The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.267

v1.c10.267

**Footstools:** The footstool, like the *thrgnus* of the Greeks, and the *scabellum* of the Romans, was an important article of furniture in Indian households, and frequent mention of it is made in ancient works. For gods and goddesses the most appropriate footstool was a full-blown lotus. It had a charming effect in setting off a piece of sculpture, and typified a most elegant poetical idea. For such personages seats of lotus flowers were not uncommon. For obvious physical reasons, such a style of depicting footstools, could not be very congruous for human beings; and yet for the setting off to advantage of seated figures, footstools of some kind or other were absolutely required. Accordingly, we see a great number of sculptured footstools of various designs and patterns. Two of these are shown on the margin. (Woodcuts Nos. 42 and 43.) They are as closely like moden English footstools as can well be imagined. The first is from Amarāvatī, and the second, from Bhuvaneśvara. The stool shown in Woodcut No. 29, is a form of which counterparts, under the name of *jalacauki*, occur in almost every Bengali house. At *śrāddhas* and marriages, such stools invariably form parts of consecrated gifts. The curious reader will notice many other forms, some of elaborate workmanship, in Mr. Fergusson's work on *Tree and Serpent Worship*.