Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.4

c11.4

ARCHITECTURE OF PĀṬALIPUTRA : The first project put into operation was the building of the capital city of Pāṭaliputra. Fortunately, the Arthaśāstra acquaints us with these canons under *Durga-vidhāna* (Artha. 2. 21). The town should have a deep moat (*Parikhā*), a strong city-wall (*Prākāra*) raised on broad mud foundation (*Vapra*), in which there were gateways (*Dvāra*), towers (*Koṣṭha*), and bastions (*Aṭṭālaka*). On the inside of the high wall was a broad passage (*Devapatha*) and on the top of the wall a series of battlements (*Kapiśīrshaka*). The town was to be divided into blocks by broad roads (*Mahāpatha*), streets (*Rathyā*) and lanes (*Vīthī*). In its centre was sited the royal palace (*Rāja-Prāsāda*) in the midst of an extensive park (*Uddyāna*) and possessing a large number of contingent buildings. This was the pattern of town-planning handed down from earlier times, as we have seen in the preceding chapters and it seems that the scheme was largely followed in the planning of his capital by Chandragupta. Megasthenes was the Greek ambassador of King Seleukos sent to the court of Chandragupta. He was an eye-witness of the magnificence of Pāṭaliputra. According to him the city had a length of nine miles and a width of one and half mile. Its moat was 600 ft. wide and 45 ft. deep. Its rampart had 64 gates and 570 bastions. It would not be surprising if the account of an ideal city and palace given above from the Mahā-Ummagga Jātaka along the tank of the Gaṅgā reflects the realities of the Mauryan capital and its palace.