Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c8.s1.23

c8.s1.23

Cities largely of wooden construction, therefore, began to appear in various parts of the country, and according to Dhammapala, the great Buddhist commentator they were planned by an architect of the name of Maha-Govinda who is stated to have been responsible for the lay-out of several of the capitals of northern India in the fifth century B C This is the first mention of an architect in the annals of the country. In principle these cities were rectangular in plan and divided into four quarters by two main thoroughfares intersecting at right angles, each leading to a city gate. One of these quarters contained the citadel and royal apartments another resolved itself into the residences of the upper classes, a third was for the less pretentious buildings of the middle class, and the fourth was for the accommodation of traders with their workshops open to view as in the modern bazaar. Of the quarters reserved for the citadel and palace a fairly detailed account has been handed down, and the general arrangements of the royal residence have so much in common with the later medieval palaces of India that it seems evident the latter were a continuation of an ancient convention. Although the long interval of two thousand years separates the Vedic palace from that of the Mughals, both were built round an inner courtyard within the citadel and both had a large central window for the *darshan* or salutation of the king Both had a wing reserved for the royal ladies with pleasure gardens, having fountains and ornamental waters attached In each there was an official enclosure containing audience and assembly halls, a court of justice, a music gallery, and near at hand an arena for wrestling displays and contests of wild beasts But whereas the pavilions of the Mughals were of marble, the building art in the Vedic era was at the primitive stage when even the royal residences had not advanced beyond thatched roofs