Essay name: Arts in the Puranas (study)
Author:
Meena Devadatta Jeste
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Pune
This essay studies the Arts in the Puranas by reconstructing the theory of six major fine arts—Music, Dance, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, and Literature—from the Major and Minor Puranas. This thesis shows how ancient sages studied these arts within the context of cultural traditions of ancient India.
Chapter 3 - Architecture in the Puranas
53 (of 62)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE The general plan of a residential house is narrated in the Matsya Purana Chapter 258. It mentions the building of houses of four salas, three salas, two salas and one salā. sālās The building Catussala has four doorways, one in each direction and it is encircled by an enclosure wall (alinda). Five kinds of Catussala houses are mentioned. (1) If the palace or temple is made into a Catussala, (2) (3) (4) (5) it is known as Sarvatobhadra and considered auspicious. A house having three entrances i. e. if the Western doorway does not exist is known as Nandyāvarta. A mansion that has three entrances i... if there is no Southern gateway is known as Vardhamana. The one without any gate towards the East is known as Swastika. Rucaka has three entrances except in the North. A slightly unsymmetrical building is known as trisala or Dhanyaka. A mansion having no wing to its east is known as Suksetra. Dr. Ajay Mitra Shastri states that the general plan of residential house in the Gupta period seems to have been based on a courtyard surrounded by chambers (sälä) on one (Eksalā), two (dvisālā), three (trisala) and four sides (Catussalā). He further says that the Catussala houses seem to have been very popular in the Gupta age. The Matsya Purana and the Brhat- Sanhitā belong to the same period 1... 4th century A.D. 89 Besides the Dhanyaka and the Suksetra buildings there
