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The idea of building a stupa whose power was enhanced by surrounding it with a three-dimensional mandala was an idea pioneered in the vicinity of Nalanda, at the stupa of Kesariya in Bihar, and at the massive Paharpur stupa at Sompura Mahavihara in Bangladesh, a monumental cruciform stupa that was probably the immediate precursor for the larger and still more intricate structure at Borobudur.33
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