Town Planning in Ancient India c11.2

c11.2

In ancient times every king had his own permanent civic architect and city superintendent in his capital with their many subordinates and assistants who were wellversed in the art of planning and upkeep of cities. The civic architect, besides his other duties, looked after improvement and expansion of the town according to its requirements and the directions of the king who explained the difficulties to him. Thus we find in the Śukranītisāra¹ that the king should employ, among others, the following persons:—(1) persons versed in the art of establishing pleasure-gardens and artificial forests (ārāma-kṛtrima-vaṇakāriṇaḥ), (2) fort-architects (durgakāriṇaḥ), (3) road-constructors (mārgakārakāḥ). The technical name of the dignitary who was expert in town-planning was Sthapati. The Sthapati, among his many other qualifications, must be endowed with ability to plant a town or an edifice (sthāpanārhaḥ), knowledge of surveying (gaṇitajñaḥ), skill in draftsmanship (citrajñaḥ), capability for reconnoitering localities (sarvadeśajñaḥ), mastery over the entire science of architecture and town-planning (vāstu-vidyādhipāragaḥ); and he should be wellversed in the holy scriptures and the Purāṇas.¹ His attributes indicate beyond