Town Planning in Ancient India c12.34

c12.34

(1) Daṇḍaka :—Literally it means a village that resembles a phalanx or a staff. Māyamatam defines it thus :—"Its streets are straight and cross each other at right angles at the centre, running west to east and south to north. The village has four gates on four sides. Even if it has only one street (row of houses ?) yet it is also called daṇḍaka."¹ The detailed description given by Mānasāra runs thus : "The village called daṇḍaka is rectangular or square, and possesses a rampart of the same shape. It consists of one to five parallel streets (running generally from west to east) and two more streets may be planted (forming right angles) at both extremities of the above parallel streets. And a third transverse street crosses them in the middle. The width of the street varies from one to five daṇḍas. The middle-most street may be made equal to or broader than the rest. The two transverse streets at the extremities have a single row of houses; the prin-