buddhists, building stupas also has karmic benefits. They believe that if a practitioner builds a stupa he or she will not be reborn in a remote location and will not suffer from extreme poverty. As a result, a vast number of stupas dot the countryside in Tibet (where they are called chorten) and in Burma (chedi).
• Buddhists visit stupas to perform rituals that help them to achieve one of the most important goals of Buddhism: to understand the Buddha’s teachings, known as the Four Noble Truths so when they die they cease to be caught up in samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death and achieve enlightenment.

Architectural significance :-

• Stupas became a symbol not only of Buddhism itself but also an architectural testimony to its expansion and strength. The stupas at Sanchi and Bharhut are one of the oldest stone structures in India.
• Most stupas have a very distinctive semi-spherical shape, often surrounded by a fence. As Buddhism was introduced in different regions, the basic architectural features of stupas were transformed into a variety of shapes reflecting the artistic expressions of those cultures.
• If one thinks of the stupa as a circle or wheel, the unmoving center symbolizes Enlightenment. The toranaare directional gates guiding the practitioner in the correct direction on the correct path to Enlightenment, the understanding of the Four Noble Truths.
• The stupa makes visible something that is so large as to be unimaginable. The axis symbolizes the center of the cosmos partitioning the world into six directions: north, south, east, west, the nadir and the zenith.
• The practitioner circumambulates (walks around) stupa as a meditational practice focusing on the Buddha’s teachings. This movement suggests the endless cycle of rebirth (samsara) and the spokes of the Eightfold Path (eight guidelines that assist the practitioner) that leads to knowledge of the Four Noble Truths and into the center of the unmoving hub of the wheel, Enlightenment.

The Stupa as an architecture, though religious in character and sui genere, assimilated the secular, religious folk art practices of the past and the traditions of the alien art and thus contributed to the development of art in India.