Stupas began as mounds of rubble, or cairns housing the relics of Buddha. They later evolved into large hemispherical mounds with features such as the torana (gateway), the vedica (fence like enclosure evolved from the vedic villages), the harmika (a square platform with railings on top of the stupa), chattrayashti (the umbrella or canopy) and a circumamulatory around the stupa. The most famous stupa is the one at Sanchi, India, while the tallest is the Phra Pathom Chedi in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, with a height of 127 metres.
The stupa evolved into the pagoda as Buddhism spread to other Asian countries. The pagoda has varied forms that also include bellshaped and pyramidal ones. Today, in the Western context, there is no clear distinction between the stupa and the pagoda. But in general stupa is used for a Buddhist structure of India or south-east Asia, while pagoda refers to a building in east Asia which can be entered and which may be secular in purpose.
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