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EDUCATION AND ARCHITECTURE
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furniture and decoration which were utilised for making the home-life easy, comfortable and pleasant.
Utensils:—They have been dealt with in section 2E of this chapter.
Articles of Furniture:-Furniture was of two kinds, viz. Sayaņa= Sayana and Asaņa = Āsana (3.162), the former for lying dows and the latter for sitting on. Sayaņijja (7.91) denotes the bed. Very costly beds were used by the royal families (sayanijje maharihe 3.61;8 184). Cotton beds have been referred to (tūlinisaņņaigā 35.24). Beautiful bed-sheets were laid on the beds (padasayapaccatthue sayaņijje 94.96 satpracchadapaļāvste"). Bed-sheets were decorated with flower-designs (2.101:16.72). Pallanka=Paryanka (2.10) was the couch. There is mention of the couch set with gems (16.72). Figures of lions were carved on the legs (Sīhavā hiņi sejjā 80 7) of the sleeping couch. Dr. P. K. Acarya notes that there were nine varieties of it ranging from 21 to 37 angulas in width?. In the forest, leaves strewn on the ground served the purpose of a bed (17.15).
Asaņa (3. 60) was the seat. A cane-seat was called VettāsapaVetrāsana (3. 19). Sometimes it was decorated with gold work (69. 14). There is a reference to Bhaddāsaņa=Bhadrāsana (49, 20) which was used by the nobles. It is explained as a kind of a throne, or a chair of state or a great seat. Simhāsana + (Sihāsana 46. 16) was the throne which was used by the kings and naturally it would have been a costly article of furniture. There are references to the thrones set with gems and precious stones (2. 25; 2. 35; 2. 53; 46. 16). T. A. Gopinath Rao explains it as a four-legged seat, circular or rectangular in shape and one hasta or cubit in height. Its four legs are made up of four lions." Vistara (Vitthara 80. 7) was a seat worthy of royal household as the reference indicates. According to B. S. Upadhyaya it was an honoured seat, a high seats while V. S. Agrawala mentions it as an ordinary seat?. Pădapitha (Pāvidha 3. 1) was a small stool to support the feet hanging down while sitting on the throne. Attharaya (69.14) (Astaraka) was the covering to lay on the seats and beds.
1. PCR, 97.173. 2. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture, p. 349. Vide IK. 3. EHA, p. 380 4. See EHA, P. 252. 5. The Hindu Iconography, Vol. I. Pt. I. p. 21. 6. IK, p. 215. 7. India as known to Panini, p. 144.
