Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c10.4

c10.4

The old walls forming the exterior lines of rampart (Pāṣāṇa-prākāra) are still to be seen in many places and one ran in a continuous line from Vaibhāra to Vipula, from Vipula over Ratna-giri to the present Nekpai embankment, and then onward over Udai-giri and across the southern defile of the Bāṇa Gaṅgā to Sonagiri. The wall is built of massive unhewn stone blocks placed one above the other without any mortar. Its height varies at places rising upto 11-12 ft. At the southern outlet of the Bāṇa-Gaṅgā, the wall is still in good order being 13 ft. thick although varying to 17·5 ft. in thickness at other places. There are traces of steps on the inner side built in the wall itself, bastions at regular distances, and gateways thus presenting a picture of the fort wall complete with Aṭṭālaka and Gopura. [Fig. 39]. Inside the fort wall and in the centre of valley was the town proper, called Magadhapura in the epic, also surrounded by an inner wall about 5 miles in circuit which once contained the palace of Jarāsandha comprising three courts (*Tri-kakshyā*) as stated in the Sabhā Parva. Because of its strong defences Kṛiṣhṇa with Bhīma and Arjuna could find access not through the regular city gates but by scaling over the hills.