The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.255.1

v1.c10.255.1

**Thrones :** The throne designed by Phidias for his renowned Olympian Jupiter was a large, high-backed arm-chair, elaborately carved, and sumptuously decorated, but still a chair, or a seat for one person, as the word *thronos* originally meant in Greek, in contradistinction to the *dithros* or couch for holding two or more persons, and the Egyptian thrones as preserved in sculptures and paintings are all huge chairs of some kind or other. The Indian throne differed entirely from these. It was founded on the model of the *takhtapoṣ* or bedstead, and was distinguished from it only by its mountings and decorations. According to the *Yukti-kalpa-taru* two sizes were common, one eight cubits square and four cubits high, and the other four cubits square and two cubits high. The former was called *Rājapātra*, and the latter *Rājāsana*. The angles of the square, however, were not always left entire, and by the way in which they were cut off, the seat became six, eight, or ten-sided. The great height of the seat necessitated a flight of steps in front, but whether the steps extended to the whole length of a side, or only covered a portion of it, I cannot ascertain. Around the platform, there was a railing, but there is nothing to show that there was any raised back to lean upon : probably there was none, as the large pillow or *tākiyā*, which formed an important element of the seat, rendered it superfluous.