Town Planning in Ancient India c12.28

c12.28

I think it would be advisable to preface the classification of villages by recounting the salient features of a general village. "Each village is surrounded by a wall made of brick or stone. Beyond this wall there is a ditch broad and deep enough to cause serious obstructions in the event of an attack on the village. There are generally four gates at the middle of the four sides and as many at the four corners. Inside the wall, there is a large street running all round the village. There are two other large streets, each of which connects two opposite main gates. They intersect each other at the centre of the village, where a temple or a hall is generally built for the meeting of the villagers. The village is thus divided into four large blocks, each of which is again subdivided into many blocks by streets which are always straight, and which run from one end to the other of a main block. The two main streets crossing at the centre have houses only on one side facing the street. The ground floors of these houses on the main street consist of shops. The surrounding street has also houses on one side. These are mainly public buildings, such as schools, colleges, libraries, guest-houses, etc. All other streets generally have residential buildings on both sides. The houses high or low are always uniform in make. The drains (jaladhārā, lit. water passages) are made towards the sloping of the village. Tanks and ponds are dug in all the inhabited parts and located in such quarters as can conveniently be reached by a number of inhabitants. Temples of public worship as well as the public commons, gardens, and parks are similarly situated. The people of the same caste or profession are generally housed in the same quarter....The best quarters are generally reserved for the Brāhmaṇs and the artist classes....The quarters of the Buddhist and the Jainas are described in a few lines. The habitations of caṇḍālas as well as the places for cremation are located outside the village wall (in the north-west in particular). The temples of fearful deities such as Chāmuṇḍā are also placed outside the wall.”¹