[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Town Planning in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925) › c10.s2.39 # Town Planning in Ancient India c10.s2.39 Town Planning in Ancient India c10.s2.39 - **Language:** English ### [c10.s2.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c10.s2.39) I need here only refer to the various plans which the author of the Mānasāra projects in connection with the lay-out of sites in different villages. It should be remembered that the planning of villages tally in salient features with that of the cities in ancient India, a peculiarity nowhere to be met with in Europe. The allocation of different wards to different classes of people was also followed in Anahilavada Pattana in northern Guzrat as we read in the Kumārapālacharita of Jinamandava (A.D. 1436). The description which runs as follows refers to a period in the middle of the twelfth century: "Anahilapura was 12 kos (or 18 miles) in circuit within which were many temples and colleges, 84 chawks or squares, 84 bāzārs or market places; with mints for gold and silver coinage. Each class had its separate muhalla or quarters as had each description of merchandise, \*i.e.\*, hastidantas or elephants' tusks, silk purples, diamonds, pearls, etc., etc.; each had its separate chawk. There was one bazar for sarraps or money changers; one for perfumes and unguents; one for physicians; one for artisans; one for goldsmiths; one for silversmiths; there were distinct muhallas for navigators, for bards and geneologists. Eighteen varṇas or castes inhabited the city. All were happy together. The palace groaned with a multitude of separate buildings, for the armoury, for elephants, horses, and chariots, for the public accountants and officers of State. Each kind of goods had its separate maṇḍav or mart, where the duties of export, import, and sale were collected as for spices, fruits, drugs—camphor, metals and every thing costly of home or foreign growth.”¹ Dr. Radha Kamal Mukherji remarks in the same paper: “The house groups, quarters or muhallas are indeed characteristic of all Indian cities. The city of Agra, for instance, is divided into so many as 212 muhallas the names of which are derived either from the caste of the inhabitants, or from some well-known building, or from a prominent resident of former days. In the cities of Bombay Presidency, each of these wards is often a separate village with its own headman, accountant, servants, and husbandsmen whose lands lie outside the city-walls. There are bāgs or gardens, temples and mosques interspersed in the central wards and the suburbs or pārās. The cloth, the grain, the fruit, and the meat markets are separate and are held in open spaces shaded with rows of nimba, kadamba and banian trees. The sāhāgunj or general market is often in the centre of the city as in Ahmednagar. Gardens are still sometimes the property of a ward and are maintained by voluntary subscriptions of the residents.”² - [Previous: c10.s2.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c10.s2.38) - [Next: c10.s2.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c10.s2.40) - [Up: c10.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c10.s2) ## Linked texts (4) - [Mānasāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.manasara) — Sanskrit - [Agra](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.agra) - [Aṇahilavāḍa-Paṭṭana](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.anahilapataka) - [Kumārapālacarita (Prākṛtadvyāśraya)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.historical.jaina.dvyasraya.kumarapalacarita) — Hemacandra, Prakrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c10.s2.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c10.s2.39) · Pramāṇa