北宋長干寺聖感塔地宮形制成因初探=A Causal Analysis of the Shape and Structure of the Underground Chamber of Shenggan Pagoda in Changgan Temple of the Northern Song Dynasty
The underground chamber of Shenggan Pagoda, which was unearthed from the site of Changgan Temple of the Northern Song Dynasty in Nanjing in 2008, is a round and vertical earthen pit. It is the only case of such shape and structure among those Song pagodas discovered by now. However, it is similar to those of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. A review of the development of underground chambers of the Sarira pagodas in China and the history of Changgan Temple in Pagoda construction suggests two possibilities: Shenggan pagoda may have kept the underground chamber from the Six Dynasties time or it was an intentional imitation of that of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
