Note 158 — Chapter VI · VIHARAS,[158] OR MONASTERIES.

Throughout this work the term “Vihara” is applied only to monasteries, the abodes of monks or hermits. It was not, however, used in that restricted sense only, in former times, though it has been so by all modern writers. Hiouen Thsang, for instance, calls the Great Tower at Buddh Gaya a vihara, and describes similar towers at Nalanda, 200 and 300 feet high, as viharas. The ‘Mahawanso’ also applies the term indiscriminately to temples of a certain class, and to residences. My impression is that all buildings designed in storeys were called viharas, whether used for the abode of priests or to enshrine relics or images. The name was used to distinguish them from stupas or towers, which were always relic shrines, or erected as memorials of places or events, and never were residences or simulated to be such, or contained images, till the last gasp of the style, as at Kholvi. At present this is only a theory; it may, before long, become a certainty. Strictly speaking, the residences ought probably to be called Sangharamas, but, to avoid multiplication of terms, vihara is used in this work as the synonym of monastery, which is the sense in which it is usually understood by modern authors.