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Early Indian Architecture: I. Cities and City-Gates, etc.; II. Bodhi-gharas c9.s6: III. Palaces

Early Indian Architecture: I. Cities and City-Gates, etc.; II. Bodhi-gharas c9.s6

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Contents

III. Palaces

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"‘*Nivesanaṁ te deva māpessāmāti*,’" DN., II, 180
By ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY

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Sanskrit *prāsāda*, Pali *pāsāda*, Prakrit *pāsāya*, is constantly employed to designate a mansion, typically of several storeys. More often than not the word denotes a palace or other pretentious dwelling; but elsewhere also a monastery or temple. The term applies always to an entire structure, not to a single storey or terrace. Here we shall consider the *prāsāda* primarily as a king's palace or the mansion of a wealthy merchant; but since we are concerned more with the structure than with the special usage, the data met with in connection with monastery or other *prāsādas* will not be excluded.²

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² Early references to *prāsāda* as temple include Sāṅkh. Śr. Sū., 16, 18, 13–17 (roof, walls and windows are mentioned); Patañjali, 2, 2, 34, "the *prāsāda* of Dhanapati, Rāma, and Keśava; and *Pañcatantra*, Bk. 1, story 1, 27 ff., *prāsāda-śṛṅga-dāruṇi*, "timbering of the roof (of a *devāyatana*). For later *prāsāda*-temples see the *Matsya Purāṇa*, chs. 267, 268. In Mhv., LXXII, 244, the term *pāsāda* designates a four-storeyed structure, manned by archers, within a stockade. In Vism., 41, a *pāsāda* is said to be unsuitable as a monastic residence; but this is contradicted by Cull., VI, 14, 1 and actual practise.

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Synonyms of *pāsāda* as palace are *nivesa-pāsāda* (J., III, 216), *rāja-bhavana* (J., VI, 456), *rāja-geha* (J., VI, 412), *rāja-nivesana* (J., IV, 182; VI, 428, 432, 455), *rañño-nivesa* (J., VI, 428, 429), *vāsa-ghara* (*Paryuṣanā Kalpa Sūtra*, 32), *antepura* (see below), and *vimāna* (J., VI, 117). The first and last two of these terms always refer to single buildings, the others sometimes seem to imply the idea of the palace in a wider sense, as a group of buildings in a precinct all enclosed by the outer wall (*pākāra*); and *vimāna* usually means a palace of the gods, e.g., Mhv., XXVI, 9, 10, 13, where the Lohapāsāda is to be built "like" a palace of the gods, or aerial palace, *dibba-vimāna* or *ākāsaṭṭha-vimāna*. The king's palace, or rather the palace wall and gatehouse, would seem to have faced onto the central city square, its exit facing down one of the main streets toward one of the city gates (J., VI, 412; Mil., 62; *Eastern Art*, II, p. 211); but we also find *rāja-nivesanāni* in the plural, and it will be recalled that Prince Siddhârtha had three palaces for use at different times of the year, and the circumstances of the story are such that all three must have been within the city walls, and perhaps within the walls of his father's palace precinct as well. In J., VI, 429, the queen mother has her own separate *nivesa*; in Mhv., LXVII, 26, the palace of a crown prince is designated *yuvarājaṭṭha*. On the other hand, in J., IV, 470, the crown prince has his chamber (*sayana-gabbha*), also spoken of as *upa-ṭṭhāna* (? annex),³ in his father's palace (*antepura*); and being given to meditation, the prince has made for himself a meditation chamber, *jhānāgāra*, in the *antepura* (*ib*. 469): cf. J., VI, 45, where a king lives alone as a monk, in the upper palace. The *antepura*, literally "inner town" (DN., II, 174; J., II, 125, etc.) is applied to the king's palace as a whole, as appears from J., VI, 455, 456, where *antepura*, *rāja-nivesana*, and *rāja-bhavana* are used alternatively, and means the harem, only to the extent and in the sense that the king's living quarters are as a matter of course a zenana. The king was no doubt served and attended entirely by women, and references to the presence of women, queens, princesses, and other ladies, collectively *antepurikā*, DhA., 403 (the *nāri-vara-gaṇa* of J., VI, 121), are common in the literature.⁴ The *antepura*, also called *ārakkha-ṭṭhāna*, "guarded quarters" (J., V, 374) was however provided with male guards (*antepura-pālaka*, J., VI, 455); in J., I, 62, Channa sleeps at his master's door, and there is nothing to show that the palace guards were ever eunuchs (*varisadhara*); who are mentioned with but not as harem keepers; *sovidalla*, in *Karpūramañjarī*, III, 34, 8; in DhA., I, 221 and J., VI, 510 we have instances of ladies' rooms being locked on the outside. In J., VI, 455, the *antepura* has been ravaged, and the guards, dwarfs (often seen in the reliefs as attendants on royal ladies), and hunchbacks have been bound and hung to the *nāga-dantas*, or ivory clothes pegs which were set in the walls of living rooms.⁵ Sanskrit *stryagāra*, "women's apartments," is analogous to *antepura*, but has more definitely the sense of "womenfolk," "household," "family," or "harem," e.g., the larger *Sukhāvatīvyūha*, 41. In DhsA., 279/80 a king is asleep in bed; a shampooer is at work on his feet, there is a doorkeeper at the door, and three guards standing between the king and the bedroom door.

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³ Cf. Cull., VI, 3, 5, *upa-ṭṭhāna-sālā*, "refectory."

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⁴ For those admitted to the palace see J., VI, 43, 121, 301 and *Sāhityadarpaṇa*, §81. For a vivid description of the interior of a palace on a festive occasion, see *Harṣacarita*, 157–159. In J. IV, 317, many concubines, chosen by the queen, because the king had no son, dwell in the palace.

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⁵ Cf. Cull., V, 11, 7, and V, 16, 2 (*makara-danta*), and J., VI, 382 (*nāga-danta* clothes pegs in a *gabbha* of the *upari-pāsāda*). In all probability clothes were also hung on rods (*vaṁsa*) and lines (*rajju*) or laid in shelved wall-niches (*pañca-paṭṭika*), as these devices were permitted to monks (in the *udapāna-sālā*, Cull., V, 16, 2).

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FIG. 7. SĀÑCĪ

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FIG. 8. SĀÑCĪ

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FIG. 9. SĀÑCĪ

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FIG. 10. SĀÑCĪ

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A private or blind street led to the outer or main gate in the wall of the palace, and was called *antara-vīthi*, "inner street;" thus, J., IV, 63, a man having been to wait upon the king "was walking to and fro in the (hall of the) seventh *dvāra-koṭṭhaka*, and looking along the *antara-vīthi*," and in J., V, 64, a man, opening the *sīhapañjara* of a private mansion, stretches forth his hand and points to a boy standing in the *antara-vīthi* beside the *pāsāda-dvāra*.

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The palace was surrounded by an outer wall (*pākāra*, J., IV, 229; V, 213, etc.) having a main gate, or perhaps four gates, one on each side of the rectangle of the palace enclosure. That the *bahi-dvāra-koṭṭhaka* or "outer gate-house" lay at some distance from the actual palace is clearly seen in Cull., VI, 21, 2 and J., IV, 20, where the king meets an honoured guest at the outer gate, and conducts him to the palace. We also find the term *rāja-dvāra* or "king's gate," J., I, 340, 341; III, 239, and VI, 428, or as we might render it, "sublime porte."⁶ The hall of this gate, the *bahi-dvāra-sālā* of *Mṛcchakaṭikā*, III, 3, like that of the city gate, was a place of congregation, and here men "sat at the rich man's door," or an honoured guest was met. For the king's gate in this sense see J., I, 341, "in the king's presence, at the king's gate, and in the council hall and judgment hall," and J., VI, 333, "seated in public or private streets, at street crossings, in the king's gate, or the like places." "Like places" would include also the bridges (Mil., 92) over moats, and the courtyard within the palace enclosure (J. III, 456). In SN., I, 77, the Buddha is guest in a *pāsāda*, and in the evening resorts to the *bahi-dvāra-koṭṭhaka*, where he sees the passers-by. In Div., 300, a *bhava-cakra* is painted in the hall of a *dvāra-koṣṭhaka*, so that it may be seen by the Brahman householders. In DhsA., 281, we find blind and crippled beggars sitting in the hall of a city gate (*nagara-dvāre sālāyam nisīdiṁsu*). In Vism., 304, a juggler performs in the king's gate, *rājasdvāra*.

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⁶ Cf. *Eastern Art*, II, p. 221, note, and J., VI, 514, *nagara-dvāra-nisīdi*, "sat down in the hall of the city gate."

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Passing through the outer gate, one entered the royal courtyard, or in pretentious palaces, the outermost of a series of courtyards. The designation is *aṅgana* or *rājaṅgana* (T., IV, 215, etc.); but *Mṛcchakaṭikā*, IV, 30, has *paoṭṭha* (=*prakoṣṭha*) in the same sense. In this court or courts, accessible to the public (J., III, 456), were to be found various buildings such as stables,⁷ judgment hall, gardens and tanks and so forth, and most likely also the royal temple or chapels; in general, the area was available for spectacles or reviews of all sorts. That the judgment hall was close to the door of the palace appears from DN., II, 174, since the Celestial Wheel "stops in front of the judgment hall (*aṭṭa-karaṇa-pamukhe*) at the entrance to the palace (*rañño . . . antepura-dvāre*), and lights up the palace (*antepura*);" similarly J., VI, 131, where the judgment hall (*vinicchaya-ṭṭhāna*) is evidently in the *rājaṅgana*, since a man passes it on his way to visit the king. J., VI, 381 speaks of a *bhaṭṭammaṇa*, a trough for food (alms?) at the door of a palace. Finally, we come to the king's living palace, the *rāja-nivesana* in the narrow sense of the words, the *antepura*, or inner city, most often styled a *pāsāda*.

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⁷ In J., I, 175, a royal chariot is left in the *rājaṅgana*, instead of being put away in the stables. J., II, 325, has *ākāsaṅgana*, "open courtyard."

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FIG. 11. SĀÑCĪ

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FIG. 14. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 12. MATHURĀ

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FIG. 15. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 13. MATHURĀ

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The *pāsāda* was built on a solid foundation or basement (*vatthu*, DN., II, 181, where it is made of bricks of four precious materials, and extends to a height three times that of a man's reach, cf. *vatthuka*, basement, in Cull., VI, 3, 6). Either on the ground, or generally on this basement, stood the pillars of the lower palace.

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The constructive elements of a palace are listed at some length in DhsA., 107, as follows: "Just as in a palace (*pāsāda*) a pillar (*thambha*) is a strong support to the rest of the construction, just as the joists (*tulā*), jambs or ties (*saṁghāṭa*), girths (*bhittipāda*, cf. J., IV, 318), roof-ridges (*kūṭa*) and rafters (*gopānasi*), bondings of the walls (*pakkhapāsa*), and brackets (*mukhavaṭṭi*) are bound to and supported by the pillar, so. . ." The rendering of the two last terms, which have not been met with elsewhere, is tentative. Cf. Vism., 320, *thambha*, *talā*, *saṁghāṭa*, *kūṭa*, *gopānasi*; here one should read *tulā* for *talā*. Ib., 108, the *bhitti*, *thambha*, and *sopāna* of a pleasant dwelling.

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A *pāsāda* is always spoken of as supported by pillars (*thūṇa*, *thambha*, Skr. *sthūṇa*, *stambha*); special palaces are even spoken of as thousand-pillared, *sahassa-thambha* (J., V, 169; VI, 173), while in DN., II, 181, the Palace of Righteousness of the Great King of Glory is said to have eighty-four thousand pillars. The Lohapāsāda (monastery) at Anurādhapura might well have been called thousand-pillared, and here the forest of stone pillars which supported the wooden superstructure, more than once burnt down, is still extant. Remains of another great monastery at Anurādhapura, the Ratana Pāsāda, built in the third century A.D. and rebuilt in the eighth "like a second Vejayanta" (Mhv., XXXVI, 7 and XLVIII, 136) have been excavated; there survives a brick platform, about 120 by 90 feet in area, faced with granite, and a few of the great stone pillars, 22 feet in height (of which 6 feet was embedded in the brick *vatthu*), are still standing out of a number which must have amounted to nearly seven hundred.⁸ In J., VI, 173, the "well-cut octagonal columns" (*aṭṭhaṁsā sukatā thambhā*), so typical of early Indian architecture, are specifically mentioned. The pillars, of course, rest on, or rather, in the foundations or structural basement, and support the *upari-pāsāda*. In other cases wooden pillars were supported by stone bases as a protection against white ants; thus, in Vism., 354, we find carpenters setting up *thambhas* on such bases (*pāsāṇa-udukkhalaka*) and fastening them with a kind of cement (*silesa*). Mansions in cities are often actually represented as supported by octagonal columns, forming an open pillared ground floor (*Eastern Art*, II, p. 212, Figure 10, right, and Figure 11, upper centre—here Figure 10). But no doubt the ground floor was generally enclosed by brick walls, perhaps recessed so as to leave a pillared verandah (cf. Figures 2 and 20), like that of so many excavated or structural façades. On a festival day the palace walls were marked with auspicious signs, *hatthatthādi*, J., VI, 42, cf. *piṣṭapañcāṅgula*, *Harṣacarita*, 63, and 157, both = *pañcaṅgulika*, marks of the spread hand. References to the external painted decoration of palace walls are rather frequent, but still more frequent are those to the shining white plastered surface, cf. *dhavala-hara*, "White House," *Sanatkumāracarita* 548, 599 and 608.

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⁸ Mem. A. S. Ceylon, I, 192.

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Before leaving the subject of pillars (the forms of early Indian columns will be discussed in a later article) the occasional references to *pāsādas* supported by a single column must be mentioned. Thus, in J., I, 441,⁹ IV, 79,¹⁰ and IV, 153, we have *eka-tthūṇaka* and *eka-tthambhaka pāsādas*, and these are regarded as rare or remarkable by contrast with the usual palace supported by many columns (*bahu-tthambhaka*, J., IV, 153), or, on account of their relative inaccessibility, as places of special security. In the Jaina story of Udāyaṇa, a merchant has a pleasure palace similarly constructed (*ekka-thambhaṁ pāsāyaṁ*).¹¹ Remembering that a *pāsāda*, although usually The *pāsāda* was built on a solid foundation or basement (*vatthu*, DN., II, 181, where it is made of bricks of four precious materials, and extends to a height three times that of a man's reach, cf. *vatthuka*, basement, in Cull., VI, 3, 6). Either on the ground, or generally on this basement, stood the pillars of the lower palace.

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⁹ Here the English translators speak erroneously of the single pillar as "supporting the roof," for which there is no justification in the text.

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¹⁰ Here the translators, thinking of function rather than form, or possibly supposing that the whole *pāsāda* had the shape of a column, render "round-tower."

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¹¹ Jacobi, H., *Ausgewählte Erzählungen*, p. 28.

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FIG. 11. SĀÑCĪ

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FIG. 14. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 12. MATHURĀ

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FIG. 15. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 13. MATHURĀ

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The constructive elements of a palace are listed at some length in DhsA., 107, as follows: "Just as in a palace (*pāsāda*) a pillar (*thambha*) is a strong support to the rest of the construction, just as the joists (*tulā*), jambs or ties (*saṁghāṭa*), girths (*bhittipāda*, cf. J., IV, 318), roof-ridges (*kūṭa*) and rafters (*gopānasi*), bondings of the walls (*pakkhapāsa*), and brackets (*mukhavaṭṭi*) are bound to and supported by the pillar, so. . ." The rendering of the two last terms, which have not been met with elsewhere, is tentative. Cf. Vism., 320, *thambha*, *talā*, *saṁghāṭa*, *kūṭa*, *gopānasi*; here one should read *tulā* for *talā*. Ib., 108, the *bhitti*, *thambha*, and *sopāna* of a pleasant dwelling.

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A *pāsāda* is always spoken of as supported by pillars (*thūṇa*, *thambha*, Skr. *sthūṇa*, *stambha*); special palaces are even spoken of as thousand-pillared, *sahassa-thambha* (J., V, 169; VI, 173), while in DN., II, 181, the Palace of Righteousness of the Great King of Glory is said to have eighty-four thousand pillars. The Lohapāsāda (monastery) at Anurādhapura might well have been called thousand-pillared, and here the forest of stone pillars which supported the wooden superstructure, more than once burnt down, is still extant. Remains of another great monastery at Anurādhapura, the Ratana Pāsāda, built in the third century A.D. and rebuilt in the eighth "like a second Vejayanta" (Mhv., XXXVI, 7 and XLVIII, 136) have been excavated; there survives a brick platform, about 120 by 90 feet in area, faced with granite, and a few of the great stone pillars, 22 feet in height (of which 6 feet was embedded in the brick *vatthu*), are still standing out of a number which must have amounted to nearly seven hundred.⁸ In J., VI, 173, the "well-cut octagonal columns" (*aṭṭhaṁsā sukatā thambhā*), so typical of early Indian architecture, are specifically mentioned. The pillars, of course, rest on, or rather, in the foundations or structural basement, and support the *upari-pāsāda*. In other cases wooden pillars were supported by stone bases as a protection against white ants; thus, in Vism., 354, we find carpenters setting up *thambhas* on such bases (*pāsāṇa-udukkhalaka*) and fastening them with a kind of cement (*silesa*). Mansions in cities are often actually represented as supported by octagonal columns, forming an open pillared ground floor (*Eastern Art*, II, p. 212, Figure 10, right, and Figure 11, upper centre—here Figure 10). But no doubt the ground floor was generally enclosed by brick walls, perhaps recessed so as to leave a pillared verandah (cf. Figures 2 and 20), like that of so many excavated or structural façades. On a festival day the palace walls were marked with auspicious signs, *hatthatthādi*, J., VI, 42, cf. *piṣṭapañcaṅgula*, *Harṣacarita*, 63, and 157, both = *pañcaṅgulika*, marks of the spread hand. References to the external painted decoration of palace walls are rather frequent, but still more frequent are those to the shining white plastered surface, cf. *dhavala-hara*, "White House," *Sanatkumāracarita* 548. 599 and 608.

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⁸ Mem. A. S. Ceylon, I, 192.

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Before leaving the subject of pillars (the forms of early Indian columns will be discussed in a later article) the occasional references to *pāsādas* supported by a single column must be mentioned. Thus, in J., I, 441,⁹ IV, 79,¹⁰ and IV, 153, we have *eka-tthūṇaka* and *eka-tthambhaka pāsādas*, and these are regarded as rare or remarkable by contrast with the usual palace supported by many columns (*bahu-tthambhaka*, J., IV, 153), or, on account of their relative inaccessibility, as places of special security. In the Jāina story of Udāyaṇa, a merchant has a pleasure palace similarly constructed (*ekka-thambhaṁ pāsāyaṁ*).¹¹ Remembering that a *pāsāda*, although usually The *pāsāda* was built on a solid foundation or basement (*vatthu*, DN., II, 181, where it is made of bricks of four precious materials, and extends to a height three times that of a man's reach, cf. *vatthuka*, basement, in Cull., VI, 3, 6). Either on the ground, or generally on this basement, stood the pillars of the lower palace.

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⁹ Here the English translators speak erroneously of the single pillar as "supporting the roof," for which there is no justification in the text.

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¹⁰ Here the translators, thinking of function rather than form, or possibly supposing that the whole *pāsāda* had the shape of a column, render "round-tower."

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¹¹ Jacobi, H., *Ausgewählte Erzählungen*, p. 28.

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FIG. 11. SĀÑCĪ

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FIG. 14. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 12. MATHURĀ

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FIG. 15. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 13. MATHURĀ

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The constructive elements of a palace are listed at some length in DhsA., 107, as follows: "Just as in a palace (*pāsāda*) a pillar (*thambha*) is a strong support to the rest of the construction, just as the joists (*tulā*), jambs or ties (*saṁghāṭa*), girths (*bhittipāda*, cf. J., IV, 318), roof-ridges (*kūṭa*) and rafters (*gopānasi*), bondings of the walls (*pakkhapāsa*), and brackets (*mukhavaṭṭi*) are bound to and supported by the pillar, so. . ." The rendering of the two last terms, which have not been met with elsewhere, is tentative. Cf. *Vism*., 320, *thambha*, *talā*, *saṁghāṭa*, *kūṭa*, *gopānasi*; here one should read *tulā* for *talā*. *Ib*., 108, the *bhitti*, *thambha*, and *sopāna* of a pleasant dwelling.

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A *pāsāda* is always spoken of as supported by pillars (*thūṇa*, *thambha*, Skr. *sthūṇa*, *stambha*); special palaces are even spoken of as thousand-pillared, *sahassa-thambha* (J., V, 169; VI, 173), while in DN., II, 181, the Palace of Righteousness of the Great King of Glory is said to have eighty-four thousand pillars. The Lohapāsāda (monastery) at Anurādhapura might well have been called thousand-pillared, and here the forest of stone pillars which supported the wooden superstructure, more than once burnt down, is still extant. Remains of another great monastery at Anurādhapura, the Ratana Pāsāda, built in the third century A.D. and rebuilt in the eighth "like a second Vejayanta" (Mhv., XXXVI, 7 and XLVIII, 136) have been excavated; there survives a brick platform, about 120 by 90 feet in area, faced with granite, and a few of the great stone pillars, 22 feet in height (of which 6 feet was embedded in the brick *vatthu*), are still standing out of a number which must have amounted to nearly seven hundred.⁸ In J., VI, 173, the "well-cut octagonal columns" (*aṭṭhaṁsā sukatā thambhā*), so typical of early Indian architecture, are specifically mentioned. The pillars, of course, rest on, or rather, in the foundations or structural basement, and support the *upari-pāsāda*. In other cases wooden pillars were supported by stone bases as a protection against white ants; thus, in *Vism*., 354, we find carpenters setting up *thambhas* on such bases (*pāsāṇa-udukkhalaka*) and fastening them with a kind of cement (*silesa*). Mansions in cities are often actually represented as supported by octagonal columns, forming an open pillared ground floor (*Eastern Art*, II, p. 212, Figure 10, right, and Figure 11, upper centre—here Figure 10). But no doubt the ground floor was generally enclosed by brick walls, perhaps recessed so as to leave a pillared verandah (cf. Figures 2 and 20), like that of so many excavated or structural façades. On a festival day the palace walls were marked with auspicious signs, *hatthatthādi*, J., VI, 42, cf. *piṣṭapañcāṅgula*, *Harṣacarita*, 63, and 157, both = *pañcaṅgulika*, marks of the spread hand. References to the external painted decoration of palace walls are rather frequent, but still more frequent are those to the shining white plastered surface, cf. *dhavala-hara*, "White House," *Sanatkumāracarita* 548. 599 and 608.

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⁸ *Mem. A. S. Ceylon*, I, 192.

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Before leaving the subject of pillars (the forms of early Indian columns will be discussed in a later article) the occasional references to *pāsādas* supported by a single column must be mentioned. Thus, in J., I, 441,⁹ IV, 79,¹⁰ and IV, 153, we have *eka-tthūṇaka* and *eka-tthambhaka pāsādas*, and these are regarded as rare or remarkable by contrast with the usual palace supported by many columns (*bahu-tthambhaka*, J., IV, 153), or, on account of their relative inaccessibility, as places of special security. In the Jaina story of Udāyaṇa, a merchant has a pleasure palace similarly constructed (*ekka-thambhaṁ pāsāyaṁ*).¹¹ Remembering that a *pāsāda*, although usually The *pāsāda* was built on a solid foundation or basement (*vatthu*, DN., II, 181, where it is made of bricks of four precious materials, and extends to a height three times that of a man's reach, cf. *vatthuka*, basement, in Cull., VI, 3, 6). Either on the ground, or generally on this basement, stood the pillars of the lower palace.

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⁹ Here the English translators speak erroneously of the single pillar as "supporting the roof," for which there is no justification in the text.

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¹⁰ Here the translators, thinking of function rather than form, or possibly supposing that the whole *pāsāda* had the shape of a column, render "round-tower."

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¹¹ Jacobi, H., *Ausgewählte Erzählungen*, p. 28.

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FIG. 11. SĀÑCĪ

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FIG. 14. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 12. MATHURĀ

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FIG. 15. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 13. MATHURĀ

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The constructive elements of a palace are listed at some length in DhsA., 107, as follows: "Just as in a palace (*pāsāda*) a pillar (*thambha*) is a strong support to the rest of the construction, just as the joists (*tulā*), jambs or ties (*saṁghāṭa*), girths (*bhittipāda*, cf. J., IV, 318), roof-ridges (*kūṭa*) and rafters (*gopānasi*), bondings of the walls (*pakkbapāsa*), and brackets (*mukhavaṭṭi*) are bound to and supported by the pillar, so...." The rendering of the two last terms, which have not been met with elsewhere, is tentative. Cf. *Vism.*, 320, *thambha*, *talā*, *saṁghāṭa*, *kūṭa*, *gopānasi*; here one should read *tulā* for *talā*. *Ib.*, 108, the *bhitti*, *thambha*, and *sopāna* of a pleasant dwelling.

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A *pāsāda* is always spoken of as supported by pillars (*thūṇa*, *thambha*, Skr. *sthūṇa*, *stambha*); special palaces are even spoken of as thousand-pillared, *sahassa-thambha* (J., V, 169; VI, 173), while in DN., II, 181, the Palace of Righteousness of the Great King of Glory is said to have eighty-four thousand pillars. The Lohapāsāda (monastery) at Anurādhapura might well have been called thousand-pillared, and here the forest of stone pillars which supported the wooden superstructure, more than once burnt down, is still extant. Remains of another great monastery at Anurādhapura, the Ratana Pāsāda, built in the third century A.D. and rebuilt in the eighth "like a second Vejayanta" (Mhv., XXXVI, 7 and XLVIII, 136) have been excavated; there survives a brick platform, about 120 by 90 feet in area, faced with granite, and a few of the great stone pillars, 22 feet in height (of which 6 feet was embedded in the brick *vatthu*), are still standing out of a number which must have amounted to nearly seven hundred.⁸ In J., VI, 173, the "well-cut octagonal columns" (*aṭṭhaṁsā sukatā thambhā*), so typical of early Indian architecture, are specifically mentioned. The pillars, of course, rest on, or rather, in the foundations or structural basement, and support the *upari-pāsāda*. In other cases wooden pillars were supported by stone bases as a protection against white ants; thus, in *Vism.*, 354, we find carpenters setting up *thambhas* on such bases (*pāsāṇa-udukkhalaka*) and fastening them with a kind of cement (*silesa*). Mansions in cities are often actually represented as supported by octagonal columns, forming an open pillared ground floor (*Eastern Art*, II, p. 212, Figure 10, right, and Figure 11, upper centre—here Figure 10). But no doubt the ground floor was generally enclosed by brick walls, perhaps recessed so as to leave a pillared verandah (cf. Figures 2 and 20), like that of so many excavated or structural façades. On a festival day the palace walls were marked with auspicious signs, *hatthatthādi*, J., VI, 42, cf. *piṣṭapañcāṅgula*, *Harṣacarita*, 63, and 157, both = *pañcaṅgulika*, marks of the spread hand. References to the external painted decoration of palace walls are rather frequent, but still more frequent are those to the shining white plastered surface, cf. *dhavala-hara*, "White House," *Sanatkumāracarita* 548, 599 and 608.

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⁸ Mem. A. S. Ceylon, I, 192.

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Before leaving the subject of pillars (the forms of early Indian columns will be discussed in a later article) the occasional references to *pāsādas* supported by a single column must be mentioned. Thus, in J., I, 441,⁹ IV, 79,¹⁰ and IV, 153, we have *eka-tthūṇaka* and *eka-tthambhaka pāsādas*, and these are regarded as rare or remarkable by contrast with the usual palace supported by many columns (*bahu-tthambhaka*, J., IV, 153), or, on account of their relative inaccessibility, as places of special security. In the Jaina story of Udāyaṇa, a merchant has a pleasure palace similarly constructed (*ekka-thambhaṁ pāsāyaṁ*).¹¹ Remembering that a *pāsāda*, although usually an imposing structure, need not always have been such, and that in any case the superstructure was always built of wood, there is nothing inconceivable about the erection of a "palace" supported by a single pillar, hewn from a tree of unusual size. If such structures seemed remarkable to Indian authors, this is after all no more than a modern writer has said of a little temple of this kind (Figure 36) still standing at Hanoi, "chef d'œuvre d'habilité du charpentier, Le Mot-Cot, ou Pagode de la Colonne, ainsi nommée parce qu'elle est entièrement portée par un gros tronc d'arbre."¹² But this was in any case an exceptional type; the normal *pāsāda* must have been supported by at least four columns, and usually by a very much larger number of columns.

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⁹ Here the English translators speak erroneously of the single pillar as "supporting the roof," for which there is no justification in the text.

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¹⁰ Here the translators, thinking of function rather than form, or possibly supposing that the whole *pāsāda* had the shape of a column, render "round-tower."

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¹¹ Jacobi, H., *Ausgewählte Erzählungen*, p. 28.

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¹² Maspero, H., *L'Indochine*, I, pp. 195, 196, and Fig. 137.

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The weight of each storey must have been supported by pillars resting on the floor below; in the case of a *dvāra-koṭṭhaka* we have already seen that the *ardha-tala* was *sthūṇāvabandha*, while the *uttamāgāra* on the top floor, supporting no further weight, was merely brick-walled. In several illustrations, pillars on upper storeys are seen (Figures 8, 10, 13); but the use of pillars on upper storeys is also clearly evidenced by the representations of interior scenes on railing pillars (Figures 42, 43) where the panels, always representing the interior of a *gabbha* or *kūṭāgāra* in the *upari pāsāda*, are framed by a *vedikā* below (= parapet of the *ālinda*), pillars (*thambha*) at the sides, their capitals supporting a roof or cornice above, provided with windows.

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Palace doors, such as there must have been when the ground floor was enclosed, are clearly referred to in J., VI, 182, where "Big Blackie" beats against the panels (*kavāṭa*) while the king takes refuge within, as also happens in J., VI, 456. In J., V, 64 and VI, 200 we have *pāsāda-dvāra*, in J., VI, 455, *rāja-nivesana . . . dvāra*, in J., IV, 319, *vimāna-dvāra*, and in DN., II, 174, *rañño . . . antepura-dvāra*. The *bandhanāgāra* of the larger *Sukhāvatīvyūha*, 41, has four doors and four stairs. A guard, *dovārikā*, stands at the *pāsāda-dvāra*, J., VI, 200.

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The *pāsāda* has one, or more often many storeys (*bhūmika*, *bhūmaka* or *tala*, perhaps also *niyyūha*) and is described accordingly as *eka-bhūmika*, *dvi-bhūmika*, *ti-bhūmika*, and so on up to *nava-bhūmika*, i.e., one-, two-, etc., up to nine-storeyed (J., I, 58, 89, 304; IV, 105, 378, 379; VI, 382; DhA., I, 239; Mhv., XXVII, 4, 15, 25; *aneka-bhūmi*, "with innumerable storeys," occurs in Mhv., XLVIII, 136); a mansion of three storeys was perhaps most usual, cf. Figures 1, 9, 13. The main floor is often referred to as the *mahā-tala* (J., I, 62, 304; IV, 130; VI, 103, 221, etc.), sometimes as the best floor, *vara-tala* (J., I, 60; IV, 105). This main floor was always an upper, perhaps always the top floor, e.g., in J., I, 60, where Kisā Gotamī goes up onto the *upari-pāsāda-vara-tala* and thence looks down onto the city streets, and J., IV, 105, where it is the "best floor" of a seven-storeyed *pāsāda*; in J., I, 62, *pāsāda-tala* is used synonymously with *mahā-tala* and could be simply rendered "upstairs." DhA., I, 239 has *upari-tala*, top floor of a seven-storeyed palace. The only literal designation of "top floor" is *ākāsa-tala* ("sky floor") in Buddhaghosa's commentary on Cull., VI, 1, 2 and VI, 3, 3; also in SnA., 87 (but *gagana-tala*, J., VI, 242, is "aerial path-way," not a palace floor). The terms *ādi-tala*, ground floor; *ardha-tala*, mezzanine floor, and *tṛta-tala*, third floor, met with in KA., Ch. 21, in connection with gate-houses, would doubtless be applicable to the case of any other storeyed building such as a *pāsāda*. In DhsA., 210, the lowest storey of a four-storeyed *pāsāda* is called the *heṭṭhima-tala*. In the *Ṛtusaṁhāra*, I, 3, *harmya-tala* is used as equivalent to *upari-tala*, *ākāsa-tala*, etc. It should be understood that in most cases each successive storey of a *pāsāda* was smaller in superficial area than the one below it, like the upper parts of modern sky-scrapers under the zoning laws in New York, and this explains how there could be on each floor, as well as on the "sky-floor," numerous chambers (*kūṭāgāra*, *sīhapañjara*, *harmya*, etc.), each with a separate roof;

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FIG. 16. KOṆḌĀNE

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FIG. 17. KĀRLĪ

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cf. the appearance presented by some of the *rathas* at Māmallapuram (Pl. IX), by Akbar's tomb at Sikandra, and by the Panch Maḥall at Fathpur Sīkrī.

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The general appearance presented by the façade of a *pāsāda* can be best understood, however, from that of the façades of the various buddhist *cetiya-gharas*, e.g., at Kārli, Beḍsā, Kondivte, Kondāne, Bhājā and Nāsik, (Figures 16–18) and those of the Jāina monasteries in Oṛissā; the Oṛissā inscriptions,¹³ indeed, in which we find the words *koṭhā* and *pāsāda* used to denote respectively the internal cells and external part of the excavated *vihāras*, assure us that the cave façades really present the appearance of palace fronts. It might be legitimate to go even farther, and to presume that the main feature of the lower part of a palace was a great pillared hall, like the apsidal *cetiya-ghara* halls, but used for purposes of state; the living apartments, accessible only by stairs, being built around and above, as indicated by the cave façades themselves and by all the texts or the ground floor plan may have been like that of an excavated *vihāra*, with chambers surrounding a large central space, in which perhaps was the stairway.

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¹³ Barua, B., *Old Brahmi inscriptions . . .*, 1929, p. 82, note 1, and pp. 94, 298.

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The palace consisted of two clearly distinguished parts, the *heṭṭha-pāsāda* or lower palace, and the *upari-pāsāda* or upper floors (J., I, 175, 348, etc.), reached by stairs (*sopāna*, passim, *mahā-sopāna*, J., VI, 428). Where the palace had a high basement, there would also be external stairs, and these are clearly implied in J., VI, 428, where the Bodhisattva "goes up into the palace," and then only stands *sopāna-pāda-mūle* "at the foot of the (inner) stairs," and that these last are actually the inner stairs is shown by the fact that the tunnel by which the women were later abducted opened at this very place, at the foot of the palace stairs. The short outer stairs by which one ascended the basement must have been provided with a moonstone or semi-circular lower step of stone, and a balustrade on each side, of the kind known as *hasti-hasta*, for which I believe the Pali equivalent is *ālambana-bāhu* (not to be identified with *vedikā*), authorized for monks in the case of the steps leading onto the parapet of a well, Cull., V, 16, 2. At the Ratana Pāsāda, Anurādhapura (see Mem. A. S. Ceylon, I), in a line with the outer basement steps, were found interior pillars of gradually increasing height, which Burrows and Hocart both thought to have been the supports of the internal stair leading to the upper floors.

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The pillars of the Ratana Pāsāda, Anurādhapura, seem to have been arranged so as to provide a variety of room spaces on the ground floor, and in any case it may be assumed that here were situated kitchens (*mahānasa;? pacanāgāra*, Āp. Gṛ. S., Comm.), wells (*upadāna*),¹⁴ hot bathrooms (*jantāghara*), and the like offices, since these adjuncts of secular luxury were permitted in monasteries (Cull., V, 14, etc.); these imply drainage, and we find a drain (*niddhamana*) referred to in connection with a palace in J., I, 175, where it is surmised that pariah dogs have entered by the drain, though this is said to have been impossible. The floors of the ground floor would be of brick, stone, or wood. References to inlaid (*kuṭṭima*) palace floors are not uncommon in Sanskrit literature, e. g. in *Harṣacarita*, 157. In *Vism.*, 143 we have *sudhātala*, whitewashed or plastered floor of a terrace.

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¹⁴ As to the possibility of there being underground chambers used for coolness and as bathrooms, cf. the rock cut chambers under the palace fort at Uparkoṭ, Junāgaṛh (Burgess, A. S. W. I., 1876, p. 142 f.). I feel sure, too, that *bhūmi-ghara-saṁkhepena pokkharaṇi* of DA., I, 260 represents what would now be called a *baoli*; but this was in a garden, not a part of a palace.

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Only the upper floors were occupied as living apartments (J., III, 122–5, etc.), though we learn that the king's thoroughbred dogs were kept upstairs in the *upari-pāsāda* (J., I, 175). The texts do not speak of entering or leaving a palace, but always of going up into or coming down from it (J., I, 61, 179, 348, 351; III, 239; IV, 105, 125, 130, 215; V, 64, etc.), and this means going upstairs to or downstairs from the upper floors. As interior structures, the stairways are not visible in ordinary representations, but Figure 12 shows a covered passage or stair which seems to lead from one part of a palace to another. The texts often refer to the foot of the stairs *sopāna-pāda-mūla*, J., III, 216; VI, 428, 429, or *dhura-sopāna*, J., IV, 265, 266), and the head of the stairs (*sopāna-sīsa*, J., IV, 265, 266; VI, 430, or *sopāna-matthaka*, J., III, 216). The steps or planks of the stairs are *sopāna-kaliṅgara*, Cull., V, 21, 2. In DN., II, 181, 182, the stairs of the Palace of Righteousness are said to be twenty-four in number; a triple stairway is described in J., IV, 265, 266, and though this Saṁkassa stairway was a miraculous creation, it is likely enough that such stairways were actually made (for representations of the Saṁkassa stairs, see Cunningham, *Stupa of Bharhut*, Pl. XVII, and my *History of Indian and Indonesian Art*, Figure 104). Stairs were provided with balustrades (*vedikā*), having uprights (*thambha*, *thaba*), cross-bars (*sūci*), and hand-rail or coping (*uṇhīsa*), like other "railings" (DN., II, 181, 182).

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FIG. 18. BHĀJĀ

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FIG. 19. BEḌSĀ

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FIG. 20. JUNNĀR

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The ordinary designation of the separate rooms in a *pāsāda* is *gabbha*;¹⁵ the king's own chamber, *siri-gabbha* (J., IV, 105, on the *vara-tala*, etc.), contains the royal couch, *siri-sayana* (for the supposed origin of this term see J., III, 264). *Ṭhāna*, *vasana-ṭṭhāna* (J., I, 62; VI, 332, 333, etc.) is either chamber, apartment, or "suite;" *upa-ṭṭhāna*, as suggested above, may be "annex," or a less important room. More specific designations of palace rooms are *kūṭāgāra*, *sīhapañjara*, *hammiya*, and *candasālā*, all of which are outside chambers, i.e., self-contained roofed apartments on the topmost or other open floors. The term *kūṭāgāra*, especially when combined with *-sālā*, may sometimes mean an entire building with a peaked roof, the "gabled mansion" of Pali translators; but I am not convinced of this;" and usually, the *kūṭāgāra* is a self-contained and separately roofed pavilion on any storey of a *pāsāda*, either a gabled pent-house on the roof (in DhA., I, 414, the *pāsāda-kūṭa* is the roof-ridge of a palace, designed to bear sixty water-pot finials, *udaka-ghaṭa*), or more often a gabled chamber on other storeys, e.g., J., VI, 120, where a *vimāna* is adorned with "countless *kūṭāgāras*," MN., I, 253, where there are seven hundred *kūṭāgāras* on each *niyyūha* of the *pāsāda*, and Mhv., Ch. XXVII, where the Loha-pāsāda has a hundred *kūṭāgāras* to each storey, *ib.*, LXXVIII, 49, where a three-storeyed *pāsāda* built for a monk is "adorned with *kūṭāgāras*," and *ib.* 53, 54, where a five-storeyed *paṭimāgeha*, image-house, or temple, has *kūṭāgāras*, *guhās* (Cull., VI, 1, 2 shows that *guhā* need not be a cave), *gabbhas*, and *sālās*; in DN., II, 182, a *kūṭāgāra* is a chamber in the Palace of Righteousness; in SN., II, 103, the rising sun shines through the eastern window (*vātāpana*) of a *kūṭāgāra-sālā* and falls on its western wall; in J., VI, 510, a *kūṭāgāra*, evidently of a palace, is said to be a safe bolted (*phusitaggale*) sleeping (*sayitvāna*) room, cf. DhA., I, 221, where the *gabbhas* of the *antepurika* have doors fastened from outside by a key (*yantaka*). In J., II, 326, a king seals (*lāñchetvā*) the door of his daughter's sleeping room, and sets a guard (*ārakkham katvā*). In Cull., VI, 1, 2, Comm., a *pāsāda* is explained as a long building of several storeys; or if with a *kūṭāgāra* on the "sky-floor," then the term *hammiya* (= *harmya*) is applicable; in Cull., VI, 3, 3, Comm., we are told that a *kūṭāgāra* on the sky-floor is itself a *hammiya* (cf. the *harmikā* as a little structure on the top of a stūpa), and this would agree with *Raghuvaṁśa*, XIX, 39, where king Agnivarna sleeps with his concubines in the *savitāna*¹⁶ *harmya*, evidently on the roof; but in the *Vikramacarita* (HOS., vol. 26, p. 258), the term *harmya* is applied to an entire and elaborate palace, where we should expect to find *prāsāda* used. All references and representations considered, it may be inferred that a *kūṭāgāra* is a chamber with walls, analogous to the *uttamāgāra* of a *dvārakoṭṭhaka*, and having a ridged, barrel-vaulted, or domed roof; and that a *hammiya* is an open pillared pavilion with a flat or domed roof. Another designation of a roof chamber is *canda-sālā*, "moon-room," Mhv., LXXIV, Skr. *candra sālā*, e. g. *Harṣacarita* 140, used as a sleeping room and decorated with *sālā-bhañjikā* figures.

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¹⁵ In Cull., VI, 3, 3, *gabbhas* are said to include (1) *sivikā-gabbha*, (2) *nāḷikā-gabbha*, and (3) *hammiga-gabbha*. Buddhaghosa says the first of these is a "square room," but the name suggests a comparison with elaborate *sivikās* such as that illustrated in Fig. 25. The second is defined by Buddhaghosa as a long chamber, two in breadth by three in length. The third is said to be either a *kūṭāgāra gabbha* or a *mudaṇḍacchadana-gabbha* (Acharya has *mudaṇucchādana-*) on the topmost storey (*ākāsa-tala*, "sky-floor"); I suggest *m(d)daṇḍacchadana* which might be rendered "having a handsome timber and clay roof." *Dīpagabbha* in J., VI, 460, seems to be a lamp niche provided with doors. *Pakuṭṭa* (=Skr. *prakoṣṭha*, Prakrit *paoṭṭha*) of Cull., VI, 3, 5, is glossed by Buddhaghosa as a *pariyāgāra* all round a *gabbha*, thus perhaps some kind of verandah or colonnade; but in *Mṛcchakaṭikā*, IV, 30, where a mansion has eight *paoṭṭhas* one has to suppose something on a larger scale, viz., a succession of courts, each within the other, and each with its own wall and gate house, as in a modern South Indian *vimāna*. In Aśoka's Edicts, *gabbhāgāra* = *gabbha* = private room in a palace.

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¹⁶ Cull., VI, 3, 4, proves that *vitāna* means a ceiling cloth; cf. *cela-vitana*, J. I, 178, II, 289; Vism., 108, etc., but the more general sense of ceiling or canopy is also found (J., 40, 57, 62 and 83), particular fabrics being designated as *sumana-paṭṭa*, "jasmine-flowered," and *suvaṇṇa-paṭa*, "of cloth of gold." In J., II, 291, a king's *vātāghara-gabbha* is described as having a scented floor, as hung with scented garlands, with a golden star-spangled ceiling-cloth (*cela-vitāna*), "as though surrounded on all sides by a pictured curtain (*cittasāṇi*)." *Ib.*, 328, we have *sāṇiantarena*, "from behind a curtain;" but *ib.*, 88 and 104, *sāṇi-pākāra* and *paṭṭa-sāṇi* as screens or curtains placed round a tree, out of doors.

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FIG. 21. SĀÑCĪ

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FIG. 22. MATHURĀ

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The *kūṭāgāras*, either from their elevated position, or because of their high roofs, are thought of as "soaring" (*varocita*, J., VI, 121). As to the actual roofs, it is clear from DhA., I, 414, Mil., 38, from the *Ayakūṭa Jātaka* (J., III, 146), from the discussion in *Pali kaṇṇikā=circular roof-plate*, in J. A. O. S., vol. 50, 1930, from the representations in reliefs, and especially from the SV passage quoted in my note¹⁷ infra, that the *kūṭāgāra* roof was composed of rafters (*gopānasī*), meeting at the *kūṭa* above, or at the *kaṇṇikā* or circular *kūṭa* required by domed or apsidal forms. The simile "As all the rafters (*gopānasiyo*) of a *kūṭāgāra* go upwards to the *kūṭa* . . " of Miln., 38, SN., II, 262, III, 155, etc., occurs also in DhsA., 118, preceded by "As the *kaṇṇikā* of a *kūṭāgāra*, because it binds together the other parts (sc. gopānasiyo) of the construction, is foremost (*pamukha*) . . ." from which it is clear, what has already been deduced, that *kūṭa* and *kaṇṇikā*, characteristic of the roof of a *kūṭāgāra* are both equally roof-plates, against which rest the top of the rafters (the *kūṭa* being usually a long beam forming the ridge, the *kaṇṇikā* circular). The correspondence of *kūṭa* and *kaṇṇikā* appears also from a comparison of Vv., 158 with VvA., 304; and Vism., 413 speaks of the *kaṇṇikā* of a *kūṭāgāra*. So also in SN., V, 228 we have "Just as the *kūṭa* of a *kūṭāgāra*, so long as it is not set up, so long there is no resting place for the rafters (*gopānasiyo*)." Most of the reliefs show the barrel-vaulted and apsidal types for which curved rafters are required, while the pointed roof requiring straight rafters seems to be rare. In J., VI, 117 a *dibba-vimāna* is said to be *pañca-thūpa*, with five tops, and the commentary, equating *vimāna* with *pāsāda*, says that *pañca-thūpa* implies "having five *kūṭāgāras*" (on the topmost floor); cf. *thūpika*, Mhv., XXXI, 13 (see IAT., p. 271). The earlier usages of *stūpa* [RV., I, 24, 7 and VII, 2, 1, "top" or "point"; *Viṣṇo (ḥ) stūpo* or *stupo*, "hair knot of Viṣṇu," *passim*; Sāṅkh. Gṛ. S., III, 3, 7 *śrī stūpo dharma sthūṇarājo* "fortune the peak, law the kingpost" (of a house)] show that the primary significance of the word is "top," not necessarily "dome," and certainly not "mound." The original meaning long survived in architectural terminology. The words *śṛṅga* (of a *prāsāda*) in the *Pañcatantra*, Bk. I, story 1, and *sihara* in Khāravela's Hāthī Gumphā inscription may likewise refer to the roofs of *kūṭāgāras*, and in any case cannot be taken as evidence for high towers like the mediæval *śikharas* (cf. *śikhara* as the "top" of a wall, in *Harṣacarita*, 157, and as palace roof, *ib.* 140.) The actual roof (*chadana*) was either thatched with leaves (*paṇṇa*) or grass or reeds (*tṛṇa*), or covered with tiles (*giñjaka*, Mhv., LXXXVIII, 97, *giñjakā vasathā*, D., II, 205, and Figure 13), or perhaps covered with skins (cf. Cull., V, 16, 2; IAT., p. 266, and perhaps the *deva-sabhā* roof at Sāñcī, Marshall, *Guide to Sanchi*, Pl. VI, *a*). Different kinds of thatch patterns are mentioned in SV., 1, 43; see J. A. O. S., Vol. 50, p. 240. For *vāna-laṭṭhi* as part of a roof, see J. J. Meyer, *Kautilīya Arthaśāstra*, p. 264. In SN., V, 152, the lower part of a *kūṭāgāra* is designated *heṭṭhima-ghara*, the upper part *upari-ghara*. *Kaṇṇāvalī*, "coping of roof tiles," occurs in Barnett, *Antagaḍa Dasāo*, pp. 116, 131. In the *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka*, XVI, 36, the abodes of the Bodhisattvas (in the palaces of heaven) are called *kūṭāgāras*.

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¹⁷ In SV., I, 309 *kaṇṇikaṁ yojetvā thambhānaṁ upari kūṭāgāra-sāla-saṁkhepena deva-vimāna-sadisaṁ pāsādaṁ*, the building as a whole is called as usual *pāsāda*: what is described is the completion of the penthouse on the roof, which would be the last part of the work to be done. *Thambhānaṁ upari*, above the pillars, is simply equivalent to the *upari-pāsāda*, but the phrase suggests a building of only two storeys. It is clear that *kūṭāgāra* does not exclude the idea of a domed or barrel-vaulted apsidal roof. The Vism., 634 *dvikūṭa-geha* or *dvikuṭṭa-geha* (evidently for *dvikūṭa*) must mean a mansion with two *kūṭāgāras* on the upper storey. J. I, 292 has *kaṇṇakannchi* with the sense "from top (to bottom)" of a house (*geha*, *pāsāda*).

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FIG. 23. MATHURĀ

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FIG. 24. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 25. AMARĀVATĪ

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FIG. 26. KĀṬHIĀWĀṚ

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G. H. Hodson, *Languages, Literature and Religion of Nepal and Tibet*, p. 49, says that in Nepal, *kūṭāgāra* is used to designate a temple as distinguished from a *stūpa*.

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A second commonly occurring designation of what might be a self-contained and separately roofed apartment on the roof or other open floor is *sīhapañjara*, literally perhaps "roofed dove-cot" (*sīha* perhaps representing *sihara* = *śikhara* rather than *siṁha*); the type and word correspond to Tamil *pañcaram*, see Jouveau-Dubreuil, *Archéologie du Sud de l'Inde.*, Figures 24, 28 and p. 55, where it is pointed out that the attic storey (our "sky-floor") of a *vimāna* consists of little *pañcarams*, each with its own basement, railing, windows, and roof.¹⁸ In DhA., III, 88, the *sīhapañjara* (of a private *geha*) used by a rich man to display himself to the public (cf. Figure 2), is said to have cost 100,000 pieces. Other references to *sīhapañjara* will be found below in connection with windows, since the effective meaning seems to be "bay-window" rather than an entire room. In Vism., 593, *pañjara* has the related sense of "wagon-vault."

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¹⁸ In Mhv., LXXVIII, 56, a twelve-storeyed *uposatha-ghara* is provided with a *pañjara-geha*.

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That the palace apartments were, as might be expected, provided with doors is shown by DhA., I, 221 and J., I, 61, 62 (*sirigabbha* and *gabbha dvāra*; Channa sleeps with his head on the threshold, *ummāra*); J., VI, 510 and DN., II, 183, *kūṭāgāra dvāra*; J., VI, 455, *ratanaghara dvāra*, also the Amarāvatī representation of Queen Māyā's dream (Burgess, *Buddhist stūpas of Jaggayyapeta and Amarāvatī*, Pl. XXVIII, 1, here Figure 41); DhsA., 279-80; and J., VI, 510 and DhA., I, 221, cited above.

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What is a *niyyūha* (Skr. *niryūha*)? Two passages cited above in connection with *kūṭāgāra*, taken together seem to show that *niyyūha* = *tala*, "floor" or "storey." There is nothing in J., II, 334, SV., I, 284, the larger *Sukhāvatīvyūha*, 41, or the inscription at Ajaṇṭā, Cave XVI,¹⁹ to contradict this.

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¹⁹ Burgess and Indraji, *Inscriptions from the Cave Temples of Western India*, 1880, p. 70.

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The apartments on each floor are in most cases set back from the *vedikā*-parapet so as to provide an exterior terrace, deck or balcony (*ālinda*; in *Harṣacarita*, 157, we find *ālinda* as outer terraces where the goldsmiths sit at their work). *Ālinda* may be described as that part of any *tala* which is external to the *kūṭāgaras* or other chambers on that *tala*; Cull., VI, 14, 1, a *pāsāda* has such an *ālinda*, supported by *hatthi-nakhaka* pillars (explained and illustrated, IAT., p. 258, here Figure 19); in J., VI, 429, a queen mother's palace gate-house has an *ālinda*; in Cull., VI, 3, 5, an *ālinda* is permitted for monastic buildings, and Buddhaghosa's gloss is *pamukha*, a word which may be given the general sense of porch or verandah.²⁰ *Ālindas* being open to public view (cf. Figure 8, Queen Māyā sleeping) could be screened by movable curtains (*saṁsaraṇa-* and *ugghāṭana-kiṭika*, Cull., VI, 3, 5). Where there was no *ālinda*, and consequently the roofing elements were not recessed, the timbered eaves (*osāraka*) projecting beyond the wall (cf. modern *chajja*) sheltered the floor below (Buddhaghosa, Comm., on Cull., VI, 3, 5, but as indicated by J., III, 446, where a dying man is laid under the eaves and is visible to passers-by, the reference is probably to the ground floor and to houses less pretentious than palaces, which would always have their *ālindas*).

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