Early Indian Architecture: I. Cities and City-Gates, etc.; II. Bodhi-gharas c9.s6.87

c9.s6.87

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*.