Essay name: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
Author: A. D. Pusalker
This book studies Bhasa, the author of thirteen plays ascribed found in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. These works largely adhere to the rules of traditional Indian theatrics known as Natya-Shastra.
Page 438 of: Bhasa (critical and historical study)
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418
absence of true arch, and round column. It appears there
were storeyed buildings with flat roofs and a number of
rooms on each floor at Mohenjo-D膩ro, which was divided
into a number of blocks by wide and long roads cutting
each other almost perpendicularly.
as
In the epics also we read of dwelling houses, temples
and palaces. In Ayodhya, in addition to resplendent
temples, there were most elegant assembly halls, gardens
and alms-houses, with well arranged extensive buildings
everywhere. The steeples of houses shone like the crests
of mountains and held hundreds of pavilions. The rooms
were exquisitely gilt and decorated, and seemed
charming as pictures. The floors were laid evenly. The
Mah膩bh膩rata also speaks of guest houses built in
connection with the R膩jasuya. They were lofty, most
charming in appearance and provided with excellent
furniture. They had well built high walls of white colour
on all sides and the windows were decorated with jewellery
and had golden lattices. The stairs were easy of ascent.
The houses were white as the swan, bright as the moon
and looked most picturesque even from a distance of four
miles. Doors were of uniform height with a variety of
quality and inlaid with numerous metal ornaments. There
were also charming lakes and ornamental plants by the
side of the guest houses. The epics, again, describe cities
with special palaces having a number of courts for the
king, the princes, the chief priests and civil and military
officials. There were also various assembly halls, courts
of justice and the booths of small traders with goldsmith's
shops and the work-places of other artisans."
66 Coming next to the Buddhist age, we find that the
Buddhist scriptures contain some religious discourses
dealing with domestic architecture. Dwelling houses are
stated to be of five kinds, and an ordinary residence is
said to contain a sleeping room, a stable, a tower, a one-
peaked building, a shop, a boutique, a storeyed house, an
attic, a cave, a cell, a store-room, a refectory, a fire-room,
a kitchen, a privy, a place to walk in, a house to walk in,
a well, a well-house, a weapons-room, a lotus pond, a
pavilion, and a bathing place for hot sitting baths".
A
1 MR, Sept. 1934, p. 282; R膩m膩ya峁嘺, I. 5. 10-15. 2 Acharya, MR, Sept.
1934, p. 281.
