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[The story of the first House on Earth闭:鈥�

Houses, I have already pointed out, are of manifold denotation and connotation. Harmyas, Vimamas and 笔谤腻蝉腻诲补蝉 are also houses where higher people, the rich people and the gods are housed. Their origin shall be dealt with in a separate chapter (vide Part V on Temple Architecture). Here in this chapter I have to delimit the universe of discourse to the residential houses of men. And for this latter category, the word 艢腻濒腻 (鈥�艣腻濒腻岣� santi asmin iti 艣腻濒补岣�鈥�) with its characteristics of courts, chambers, rooms, porticos, etc. as opposed to the storeys (cf. 痴颈尘腻苍补蝉 and 笔谤腻蝉腻诲补蝉) is used. The name 艢al膩 for a residential house has a very interesting story. It is also suggestive of a great historical and anthropological truth. In the 6th Chapter of the 厂补尘补谤腻峁単补峁嘺蝉奴迟谤补诲丑腻谤补 entitled 鈥淪ahadev膩dhik膩ra鈥� Bhoja says that in the hoary past, people living in 叠丑腻谤补迟补-惫补谤峁�a, resided in forests, on the banks of rivers, on the mountains, and underneath the shady 狈颈办耻帽箩补蝉. Once they entered heaven and began to roam there and enjoy themselves with the denizens of heaven鈥攖he Gods, under the all-producing and all-giving shade of that renowned Heavenly Tree, 碍补濒辫补-痴峁沰峁�a. This went well for a good time. But men as they were, they got arrogant and belittled the glory of the Gods. They, therefore, were condemned to come down to the Earth. Thereupon they were very sorry. For their sustenance, now there arose the Par-辫补峁璦办补鈥攁 tree, giving tiny fruits. It however, got extinct. Hence their condition was more pitiable than before. Now 艢腻濒颈-迟补峁囜笉耻濒补蝉 appeared on earth. They were very delicious to eat. Being afraid, lest this might also get extinct like the Par辫补峁璦办补, they began to hoard it, and hoarding we know is bad for all times. The result was that the lust for hoarding gave birth to other evil consequences鈥�greed, envy, jealousy, and what not. In due course greed became instrumental in giving birth to Manmatha (passion) which led them to have attachment towards women, which in its turn led them to form themselves into couples鈥�Dvandvas, This Dvandva鈥攖he abode of suffering and misery, is well-known. Misfortune again overtook them, and the 艢腻濒颈, the main stay of their maintenance became full of husks and chaffs which caused the Mala-辫谤补惫峁泃迟颈 due to the eating of the 罢耻峁�a-诲丑腻苍测补. Thus all their glory, all their Pu峁噛a艣lokat膩, their immortality and longevity were gone. Their bodies then became susceptible to illness. Therefore, in order to ward off the inclemencies of weather and to seek privacy and shelter, they then thought of creating refuges in the shape of 艣腻濒腻蝉, mainly through the branches, i.e. 艣腻办丑腻蝉. This is the story of the origin of the first house on earth for the man to live in and to be happy.

Similar accounts in the 惭腻谤办补峁囜笉别测补 (Ch. 49) and 痴腻测耻 (Ch. 8) 笔耻谤腻峁嘺蝉 also corroborate the truth that the primitive house, the first house on earth had the tree as its model. Dr. Acharya in his 鈥淓ncyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture鈥� says:

鈥�Trees are stated (Matsya Pur膩峁嘺 VII, 83-120) to have supplied to the primitive men the model of his future house. 艢腻濒腻 (house) is stated (VV. 117-120) to have been derived from 艢腻办丑腻 (branch) because originally branches were arranged lengthwise, breadthwise, crosswise, up and down and thatched to make the first house鈥�.

Thus it is evident that 艢腻濒腻 primarily means a thatch of straw (颁丑腻濒补) for shelter of men or their cattle and stores. Later on this acquired more and longer denotation of such stalls and sheds. As time passed and its use was in great vogue, it came to mean a house in general (cf. 艢腻濒腻pati鈥�house-holder). Finally, as is even today, it has come to mean a single section or a single room of a house as is clear from words like Agni-艣腻濒补 笔补迟苍墨-艣腻濒腻, 骋辞艣腻濒腻, V膩ji艣膩l膩, Gaja-艣腻濒腻, etc. etc.

The 厂奴迟谤补 literature embodying the earliest 痴腻蝉迟耻-痴颈诲测腻, fully supports this tree-model of a primitive house. In the rituals the central part of the site called 痴腻蝉迟耻 has been an object of especial veneration from the very earliest times. The existence of a central post as directed by 厂奴迟谤补 writers like 础艣惫补濒腻测补苍补 (II. 8) at this point, has served as a motif for the dwelling places. And 鈥渢he idea of a central post inside the dwelling indicates that the primitive house was a construction over and around this post. The shape of the construction seems to suggest a close resemblance of a shady tree which provided shelter to the primitive man from sun and rain at a time when house building was unknown鈥� (T. P. Bhattacharya Canons of Architecture, page 4).

The account of the origin of the house which we find in the 厂补尘补谤腻峁単补峁嘺蝉奴迟谤补诲丑腻谤补 and corroborated by 惭腻谤办补峁囜笉别测补, 痴腻测耻 and Matsya 笔耻谤腻峁嘺蝉 and the importance attached to the central post as is evident from the rituals, suggests that the primitive building, devised on the model of a tree was one with a central post as the trunk and the thatches in all directions as the outstretched branches of a tree.

Tree as the model of a house is further supported by the classification of the pillars and other different parts of a house having its basis on the different parts of a tree. In the 惭腻苍补蝉腻谤补 in its chapter named Stambha (XV), the five main pillars are called 叠谤补丑尘补办腻苍迟补, 痴颈峁ａ箛耻办腻苍迟补, 搁耻诲谤补办腻苍迟补, 艢颈惫补办腻苍迟补 and 厂办补苍诲补办腻苍迟补, As suggested by Dr. Tarapada Bhattacharya, I also believe that the word 碍腻苍迟补 points to the trunk of the tree (called 碍腻峁囜笉补) being synonymous with the shaft of the pillar. The word 碍腻苍迟补, as is used in the nomenclature of these pillars, is a later variation of the word 鈥槹�腻峁囜笉补鈥�. Similarly the door jambs in practically all the manuals on the science of architecture (see 厂补尘补谤腻峁単补峁嘺蝉奴迟谤补诲丑腻谤补 Ch. 28) are called 艢腻办丑腻s (the branches) from the use of branches of trees in their construction. Again the lintel of the doorway was similarly called as 鈥�Udumbara鈥� evidently from the use of the fig wood in making these pieces. Thus earliest connections of primitive dwellings with the tree appear all the more probable, as we find that the vegetable kingdom was the first to be utilised for all necessary materials of house building.

This is in brief the origin of the house and its later development, from the humble cottages of leaves to ostentatious temples and palaces, will form the story of the subsequent pages of the Study.