Religious buildings in the form of the Buddhist stupa, a dome shaped monument, started to be used in India as commemorative
monuments associated with storing sacred relics of the Buddha.
The earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist
stupas dates to the late 4th century BCE. In India,
Sanchi, Sarnath, Amaravati and
Bharhut are among the oldest known stupas.
After the parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated and the ashes divided and buried .