The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

PYRAMIDAL MONASTERIES

85

were allowed

a lower class of servants to wait

upon them.

Proficiency

infoursections entitled the monks

tothe services

of lay disciples, called "pure men"{upasakas).

The reward

forpassingthe fifth stagewas an

elephant-carriage. Finally,

themonkwhohad completeknowledge

ofall sixsections

was

qualifiedas

an abbotandwas

allowed thedignityofan

escort.

Nodoubt the idea of this graduated curriculum

was notex-

clusively Buddhist, but based upon the scholastic

traditionof

Vedic learning.

The

designofthesepyramidal

monasterieswaseminently

adapted

forthe practical working

of such asystem. Indeed,

if the prestigeof the British Raj is notcompromised by

the

borrowingof Indianideas, itmightbe adapted (with the

help

of lifts, telephones, and imagination) to the

uses of modern

secular administration. It certainlywould lend itself

to the

administrative principlethatthe highest

official ranks should

have the

coolest places

;

and

possibly it could be usedas an

architectural expedient forensuringthatfull mental vigourin

departmental headswhich, in these degenerate days,canonly

beexpectedin Indianhill-stations.

HiuenTsanggivesthefollowingdescriptionsof

theappear-

anceofsuchstructures atthecelebratedBengali Universityof

Nalanda, the modernBar%ion,sevenmilesnorthofRajagriha

andnotfarfromPitaliputra,Asoka'simperialcity—themodern

Patna.

"

Thehousesof the

monks,"hesays,

"

wereeachfour

storeysinheight, Thepavilions

[hallsoftheSangha?]hadpillars

ornamentedwith dragons,and hadbeams resplendentwithall

thecoloursofthe

rainbow—raftersrichlycarved,columnsorna-

mentedwith jade,painted

red andrichlychiselled, andbalus-

trades [Vedicrails

?]

of carved openwork. The lintels of the

doors

weredecorated

with elegance and theroofswith glazed

tilesofbrilliantcolours,which

multipliedthemselvesbyreflection

andvariedtheeffectateverymoment

in

a

thousandmanners."

6*