A term by which Europeans designate religious temples and tower-like buildings of the Hindoos and Buddhists of India, Farther India, China, and Japan, usually but not always, devoted to idol worship
In the early centuries of the Buddhist church in India and Central Asia, the stupa, a mound containing a sacred relic, was a central focus for worshippers Praying and meditating, they would walk around and around the stupa or stupa pillar (in the case of cave temples) As Buddhism moved into China, the stone stupa transformed into the pagoda, a brick or wooden tower-like structure, often several stories high
A pagoda is a tall building which is used for religious purposes, especially by Buddhists, in China, Japan, and South-East Asia. Pagodas are usually very highly decorated. a Buddhist temple (=religious building) that has several levels with a decorated roof at each level (pagode, probably from bhagavat ). Towerlike, multistoried structure of stone, brick, or wood, usually associated with a Buddhist temple complex and enshrining sacred relics. The pagoda evolved from the Indian stupa. The pagoda's crowning ornament is bottle-shaped in Tibet and pyramidal or conical in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. In China, Korea, and Japan, a pagoda is a tall tower repeating a basic story unit in diminishing proportions. The stories may be circular, square, or polygonal. The pagoda form is intended mainly as a monument and has very little usable interior space