The Thuparama Dagoba, literally "the Monastery with the Stupa," has the distinction of being the oldest example of such sacred architecture in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. It is believed that the right collarbone relic of the Buddha - which was gifted by Emperor Asoka after King Devanampiyatissa was converted by the Arahant Mahinda - is enshrined within. The Thuparama was built by Devanampiyatissa in the 3rd century BC. According to the Mahawamsa, the Arahant Mahinda instructed that it should be made with clay taken from the bed of the Abhaya Tank and fashioned in the paddy-heap shape. Bricks were then laid over the clay. The present stupa, which was renovated in the 19th century in the bell rather than paddy-heap shape, is 19m high.

In the 2nd century BC King Lanjatissa converted the dagoba into a vatadage by enclosing it with wooden pillars. Then in the 7th century AD, King Aggabodhi IV made improvements by erecting granite pillars - some of which remain - to support a domed roof. These leaning granite pillars, which have capitals with carvings of geese (hamsas), are arranged in four concentric circles diminishing in height from the innermost.

While the Thuparama may be small in comparison with many of its larger neighbours, this dagoba has an eye-catching style, as Major Forbes described in Eleven Years in Ceylon (1840): "Although inferior to many in size, yet it far exceeds any dagoba in Ceylon, both in elegance and unity of design, and in the beauty of the minute sculptures on its tall, slender and graceful columns." This sentiment was echoed later by Reginald Farrer in his book In Old Ceylon (1908): "Thuparama has a rare wistful majesty of loveliness. It is the smallest of the great dagobas, but incomparably the most beautiful in line and proportion, even after its innumerable restorations. Suave, calm, and decisive are its outlines; the balance of the whole is perfect."