Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c24.27

c24.27

**Its Baths.** The Ārāmas afforded the pleasures of bathing. Pools were constructed at the entrance to the Ārāma and the privacy of both was secured by enclosing them with "brick walls, stone walls, and wooden fences". Lest the pool be muddy, it was usual to flag it with three kinds of flooring of brick, stone, or wood, and provide it with a drain so that the water might not settle. Sometimes an Ārāma might have a tank. We read of the gift of such a tank by an Upāsaka to the Saṁgha. Lest the sides of the tank should fall in, it was usual to line the tank with facing of brick, stone, or wood, and to provide flights of stairs of those materials for easy access to the water, flanked by a balustrade for protection. Lest the water should become "stale", pipes were used "to lay on the water, and to drain the water off" [ib., v, 17].