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CHAPTER V PALACE ARCHITECTURE Palace architecture in India has progressed and prospered contemporaneously with the development of fort architecture. During the ages of turbulence and constant friction between warring feudal lords, it was essential to locate the royal palace in a well-fortified city. The palace. complex was an important feature of the notable forts and fortified cities of ancient and medieval India. There are many circumstances which may account for complete disappearance of palatial buildings where the kings of ancient India once lived and held their courts. The sites of the royal cities were changed due to political disturbances or the exigencies of warfare and as the kings and dynasties disappeared the royal palaces suffered due to the ravages of time. Some of the royal capitals such as Thaneswar, Kanauj, Vijayanagar and Delhi were plundered and subjected to severe demolitions, the accounts of which are still fresh. Under such circumstances it is only possible to reconstruct the history of ancient palaces in India on the basis of extant historical works, sanskrit literature and silps sastras, the canonical books of Indian craftsmen.2

173 Asoka's palace at Pataliputra is described by Megasthenese as no less magnificent than the palaces of Susa and Ekbatna. It was existing at the beginning of the fifth century AD, when Fa-Hein tells us that it was attributed to the work of genii. But by the time Huien Tsang visited the city, the palace had been burnt to the ground and the place was almost deserted Recent excavations have revealed the remains of a great hall, with stone pillars. Some fragments of polished sandstone, and a few very fine terracottas are in the Patna Museum.³ Palace architecture, unfortunately, in the Puranas is not discussed elaborately. The descriptions of palaces in the literacy works like Valmiki's Ramayana, Bana's Harsacarita and Kadambari, Sudraka's Mrcchakatika, Vidyapati's Kirtilata and so many other works are very authentic presentation of the palace architecture which is also corroborated by the archaeological monuments.