The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.260

v1.c10.260

In Orissa, wooden stools and cane *moḍās* were, it seems, the ordinary form of raised seats. The *moḍā*, is identically of the same shape as is common now. Wooden stools appear under different forms. Woodcut No. 32, exhibits a well-finished specimen; it occurs repeatedly on the Great Tower. But the most remarkable among the stools are those which are mounted on crossed legs very much like the folding camp-stools of the present day (woodcuts Nos. 33 and 34); though, whether they were so made as to fold or not, it is of course impossible now to determine. Fold-stools like these are not infrequently represented in the illuminations of mediaeval European manuscripts, and formerly when a bishop was required to officiate in any but his own cathedral church where his throne was erected, a folding stool was placed [105] for him in the church, and he frequently carried one with him in his journeys. Among the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, they seem to have been very common, as both Wilkinson and Layard have figured a great variety of them. In Orissa, they occur both on the Great Tower, and on the Temple of Mukteśvara. Occasionally these folding stools were used as tables, and on the Great Tower, one may be seen holding either chessmen, or dice, or a roll of paper, with two persons seated on the opposite sides. (Illustration No. 24.) In the Temple of Mukteśvara, it is used as a book-stand.