House and Furnitures (in ancient India)

Like natural food comprising uncooked vegetables, fruits, milk and flesh etc. which sustain life, and the natural skin and hair that protect the body from the inclemency of weather, there are also natural cave dwelling etc. wherein living beings can take shelter to protect themselves from the sun, the rain, and the wind. Human skill and art were however, demonstrated, as in the preparation of food and clothes, in the matter of house-building also. The degrees of achievement in this matter are judged by the regularly made houses in respect of their required accommodation in a hygienic condition, durability based on materials and scientific knowledge of workmanship, and aesthetics or beauty and symbolic expression which satisfy the artistic craving of an educated mind.

The first human effort at constructing dwelling is shewn everywhere in cave-houses which were made in imitation of natural caves for which no foundations or other devices for stability hsd to be provided. The artificial caves excel the natural ones in matters of openings and provision for light. The early.cave houses were not partitioned into rooms nor was much attention paid to polish up the floor, walls and the ceiling But there was an extraordinary improvement in the rock-cut monasteries and temples with natural wall and roofs and storeys in the decoration of the interior with wonderful chaitya roof, colonnaded partition, comfortable cells, halls and skilfully carved sculptures and aweinspiring paintings on the walls and roofs. The houses built overground, however, demand the scientific calculation of load and the necessary strength of foundations, walls and roofs in addition to the provision for doors and windows, weather and climate, light and ventilation etc. The durability of a house depends upon the kind and manner of dressing various building materials. The softer and more handy materials like mud, bamboo, reed, straw etc. are used by builders of various skill, experience, and training. The more resourceful builders of economic and political stability handle more lasting materials like burnt brick and stones of various quality and aim at a more durable structure. The real cultural achievement in the science and art of building is furthe indicated by the orientation, composition of me ibes. distribution of rooms, consideration of drainage, light and ventilation etc. Architecture proper provided moreover a beautiful look and symbolic expression both externally as well as internally. The architectural beauty consists in well measured proportions and dimensions and in symmetry, uniformity and harmony, as well as in balanced mouldings or ornaments for the members comprising storeys and stairs storeys and stairs floors and ceilings, roofs and spires, pillars and arches, verandahs and balconies, porches and porticoes, doors and windows, skylights and ventilators etc. h condition of houses in India during the Indus valley civilization of B. C. 3250-2750 is demonstrated b the dwelling houses of private individuals and the public baths, halls, and shrines discovered at Mohenjo-daro and

Harappa. These houses vary from the smallest ones of two rooms to the large ones of 85 ft frontage and 97 ft. depth with wide entrance hall and door way, porter's lodges, 32 ft square courtyard surrounded by chambers on both ground and upper floors. Such houses were paved with burnt bricks of nearly 27 inches long. They were provided with a covered drain which was connected with vertical drains discharging into small earthenware vessels sunk beneath the courtyard pavement for purposes of upstairs privies. No distinctive features are noticeable in halls looking like shrines which contain phallic object apparently for worship. The great public bath at Mohenjodiro corresponds to the religious tanks attached to the temples of later ages and also served the purpose of a regular hydropathic establishment. It has several annexes. It consists of an open quadrangle with verandahs backed by galleries and rooms on all sides In the middle of the quadrangle there is a swimming bath 39 ft long, 23 ft broad and 3 ft deep, which is provided with flights of steps at the ends. There are wells from which it is filled. There appears to have been an upper storey also. In order to make foundations secure and water light the lining of the tank was made of finely dressed bricks laid in gypsum mortar about 4 ft thick; backing this wall an inch-thick damp proof bitumen further strengthened by another thin wall of burnt brick behind it; then came a packing of crude brick and behind this again another solid rectangle of burnt brick encon passing the whole. These structures of B. C. 3000 clearly indicate the engineering skill and the ability of masons to handle hard materials like burnt bricks of very b g size. Durability is demonstrated by their existence for so many th usan! years. The weather and soil con tition as well as the influence of the climate and the effect of the flood from the nearly Indus which frequently went in split appear to have been well calculated. But the architectural beauties are altogether missing. No effort was male to give an artistic look to these buildings externally or internally. There were no spires, no pillars, no mouldings, no windows etc only the utility and stability wereaimed at.

No such objects of the Vesic period which came next and continued from B. C. 2500 to 1000 have been discovered. But particulars of a greater variety of constructions showing great engineering skill and much architectural beauty have been supplied by literary description contained in different branches of the Vedic literature. Such description can hardly be possible from mere poetic imagination which itself is based on some concrete objects that the poets might have seen or heard of. Atri is stated to have been thrown into an achine room with a hun red doors, Vasishtha desired to have a three-storeyed dwelling. Mention is made of a sovereign who sat down in his substantial and elegant hall built with a thousand pillars of which later examples still exist in south India, an of residential houses as are said to be vast, comprehensive, and tho sand-toored Mitra and Varuna are represented as occupying a great palace with a thousand pillars and a thousand gates. In addition to the noblemen's mansions called harmya and sali and king's palaces or prasada comprising seveal storeys particulars of smaller houses are also available. Such houses were built with timber pillars and beams in various positions, vertical (upamit) horizontal (pratimit) and slanting (parimit). Bamboos were used for the frame-work of rocfing. The akshu was the wicker-work or split bamboo lining over which was placed the thatch of hay, straw or long reedy grass fastened by net to keep the straw bundles intact. Fine clay for flooring and reed w rk for walls completed the frame-work of such a small house which can still be seen in poorer parts of Bengal. In keeping with the requirements of such a house for a family of Brahmanic custom in a village settlement the accommodation provided was of modest character. There were several side-rooms with a central hall in bungalow pattern. The hall of fire-altar (agnisala) probably in the centre served the purpose of both sacrifice and sitting room. With it was connected the sacrificial store-room (havirdhana) and women's apartments or bed-room (patni sadana) Such a 'well proportioned house' was covered by a many-winged roofing. Houses of other varieties must have developed according to the

" regional conditions and requirements of the builders. For honcuring the dead and keeping their men ory alive round and square types of cemeteries were built of properly dressed stones of various kinds. These smasana buildings were of three types known as vastu or reliquary of bones which is still retained in the name kapila-vastu, grihan or dwelling honse for the dead and prajnanam or memorial stone slabs and pillars which are the prototypes of the stupas and monolithic pillars of the later age. In the absence of idol worship there was no regular shrine or temple. But fire altars for the priestly class were built with burnt bricks showing engineering skill and geometrical calculation Particulars of the shape of ten types of altars and the bricks which were employed for their construction have been supplied by Baudhayana and Apastamba. Every one of the altars bearing the shape of a falcon, a heron, an equilateral triangle, two triangles joined at the base, a wheel without and with sixteen spokes square or circular vessel or tube, and a triangular or circular tortoise was constructed of five layers of bricks which together came up to the height of the knee in some cases ten or fifteen layers and proportionate increase in the height of the altar were prescribed. Every layer in its turn was to consist of 200 bricks so that the whole altar contained a thousand; the first, third and fifth layers were divided into hundred parts in exactly the same manner; a different division was adopted for the second and the fourth so that one brick was never laid upon another of the same size and form. The area of every altar, whatever its shape might be falcon, wheel, tortoise etc. had to be equal to 7 square purusha or the height of a man with uplifted arms. Thus squares had to be found which would be equal to two or more given squares; oblongs were turned into squares and squares into oblongs; and circle had to be constructed equal in area to a given square. To suit the advanced domestic and public life of a highly cultured people there were public assembly . halls both in villages and towns, rest houses, and school buildings. Roads, bridges, causeways, gateways royal establishments, castles for nobles defences against the enemy can also be recognised,

The articles of furniture which are mentioned give more reality especially to the residential buildings and civil architecture. The Rigveda refers to 'married women occupying their commodious talpas, the new and prospective brides lying on the fashionable vahyas, other single women of the household on the broad proshthas, and a maiden on a sayana together with paryanka and the ordinary couches or bedsteads. The talpa is the nuptial bed whereupon alone talpya or a legitimate son could be born. Vahya is a lighter structure used specially in marriage ceremony of getting the bride and the bridegroom lain on bed side by side, which ceremony may also be performed upon asandi which is a humbler settee proshathas on a combination of a settee and a coffer' and were also used as long benches, couches or beds, which were also sent as dowry along with the bride to her husband's home. They could also be fixed against the walls and furnished with turned legs. The proshthapada or arm chaired and stretchedlegged gentlemen indicates an easy chair. The sayana or ordinary bedsteads was also meant for 'beloved woman or maiden who felt pain of the silken coverlet because of the absence of a male companion. Pururavas and Urvasi slept on such a soft couch. The asandi and paryanka originated with the ruling nobility were also used in the priest's dwelling houses. The King's asandi was carried by two persons, while a god's asandi called the throne of justice' was carried by four persons. Paryanka is a magnified asandi and it developed to be of 'unmeasured splendour, having some arrangement of feet and frame, and straps stretched lengthwise and crosswise, with head-piece of the couch, the supporting back, and cushion and pillow for the head'. Various other smaller seats and smaller articles of furniture are referred to throughout the Vedic literature. Various kinds of sacrificial seats, known and used even now, as prastara, barhis, and kurcha are made of grass of varicus sorts. Sadas are seats for Sadaryas or members of society. Kasipu is a mat and brisi is a cushion seat. Nadvata and kata are rotten mats Pitha is a low wooden seat. In the post-vedic period from B. C. 1000 to 1000 A. D. the epics of the Brahmanas and the literature of the Buddhists and Jains supply details which nutually 11

corroborate the particulars of the vedic literature and pre-vedic finds of Mohenjodaro and other places. In the city of Ayodhya as stated in the Rimayana extensive buildings were beautifully arranged. Assembly halls gardens and alms-houses were most elegant. The steeple of temples and other houses were as resplendent as the crests of mountains and bore hundreds of pavilions like the celestial palace of the chief among the Gods. The Mahabharata refers to various halls. Charming lodgings were built for the royal guest at the Rajasuya sacrifice. They were surrounded on all sides by well built high walls. They were free from obstructions. They were provided with doors of uniform height but of various quality and were inlaid with numerous metal ornaments The windows were protected by golden lattices and decorated with a profusion of jewellery. The stairs were easy of ascent. The rooms were provided with excellent furniture and furnished with commodious seats and bed steads. The houses had by them charming lakes and ranges of ornamental plants. By the time of Gautama Buddha of the 6 th or 5 th century the art of building was recognised as a well developed science "we need not therefore feel surprised" says Vincent Smith in the Imperial Gazetteer, 'when the piprahwa Stopa gives us definite information that India on the frontier of Nepal in 450 B. C. included skilled masons, accomplished stone-cutters, and dainty jewellers The masonry of the stupa is excellent of its kind, well and truly laid; the great sandstone coffer could not be better made; and the ornaments of gold, silver, coral, crystal, and precious stones which were deposited in honour of the holy relics, display a high degree of skill in the arts of the lapidary and goldsmith' In Buddha's time buildings were regularly classified into five groups of which examples all over India are still extant, Guhas were rock cut buildings like those at Ellora, Ajanti, Nasik, etc. described in a later section Pras das are storeyed buildings. Harmyas are more imposing palaces. Ardhayogas are ordinary bungalow type of residential buildings, of which the roof consists of two parts joined at the top in a slanting form and are thus so called. And Viharas are the well known

monasteries built for the monks of which chaityas or churches with altar, aisles and other peculiarities are special varieties. Stupas with their ornamental railings. and charming gates as at Sanchi and other places and free standing pillars with inscription some of the monumental buildings. Elsewhere are referred to the wonderful temples of the Jains at mount Abu. Parasnath, Palitana, Gwalior Khajuraho, Chitor, Bengal, Ahamedabad and other places. In the south of India two types of Jain temples exist. The Basati contains images of Tirthankaras and Bettas combine monasteries and temples with colossal images of Gomata. The extensive residences comprised 'dwelling rooms, retiring rooms, store rooms, service halls, halls with fire places in them, store houses, closets' cloisters, halls for exercise, wells, sheds for wells, bath rooms, halls attached to bath rooms and ponds, and openroofed pavilions.' Even a devotee of Buddha is stated to have built for his own use 'a residence, 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 lotus pond, and a pavilion, and hot-sitting bath which comprised an antechamber, a hot-room, and a pool to bathe in'. The Buddhist canonical texts refer to articles of furniture of much improved style. Various asandi or large couches are mentioned some of those being covered with canopies. Asandaka are rectangular chains. Sattangas were used as arm-chairs and sofa with arms to it. Bhoddapitham is a state chair. Eka-padaka pitham is a chair raised on a pedestal, and pithika is a cushioned chair. Amalaka-vantika-pitham is a chair with many legs. Phalaka is a leaning board. Benches were made long enough for three persons. Bedsteads of various sizes and types are mentioned. Mention is also made of carpets, rugs, pillows, curtains, coverlets of various materials and designs, mattresses, rich elephant housings, panther and antelope skins, bolsters, floor cloth, mosquito curtains, handkerchief, and spittoon. At the close of the so-called Buddhist period about the beginning of the Christian era when an effort to

revive Brahmanism was made by the Sunga and Mitra dynasties, a standard text Manasara Vastusastra dealing most methodically with the practical construction of the various architectural and sculptural objects appears to have been compiled. And it seems that on the basis of this standard text all the structures were built not only in the south but also in the North including west and the East of which the examples still exist from the 6 th Century onwards. It is also interesting to note that this text bears striking resemblance with a similar text of about the same age (B. C. 25) of the Roman architect Vitruvius, on the basis of which all European architecture grew up from the 16 th Century. In the treatise of Manasara rules and practical directions for all kinds of buildings and their composing members and mouldings are described with alternative sets of measurement in great detail and in a scientific manner. In the eight introductory chapters full accounts are given of the system of measurement, the necessary training and qualifications of the different classes of architects, selection of building sites, testing of soil, dialling and finching out cardinal points for a correct orientalism of buildings mathematical calculations, planning and designing and a proper classification of all possible and probably then extant kinds of building and sculptures. Buildings are grouped under harmya, yana and paryanka. Harmiya includes all types of buildings proper, such as prasada or palace mandapa or pavilion, sandha or edifice, sala or mansions ranga or theatres, and prapa or humbler houses (lit alm-house) The yana implies conveyances which are described under syandana or litter sibika or palanquin, and ratha or chariot.1 Paryanka means literally couches and bedsteads but it includes panjara or cages, manchali or mancha or platform, phalakasana or wooden seats, tables chairs, ward-robes etc. 1. Vyoma.yana (and vimana) implies aereal car. The Push. paka vimana by which Rama returned from ceylon to Ayodhya was clearly an aeroplane. It is corroborated by the poetic description of the Meghadata or cloud messanger. The art of making and plying aeroplane appears to have been known in India before it developed in uropean and other countries.

In the next forty-two chapters are described all necessary things concerning buildings of various type. Thus are given the alternative sets of measurement, proportion, ornament and other details of houses in villages, towns and cities, and their foundations, dimensions, pillars and thin component parts such as pedestals bases, shafts, capitals and entablatures, storeys varying from one to twelve in ordinary houses and upto seventeen in gateways attached both to temples and residential buildings. The artistic arrangement of storeyed mansions in as many as ten rows are described, together with their attached buildings and detached pavilions, compounds and courts and gatehouses. Particulars of all houses are given regarding their compartments, hall chambers, doors windows and other openings. Steps and stair cases for houses, mountains and rivers and ponds etc. are also described with details of construction. The courtyards and quadrangles are similarly described. All necessary particulars are given of royal courts and palaces as well as of thrones and crowns prescribed for gods and Kings and their consorts. Thrones for gods and Kings are described under nine types viz. Padmasana, padma-kesara, padma-bandha, padma-bhadra, Sri-bandha, Srivisala, Sri-bhadra Bhadra. sana, and pada-bandha. Charming details are furnished for facilitating construction. Their reality is ensured by the extant examples to be found over sculptures and paintings. Structural details and constructional particulars of the articles of furniture are supplied under scientific classification and precision. The domestic furniture of this historical age include all necessary articles like lamp-parts, fan, mirror, basket, chest, box for oil, wardrobe, balance, swing and palanquin, cars and chariots, coaches and bedsteads and cages and nets for domestic animals boar, cat, etc. and birds like parrot, partridge, goose, duck, cock, dove, mongoose etc. In this standard text sculpture has been treated as the handmaid of architecture. In the concluding twenty chapters are described sculptural details of the idols of duties of the Brahmanas, Buddhists, and Jains, statues of great personages, and images of animals and birds, The extant examples corroborate the conclusion of this text The master pieces of sculpture and fresco have been found in temples in monasteries and in chaitya halls.

Elsewhere a survey of the existing temples has been given. So far as the ancient remains are concerned no structure in complete condition is available before the 6 th century A. D. Although most of the Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina temples have been destroyed by the invaders still there remain sufficient number which the archaeologists have classified under the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Chalukyan styles. More comprehensive and scientific are the division made in the Manasara and other architectural texts. According to the latter source buildings of all character are classified as Nagara or northern, Dravida or southern, and Vesara or eastern. The northern style is distinguished by its alongated shape and horizontal spire. The Dravidian style bears the massive shape and storeyed tower. And Vesara or the eastern style is characterised by its round shape and spiral spire.¹ Various kinds of houses and furniture of which short references have been quoted above should be enough to show that the primitive limitation is nowhere noticed. The cave temples themselves, as the temple (of Kailasa) at Ellora and other places show are construction of much engineering skill and architectural beauty. They are not the natural caves lacking intelligent workmanship of skilled masons, where primitive men and animals reside. The extant buildings, being predominantly temples, wherein the exuberance of fancy and luxury is exhibited, may indicate the medieval tendency. But the references to almost all kinds of civil buildings and to the articles of furniture which are required only in the residential houses make it perfectly clear that the Hindus of the Vedic and preVedic periods reached modern level of civilization in these respects. In certain matters the ancient buildings appear to have been better than the modern ones. No modern buildings will stand comparison with the ancient ones of which the remains are still extant as shown above in matter of bold construction, luxurious ornamentation and the ever lasting nature of their life. The colossal temples of the south, north, west and east of India from the seventh and eighth centuries and the civil structures of Mohenjodaro from B. C. 3000 have been defying nature and standing almost intact without any repair. 1. See the plates for examples.

Again the provision made in ancient buildings for orientation facilitating passage of the sun's shine and air is now impracticable owing to the peculiar congestion in towns and the blind imitiation of the foreign styles of different climate and soil. In short the cultural achievements of the ancient Hindus in the matter of houses appear to be higher than what the modern civilization has achieved in India. The articles of food and various dishes, the great varieties of clothes and ornaments, as well as dwelling houses and articles of furniture and temples and forts, and fortified towns, indicating efficient industrial activities of the ancient Hindus, point to their abilities in producing raw materials which are the basis of all finished goods concerning food, clothes and houses.