Stupa Construction

A stupa (dagoba) grew out of a simple form - an earthen burial mound - and kept that basic shape even as it became monumental: a solid dome (anda) on a terraced base, topped by a square relic chamber (harmiya) and a tapering spire of stacked rings (chatra) representing honorific umbrellas.

Every part has a name and a reason for its shape, and exam questions on stupas usually ask you to identify parts and explain the dome's symbolism (the mound as a burial/relic form) rather than to reproduce a full technical drawing - know the vocabulary first.