Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c24.18

c24.18

**Vihāra.** Lastly come the storied house, the Vihāra, and the Ārāma. We read of a rule that no monk “ shall hurriedly sit down or lie down in the upper storey of a dwelling common to a Saṁgha” (lest he might unwittingly upset the furniture) [*Pāt.*, p. 34]. The private chambers of monks were sometimes “ on an upper storey” [*Chullav.*, vi, 3, 3]. There is a reference to King Bimbisāra wishing “ to build a *pāsāda*, covered with cement and clay, for the use of the Saṁgha” and in that connection five kinds of roofing are mentioned, viz. those of brick, stone, cement, straw, and leaves [ib., vi, 3, 11]. We also read of Visākhā, the mother of Migāra, being "anxious to have a storied building (*pāsāda*) with a verandah (*ālinda*) to it, supported on pillars with capitals of elephant heads, built for the use of the Saṁgha" [ib., vi, 14, 1].