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

ANCIENT

BRICK AND

STONE HOUSES

23

Three-storied

houses orpalaces arefrequently

represented

inAsokan

sculpture. The

generalarrangement

ofthe

"

Palace

of theGods

"

(PI. Ill,a),

which maybe

taken foracrude re-

presentation of a

typical Indian mansion

about

250

B.C., does

notdiffermuchfromthatofawell-to-do

familyhousein

modern

Rajputana. There are the familiar

chhajas

(verandah roofs

usedascornices),

toprotectthewallsfromrain

andtheburning

heatof the middaysun, which are

soconspicuousa featurein

modern Indian buildings. The lower

storey has open veran-

dahswith thevedika,

where the men of the household can sit

totransact businessorconversewith their friends. Thefirst

floorhas balconieswith Bengaliarchesand screenedopenings,

wheredoubtlesstheladiessatastheydointhe

Indiaofto-day.

The upper storey,orattic, correspondsto the modern Rajput

open-terracedroof,with itsdomed pavilions,orchhattris,only

here the chhattri apparently covers the whole roof. It is

probablethat housesof

this type were builtin the third cen-

tury B.C., not onlyin towns, but

in

the

largervillages, whose

inhabitantsbelongedtothehigherclassesofIndo-

Aryansociety.

Besides domestic

and religious buildings, the Indian

vil-

lage,as before mentioned,

had sometimesitsAssembly-hall or

Mote-house,

where the village

council met, aswell as school

buildingsand

rest-houses fortravellers and

pilgrims. These

weregenerallypillared

pavilions, whichwere the

prototypesof

the Diwan-i-Am,

orpublic

audience-hall,ofthe Mogul Empe-

rors. Adouble-storied

pavilionof

thiskindfromtheBharhut

sculpturesis

shown in PI.

IV, a. Inthis case

the building is

areligiousone, but

it mustbe

remembered thatall

Indianre-

ligious

buildings had their

secular or

domestic prototypes.

A

royalaudience-pavilion

ofabout

theseventh

centurya.d., from

a fresco

at Ajanti(PL

IV, b),

with a

chhajai and flat roof,

1

Thestone

orwoodenchhajais

derivedfrom

thebambu-and-mator

thatchedlean-to

roofof
a

verandah.