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(xciv)
soldiers forming the infantry were armed with bucklers and swords. The foot archers did not prominently figure in the infantry; but riders on elephants usually used the bow and the arrow. The armour (kavaca) was also in use for the warriors.
The palace had, besides the harem, three or more courtyards (kaksas); the outer one being for people and for State reception, the next inner one for Sardars and the third for intimate persons only. The palaces were stately buildings, though not of stone. The floors, however, are described as made of shining stones. The columns and walls were ornamented with gold and even precious stones. The palace was usually a severalstoreyed building with inner gardens of flower-beds and large fruit trees.
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The recreational entertainments, that people including the royalty indulged in, were musical concerts, dancing demonstrations and theatrical performances at the time of religious festivals or other such joyful occasions. Often they were sponsored by kings, who themselves were literary men fond of such cultural activities, and there were men and women who had devoted themselves to the cultivation of such fine arts, as music, dancing or histrionics.54 Conferences of learned for debates, discussions and even contests to decide the merit of poets and philosophers, often presided over by kings, were convened and suitable awards were distributed to the persons who distinguished themselves in them. The poet Vākpatirāja might have been, perhaps, such a recipient of the honour and the
men
54. Bhavabhuti, for instance, refers to his association with a group of actors in dramas.
-Malati-Madhava, Act I
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