Finally, some scholars suggest that, in addition to representing the Buddha and his dharma (i.e., his teachings), the stupa is also a miniature representation of the world as a whole. The central mound resembles a mountain, and in India cosmology the world is arranged with the great Mount Sumeru at its center, with rivers flowing out from it to all the continents. The four directions & gates of the “Great Stupa” might also be thought to simulate the layout of traditional village in Vedic times, whose two main streets--one running from east to west and the other from north to south--intersected a small square with a tree in it, under which the village elders sat to discuss important matters.