Town Planning in Ancient India c11.30

c11.30

necessity or purpose.¹ In the same strain and to the same purpose is the rule of the Devī Purāṇa: “The low class people (prakṛti) should be quartered outside the city.”² The great sage Maya, in his discourses, also endorses this view as we have seen above. It may be interesting to note here that ascetics and philosophers were made to live away from the town, probably to shun the stir and din of a town, the vortex of worldly life. Thus the Tamil poets mention that the “ascetics and philosophers also dwelt in the silent and shady groves, far away from the din and bustle of the capital.”³ These expedients could not however avail for any length of time. So the civic authorities were constrained to extend the confines of their city and the author of the Mayamata recommends extensions to the east or the south or in all directions.⁴