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 CHAPTER VIII

THE MONASTERY, MANDAPAM, AND PALACE

we first meet with the monastery in the dwellings of the Buddha's fraternity called the Sangha—the Community—after the name of the Aryan clan organisation, monasticism was an institution deeply rooted in Indian life, even in Vedic times, though Sākya-Mūni, perhaps, was the first to put it on a fully organised footing. And just as he ordered the deliberations of the Sangha after the traditions of the Aryan popular assembly, so the plan of the monastery, the Sangharāma, or abode of the Sangha, followed the simple but eminently practical arrangement of the Aryan joint-family house, which down to the present day has remained the typical plan of a well-to-do Indian home. It consists of three or more sets of apartments grouped round a central courtyard, square or oblong in shape, with a verandah in front, on either side of the entrance, and others round three sides of the courtyard. In the front verandah, facing the road, the men of the household can sit and transact business or pass round the hookah to their male friends, while the inner courtyard gives the necessary privacy, fresh air, and protection from the glaring sun which are essential for the comfort and health of the family. In the Indian village the courtyard serves as a shelter for the ryot's cattle by night, as it also did in the primitive 90