1923. ] An Essay on the History of Newar Culture. 49} 
also the west coast) because of the heavy rainfall. Flat terraced 
rools are very inconvenient and they were theretore adapted 
to the needs of the place, just as in Bengal the local form of 
thatched house roof and temple dome with convex curvature 
was adapted for the same purpose. Havell adds that this 
modified type of temple-building passed to China with the 
Buddhist religion. 
It is interesting to note that all the secular edifices of the 
Newars as well as the characteristic religious temples are 
in this style.’ Also, in spite of Hamilton’s adverse criticism, 
the fact remains that the style appeared strikingly similar to 
Kirkpatrick to the “wooden mundups”’ of India. From the 
pictures given in the different books, it must be said that 
a one-storeyed building in the Newar style and a modern man- 
dap or atchala of India differ very little. The discussion 
of the ancient Indian forms of mandaps and dwelling houses 
by Havell certainly strengthens this view.’ : 
Whether the pagoda style followed the line of evolution 
Suggested by Havell or not, the balance of evidence is in favour 
of an Indian origin (in the limited sense of earlier existence) 
of a prototype of the pagoda style. There has of course been 
interchange of ideas in this, as in other matters, between China 
and Nepal but the architecture would seem to be essentially 
A preponderance of Chinese architectural style in religious 
as well as secular buildings of Nepal would have involved 
considerable alterations of the view put forward. 
1e materials employed in the buildings also point to con- 
nection with India and not Tibet, although the evidence is not 
conclusive. The Newar houses are generally of brick, the roofs 
always of tile (burnt in kilns). The latter are flat, oblong pieces 
with two longitudinal grooves, one above and the other below, 
which fit into adjacent tiles, and are arranged on the sloping 
roofs in a somewhat slanting way.’ The tiles are, according 
eae : ieture in Kirkpatrick, ib . 
asa ae SS ee ES cuaches live mainly in 
thatched houses of mud-built walls, the chiets and nobles occupying some 
of the older Newar palaces. (Hamilton: pp. 209-10. 
.,. Kirkpatrick: ibid., p- 159. m Pp 
village assemblies, open air schools, ete. They ar 
00d or thatch generally. 
ure used in India for 
e pillared pavilions of 
, Note: as been : erable 
erigin theory, the similarity with Chinese buildings is also considerable. 
ompare the picture of a Newar house gi 
+ Hamilton : ib 
