History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c13.s1.13

v1.c13.s1.13

The king was usually surrounded by his body-guard which consisted of select strong men of hereditary service. Bāṇa describes the guardsmen of Harsha as devoted men with strongly exercised half-bare bodies, yellowish fair in complexion, standing arround him in a row at fixed distances and poetically compares them to a colonnade of golden pillars surrounding the king. (H. C. p. 110). The king’s seat was usually a couch, the four feet of which were inlaid with ivory and the surface covered with a slab of stone sprinkled with sandal pigment. There was also a small portable seat of the king called Āsandi. When the Malava king was conquered and slain in battle the things seized in plunder were his Sinhāsana (throne) Sayana (couch) and Āsandi (chair) (H. C. p. 103). For the resting of the foot there was always a jewelled footstool called Pādapitha.