Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/138

128 The House in India from the Point of View owners, each of them made his palace difficult of approach. Afterwards, their constant quarrels with the sovereign induced them to retain, as a measure of precaution, a system established as a protection against the dagger of the assassin. The stair-case always opens into a guardroom; and surprise is impossible, for one man could easily defend the passage against a hundred." Any one who examines a ground plan of the palace at Knossos will understand why it came to be called the Labyrinth, and will recognise a common feature with the Indian palace. In ancient Greek forts a similar arrangement of the passages caused them to turn from right to left, so that an attacking force would be compelled to expose its right or shieldless side. In the modern Indian house used by the lower classes the entrance has a sharp turn in order to ensure the seclusion of the women.

The Indian house, then, in its plan and materials, is infinitely varied. It plays an important part in the social life of the people, and it is only natural that many taboos and superstitions centre around it.

First comes the selection of the site, a matter of primary importance. This form of divination goes back to early Aryan times. The Matsya Purāna divides earth into classes according to its colour: white and sweet-tasted, called Brāhmana; red and astringent, Kshatriya; yellow, hot and astringent, Vaisya; black, Sūdra — the four original "colours" or classes into which the Indo-Aryans divided the people. For the site of a house Brahmana is obviously the best, Sūdra the worst. To decide the character of the soil, the builder is advised to dig a pit a cubit in