Town Planning in Ancient India c12.s4.11

c12.s4.11

"Thus came into existence a number of villages each with a central temple and a tank and a garden adjoining it. Streets were then formed round the temples and the houses were built for the use of those temple servants to whom it was an advantage to live near their place of work. And likewise, rows of houses grew in well-ordered plan on all sides of the tank. And as fresh temples were constructed, villages grew in the same manner on the model of the older villages. And so on, villages and cities with temples and public baths were studded throughout the length and breadth of Southern India.” Mr. Ayyar illustrates his description with instances of South Indian villages. It should be observed that the villages, from their nucleus,—the shrine—to their full-fledged state, were not laid out at once on a deliberate plan, but in their exogenous evolution traditional town-planning instincts inherent in the people asserted themselves with remarkable precision and expression. In all probability the village Viśvakarmās had a large hand in the planning of the temple as well as in the development of the village by lay-out of successive house-blocks.