Nepal, April 12 -- When you think of stupas, what immediately comes to your mind? I can bet most of you probably thought of either Boudhanath or Swayambhunath. After all, these are the two most popular stupas that people often visit. But there are hundreds of these monuments scattered throughout Kathmandu and Nepal in general. Although we are familiar with this hemispherical mound base that supports a tall thin umbrella-like structure of stupas, it's built in other shapes and architectural designs around the world too.

Stupas are mostly constructed to commemorate and safely keep the remains of Buddhas or their prominent disciples and are found in places that hold importance to Buddhism. The architectural structure that we are familiar wi...