Town Planning in Ancient India c13.45

c13.45

The foregoing bye-laws prove the existence of co-operation in the construction of buildings. I cannot conclude this chapter without reproducing the description of an ancient city given by John Marshall in order to show that the above rules were more or less observed in actual practice. "The city of Sirkap (in the ruins of Taxila) shows several large blocks of dwellings, separated one from the other by narrow side streets. Although the plans of these houses exhibit considerable variety, they were all based on the same principles. The unit of their design is the open quadrangle surrounded by chambers (chatuhśālā) and this unit is repeated two, three, four or more times according to the amount of accommodation required by the occupants, the small rooms fronting on the street being usually reserved for shops. The walls are constructed either of rough rubble or of diaper masonry."¹