The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c7.294.2

v1.c7.294.2

The Aryans who came to India had the same intellectual capacity and it remains yet to be seen how far they utilised it in the country of their adoption. They had, it is true, no Egyptian or Pelasgic monuments at hand to excite their ambition, and their religiprimitive. Mr. Wheeler, in his *History of India*, imagines that the wall round the palace of Daśaratha was nothing more substantial than a hedge. Following this idea he supposes the palaces and fortresses described in the *Mahābhārata* to have been thatched structures, constructed of mats, bamboos, and mud, but devoid of everything in the way of true masonry architecture. Depicting Hastināpur, the capital of the Kurus, he says : “A non-descript population, which may have comprised cultivators, herdsmen, mechanics, retainers, and petty shop-keepers seem to have dwelt in an assemblage of huts, or houses, constructed of mats, bamboos, mud, or bricks which was dignified by the name of city. The palace was very likely built after a similar fashion, though on a larger scale, and with some pretensions to strength. Probably it was a rude quadrangular building, having men’s apartments on one side, and women’s apartments on the other ; whilst the third side was devoted to the kitchens and household servants.” Elsewhere he fancies the central quadrangle of the palace of Daśaratha contained a thatched granary which formed the treasury.² Mr.