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17 FINE ARTS
257 house-construction and town-planning along with the various public places like the gardens and parks ( ujjama, arama ), rest-houses ( à gamta gära ), wells and lakes ( kūva, vāvi) meant for comfort and enjoyment of the public, give us a fair idea of the secular architecture of the time. Architectural structures were divided into three categories : (i) khata or underground construction like the bhumigļhas ( underground cells ), (ii) usita or construction above the ground as the prasādas or palaces and (iii) khâta-usita or combined construction having underground and overground constructions like the palaces with cellars underground.1
Prā sada or Palace--Palaces were usually known as þrāsādas ( pasāya ) and were of different types like dubhūmiga or bibhūma and hamma ( harmya ) etc. Bibhūmas or dubhūmigas were the palaces having two stories (bhūmi ),2 while the word hamma was used for the uppermost story ( tala ) of the palace.s
A particular area was reserved for the palace in the city. The city including the royal palace was surrounded by ditches ( pariha, khatiya ) and ramparts ( pigāra )* which had only one main entrance. At this entrance were built two large columns which were known as baliņagas and inside it was the gopura or the gate-house which gave entrance to the royal palace. There were also many arched-gateways or the
1. Try age-eri, sfhi, ar-hi i Cri AFTE, EI YHTET, arsit
ZEGT HATE Safi TTH13715311-NC. 1, p. 114; Brh. Vr. 2, pp. 263-64. 2. fietafe HT THAI_NC. 3, p. 379; NC. 4, p. 191. This type of
buildings or palaces have been known as dvi-tala also.-Acharya, P.K.,
Dictionary of Hindu Architecture, p. 282. 3. Halaf #HTC LT AT at EFH -NC. 3, p. 379. The Sama
raigana Sūtradhāra (XIII. 10) also defines harmya as "the uppermost storey of a house” which according to Bhattacharya is not clear at all.
- A Study on Vastu-Vidyā, p. 266. 4. NC. 2, p. 433; NC. 3, p. 344. 5. qapi ate, at a TUTTI CHITTOET&-.NC. 2, p. 433. 6. a stat igi-Ibid. Gopura was a colossal building built over or
near the gate giving entrance to a city.--Acharya, op. cit., p. 74.
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