The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c8.28

c8.28

Three-storied houses or palaces are frequently represented in Asokan sculpture. The general arrangement of the "Palace of the Gods" (Pl. III, A), which may be taken for a crude representation of a typical Indian mansion about 250 B.C., does not differ much from that of a well-to-do family house in modern Rajputana. There are the familiar *chhajas* (verandah roofs used as cornices), to protect the walls from rain and the burning heat of the midday sun, which are so conspicuous a feature in modern Indian buildings. The lower storey has open verandahs with the vedikâ, where the men of the household can sit to transact business or converse with their friends. The first floor has balconies with Bengali arches and screened openings, where doubtless the ladies sat as they do in the India of to-day. The upper storey, or attic, corresponds to the modern Rajput open-terraced roof, with its domed pavilions, or *chhattris*, only here the chhattri apparently covers the whole roof. It is probable that houses of this type were built in the third century B.C., not only in towns, but in the larger villages, whose inhabitants belonged to the higher classes of Indo-Aryan society.