dagoba

Etymology

Borrowed from Sinhalese දාගැබ (dāgæba).

Why this word is great

DAGOBA — [Noun] A stupa, particularly the white stupas of Sri Lanka or the spindle-shaped stupas of Tibet. From Sinhalese දාගැබ (dāgæba), from Pali dhātugabbha ("relic chamber"), from Sanskrit dhātugarbha ("relic womb"), combining dhātu ("relics") and garbha ("womb, inside"). Unlike "stupa" (a generic term for Buddhist reliquary mounds) or "pagoda" (a tiered East Asian tower, often ornamental), a dagoba is a vessel—both tomb and womb—for sacred remains. It is the alabaster dome of Ruvanwelisaya glowing at dawn, the tapered silhouette of a Tibetan chorten piercing the high desert wind, the silent weight of centuries held in a single relic chamber. A dagoba does not commemorate the dead; it houses what cannot decay.

noun

  1. Synonym of stupa, particularly the white stupas of Sri Lanka.“There, the interviewer, a Tamil professor, asked him only one question: to describe the shape of a dagoba, a Buddhist temple”
  2. Synonym of chorten, a stupa in the usual Tibetan style, white and spindle-shaped.