chaitya
(ˈtʃaɪtjə)
[Skr., relating to a funeral pile or mound (citā); as n., funeral monument, sacred tree, etc.]
A Buddhist place or object of reverence or worship. Cf. chorten.
| 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 394 Of the next two classes of Buddhist architecture, the temples (Chaityas) and monasteries (Viharas), no built examples exist in India. 1882 Ibid. XIV. 500 The peculiar Buddhist objects of adoration which we know as dagobas or chaityas. 1920 Blackw. Mag. May 622/1 Rows of pyramidical chaityas. 1927 A. Huxley Proper Studies 181 The old Chaitya or meeting-hall of the Buddhists. 1945 S. Piggott Some Anc. Cities India 51 The rock-cut structures fall into two classes—chaityas or halls of worship and viharas or monasteries. |