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Lord Mahāvīra and His Times
At Nālandā, Lepa who was a rich householder, had a beautiful bathing hall called Seshadravyā containing many hundreds of pillars.
From the description of different royal palaces in literary works, it is possible to form an idea of the general architectural features of these palaces. The royal palace was constructed at the centre of the capital town along with other royal buildings. The palace was divided into courts of which there were usually three in the early stages. The first court had a Dvārakottha leading to open grounds for stables for horses and elephants and also barracks for soldiers. In the second court on the ground floor was the great pillard hall which was used for public audience of the king.
The royal palace had two distinct parts, the ground floor and the upper floor. On the ground floor were located the palace garden, kitchen, bath-rooms with fountains of flowing water, wells, step-wells, lotus-ponds, temple, etc. The upper floor was meant for the members of the royal family. There were stairways going up into or coming down from a palace. The king's own chamber was known as Sirigabbha. A separate building was provided for the crownprince, and it was spoken of as Upathāna and located in a portion of the king's palace. The quarters meant for the queens, princesses and other ladies were collectively called Antepurikā, and they were properly guarded. The palace was surrounded by an outer wall (Präkāra), having a main gate or perhaps four gates. The outcr gate. house lay at some distance from the actual palace, and somctimes the guests were received at the outer gatc. The pillars and walls of the palace were overlaid with many beautiful motifs.
The palace had onc or more storeys, but a building of three storcys was more common. Sometimes cach storcy of the palace consisted of a number of rooms known as linļāgāras with a peaked top, usually a pavilion with a gabled end and vaulted room bearing small Slūpis over it. The Kaļagara room was provided with a latticed window or screen, and a ventilator. It could be closed from insidc by drawing
1. SBE, XLV, p. 420.
