Mount Meru

Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru, or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical, and spiritual universes.^[1] The mountain is also mentioned in some scriptures of non-Indian based religions such as Taoism, which was influenced by the arrival of Buddhism in China.^[2] There is no clear identification of Mount Meru with a particular geophysical location but it is always located in Himalayan or Aravali ranges.

Many famous Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist temples have been built as symbolic representations of this mountain. The "Sumeru Throne" 須彌座 xūmízuò style base is a common feature^{[citation needed]} of Chinese pagodas. The highest point (the finial bud) on the pyatthat, a Burmese-style multi-tiered roof, represents Mount Meru.