The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c7.332

v1.c7.332

**[19]** The ages of the *Rāmāyaṇa* and the *Mahābhārata* have not yet been satisfactorily settled; but it is admitted on almost all hands, that those works existed long before the reign of Aśoka, very probably from before the date of Buddha himself, and they abound in descriptions of temples, two-storied buildings, balconies, porticos, triumphal arches, enclosing walls, flights of stone masonry steps in tanks and a variety of other structures all indicative of a flourishing architecture in the country. The great concourse of crowned heads which assembled at Indraprastha, on the occasion of Yudhiṣṭhira's royal feast, the *Rājasūya*, needed a great number of houses for its accomodation, and the poet thus describes the lodgings assigned to the guests: "O king, these and many other princes of the middle country (central India?) came to the great ceremonial, Rājasūya, of the sons of Pāṇḍu. By order of the virtuous monarch, to them were assigned dwellings replete with refreshments of every kind, and having by them charming lakes, and ranges of ornamental plants. The son of Dharma welcomed them in the due form. After the reception, the princes repaired to the several houses assigned for their accomodation. Those houses were lofty as the peaks of the Kailāsa mountain, most charming in appearance, and provided with excellent furniture. They were surrounded on all sides by well-built high walls of a white colour. The windows were protected by golden lattices, and decorated with a profusion of jewellery. The stairs were easy of ascent; the rooms were furnished with commodious (*lit.*, large) seats, and clothing, and garlands; and the whole was redolent with the perfume of the finest agallochum. The houses were white as the goose, bright as the noon, and looked most picturesque even from a distance of four miles. They were free from obstructions, provided with doors of uniform height, but of various quality, and inlaid with numerous metal ornaments, even as the peak of the Himalaya. The princes were refreshed by the very sight of those mansions."