Vihāra (English spelling)

Japanese: ビハーラ（英語表記）vihāra

A lodging house or training ground where Buddhist or Jain monks and nuns in ancient India lived together for their training. It can be translated as a monk's hall, a monk's cell, a monk's quarters, or a monastery. In the narrow sense, it refers to the residential facilities within a temple, and is distinguished from the coexisting stupas (stupas) and chaityas (shrines), but in the broad sense, it refers to the entire temple. They were built on the ground using brick, stone, or wood, and some were excavated as rock caves into mountains or hills. Many rock-cut temples, including viharas, were built in mid-western India around the 2nd century BC to the 8th century AD, including Ajanta, Ellora, and Karli, and their influence extended as far as Central Asia and China.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

古代インドにおける仏教またはジャイナ教の僧や尼僧が，修行のために集団生活をした宿舎もしくは道場。僧堂，僧房，僧坊，精舎などと訳される。狭義には寺院内の居住用施設をさし，共存するストゥーパ (仏塔) ，チャイティヤ (祠堂) などと区別されるが，広義には寺院全体をいう。煉瓦造，石造，木造などによって地上に建造されたほか，石窟として山や丘に開掘されたものもある。ビハーラを含む石窟寺院はアジャンタ，エローラ，カールリーをはじめ，中西部インドで前2～後8世紀頃数多く造営され，その影響は中央アジアや中国にまで及んだ。

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