Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c9.42

c9.42

The main features of the lay-out of the palace was its division into courts of which there were usually three in the early stages. The first court had a *dvāra-koṭṭha* and then open grounds with provision for stables (*Aśvasthāna maṇḍapa*) for horses and elephants and also rooms for soldiers. In the second court on the ground floor of the palace the main feature was the great pillared hall, similar to the big *maṇḍapa* supported on pillars in the *Chaitya*-halls in Western India. This was used as the hall of public audience (*Darbar-i-Ām*, or *Bahirāstāna-maṇḍapa*) of the King. It was reached by a grand staircase (*Mahāsopāna* J. VI. 428). The royal palace was comprised of two distinct parts, the ground floor (*Heṭṭhapāsāda*) and the upper floor (*Uparipāsāda*), the latter being the main residential portion for members of the royalty. The same arrangement has practically come down to our own days. On the ground floor were located the palace garden (*Gṛhodyāna*), kitchen (*Mahānasa*, *Āhāramaṇḍapa*), bath-rooms with fountains of flowing water (*Jaṇtā-ghara*), wells (*Ud-pāna*), step-wells, lotus ponds (*Pokhariṇī*), temple (*Devaghara*) etc. The floor is described as *Kuṭṭima* which was either made of bricks, stone or plastered with lime. The Jātaka texts always refer to going up into or coming down from a palace which implies the use of stair-ways (J. I. 61.). The foot of the stair-case was known as Sopāna-pādamūla (J III. 216) and the head of the stair-case Sopānamatthaka (J III. 15), or Sopana-sīsa (J. IV, 26 ). The wooden planks of the stairs were known as Sopānakaṭingara. Sometimes there were three stairways, provided with short balustrade (Vedikā) having upright posts (Khambha), cross-bars (Sūchi) and coping (Ushṇīsha) similar to the big railings round the stūpa.