[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Town Planning in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925) › c13 # Town Planning in Ancient India c13: Chapter IX: Of Buildings and Building Bye-Laws Town Planning in Ancient India c13 - **Language:** English ### Chapter IX: Of Buildings and Building Bye-Laws ### [c13.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.2) Though construction of buildings does not come within the province of a town-planner and forms a separate subject by itself, yet civic and domestic engineering sciences are so correlated together that it is necessary that the town-planning authorities should exercise some control over the construction and arrangement of buildings in their bearings upon the proper lay-out of a city. Such co-operation between the civic and the domestic architects goes to maintain harmony and methodicity among the rows of houses in the same quarter and to preserve proper sanitation. A sense of the whole ward or city must dominate the individual building so as to bring out its organic entity. Hence there must be some co-ordination in the construction of the several structures; these are the constituents of an organic whole, the city. This cannot be left to the civic sense of the individual house-holder or the building engineer. A superior controlling agency to enforce the rules formulated and enacted for this purpose is sometimes a necessary and useful establishment. ### [c13.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.3) In ancient India this sense of civic integrity gave rise to many salutary and noteworthy building bye-laws. I propose to consider them here one after another, emphasising their importance from the standpoint of civic arts. ### [c13.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.4) (1) First lay out the town and then only plan the houses. Violation of this rule portends and brings evil.¹ ### [c13.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.5) ¹ Viśvakarmaprakāśa, Ch. 2, ll. 206-7. ### [c13.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.6) This simple rule has a far deeper and wider connotation than what appears at first sight. It means that an unconscious growth of houses one beside another, leaving insufficient space for streets and other civic factors and upsetting the arrangement of castes and professions, does not make a good city. This rule lays stress upon systematic and comprehensive lay-out of a city—its walls, its streets and lanes, the distribution of sites and buildings in proper order. ### [c13.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.7) (2) First plant the trees and erect the premises thereafter: otherwise they will not look graceful and seemly.² ### [c13.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.8) ² Viśvakarmaprakāśa, Ch. 2, ll. 208-9. ### [c13.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.9) नगरं विन्यसेदादौ पश्चाद्गेहानि विन्यसेत् ॥ २०६ अन्यथा यदि कुर्यात्स न शुभमादिशेत् । ### [c13.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.10) आदौ वृक्षांश्च विन्यस्य पश्चाद्गेहानि विन्यसेत् ॥ २०७ अन्यथा यदि कुर्यात्तु तद् गेहं नैव शोभनम् । ### [c13.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.11) The trees generally recommended are aśvattha (\*ficus religiosa\*), banian (\*ficus indica\*), udumbara (\*ficus racemosa\*), plaksha (\*ficus tusida\*), the red flower tree, the tree exuding milk (kshīra vṛksha), the rubber tree (\*manihol glazionii\*), banana, and flower plants. The prominent among this list, it will be observed, because of their mighty magnitudes and bulky proportions in their full growth affording shade to the jaded and scorched wayfarers, are too big for domestic orchards; they are meant for the parks and promenades of a city, its avenues and broad streets. If the order and arrangement proposed above are inverted, then difficulties will arise in selecting suitable sites for these trees and their arbitrary location may ultimately prove detrimental to the proper lighting and ventilation of the neighbouring premises. The nimba (\*azadirachta indica\*), the bæl (\*ægle marmelos\*) are generally recommended for domestic orchards because of their anti-malarial properties. ### [c13.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.12) (3) The houses of Brāhmaṇs should be catuhśālā; that is, they must occupy the four sides of a quadrangle which is an open space in the centre. Śālā means a long structure of one span only. The houses of Kshatriyas should be triśālā, \*i.e.\*, occupying the three sides of the rectangular plot. The houses of Vaiśyas should be dviśālā, i.e., forming the two sides of the plot, while those of Śūdras should be ekaśālā.¹ ### [c13.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.13) ¹ Viśvakarmaprakāśa, Ch. 2, ll 252-3. ब्राह्मणानां चतुःशालं क्षत्रियाणां त्रिशालकम् । विशालं स्यात्तु वैश्यानां शूद्राणामेकशालकम् ॥ २५२।३ ### [c13.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.14) Their facades are only important to us, for the triśālā and the dviśālā can be so adjusted as to accommodate an open space in their front along the road which can be laid out as a flower garden. Thus if all the houses on one or both sides of a street recede in the middle as a triśālā or a dviśālā contemplates, we get gardens by the roadside. We have no definite materials at hand to infer that such gardens existed in ancient India. Certainly there were the open spaces; and the branching blocks of the buildings abutting on the streets relieve the monotony of a wall-like front of the thick-set structures or of the long rows of gardens that otherwise would have been the result. ### [c13.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.15) (4) The imperial palaces should be raised to eleven storeys; the buildings of Brāhmaṇs to nine storeys; those of the ordinary kings to seven storeys; the buildings of the provincial satraps (sāmanta) to five storeys; Vaiśyas and the soldier class (Kshatriyas ?) should have four-storeyed buildings and Śūdras should have their houses one to three storeys high.¹ Mānasāra would determine the storeys in a different way and according to him the lower classes must on no account construct houses of more than a single storey. This assortment of the number of storeys under the different schools should not be disturbed.² The Vṛhat Samhitā lays down that no building should be more than hundred cubits high.³ ### [c13.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.16) ¹ Mayamatam, Ch. 29, ll. 159-64; \*vide\* also Ch. 11, ll. 44-50. ### [c13.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.17) ² Mayamatam, Ch. 11, l. 52. ### [c13.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.18) ³ Ch. 53, l. 32; \*vide\* also Viśvakarmavidyāprakāśam, l. 72 ### [c13.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.19) It is immaterial for our present purpose which authority recommends what number of storeys for the different classes of people. It is enough that there is the definite number of storeys for the definite classes and that they vary. Sound town-planning requires that there must be some correspondence and proportion between the width of a street and the height of the buildings rising along it. Buildings of disproportionately excessive height obstruct light and ventilation. Now in ancient India folkplanning set up an inter-relation between ### [c13.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.20) सकलक्षितिपेन्द्राणामेकादशतलं भवेत् । नवभूमिर्द्विजातीनां नृपाणां सप्तभूमकम् ॥ ८० षट्‌तलं मण्डलोक्त्वा पञ्चभूमावराजते । वैश्यानां तु चतुर्भौमं योघसनेश्योरपि ॥ ८१ एकादवितलान्तं च शूद्राणां प्रतिविधीयते । सामन्तप्रमुखदीनां कारयेत् पञ्चभूमकम् ॥ ८२ ### [c13.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.21) the site, the breadth of a street planted therein, and the rank of the residents in that quarter. This rule worked out in such a way that the high class people were assigned premises along the wide thoroughfares, while the low class people were relegated to the comparatively narrow roads, so that in all structures along the street the number of storeys was the same. If we remember this in connection with the above mentioned bye-laws, it is obvious that a definite proportion between the width of streets and the heights of buildings was arranged for in practice. The height of the walls of the buildings should not be too small or too great.¹ ### [c13.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.22) ¹ Vide Nārada Saṃhitā, Ch. 29, ll. 111-112. नात्युच्छ्रितं नातिनीचं कुर्यात्सेधं यथारुचि । गृहेपरि गृहादीनामेवं सर्वत्र चिन्तयेत् ॥ ५६ ### [c13.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.23) (5) As far as possible the height of buildings in the same street should correspond, that is to say, one should not be lower and another higher.² ### [c13.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.24) ² Viśvakarmaprakāśa, Ch. 2, ll. 25 5-6.. शालादिभं न कर्तव्यं न कुर्याच्चूनिम्नकम । समां शालां ततः कुर्यात् समं प्राकारमेवच । ### [c13.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.25) It is obvious that absence of a uniformity in the height of buildings on the same street detracts from the beauty of the street. ### [c13.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.26) (6) A deviation from the fixed measurements of lengths, breadths, and heights of the respective buildings of the different classes of people is not conducive to good and should not be made.¹ ### [c13.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.27) ¹ Vṛhat Saṃhitā, Ch. 53, ll. 29-30; Viśvakarmavidyāprakāśam, l. 60. होनाधिकं समानाद्यभकरं वास्तु सर्वेषाम् ॥ ३० ### [c13.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.28) This means and ensures an all-round uniformity of the buildings on the same street, for only a particular class was allowed residence in the same street. This rule and the preceding one also require that heights of the various storeys of the different buildings should correspond. Haphazard irregular heights of the storeys of the buildings are distressing to the eye. It is only a system, a regularity even in the variations that augments artistic beauty. Even the same style of architecture was followed in their broad features in the construction of buildings along the same thoroughfare. Since the wide streets separated the wards and these were assigned to the different classes of people, the buildings on both sides of a highway might not be constructed on the same scale, thus making a diversity in uniformity. The latter scheme was only possible in those later-day cities where the wards were not fortified with a circumvallation. ### [c13.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.29) (7) The houses should be furnished with verandahs (alinda)¹; and with flight of steps² leading down from the high plinth of the verandahs and stone-couches. A ‘vedikā’ or raised seat should be constructed on each side of the door.² ### [c13.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.30) ¹ Vṛhat Saṃhitā, Ch. 53, l. 65; Viśvakarmavidyāprakāśam, l. 72; Viśvakarmaprakāśa, Ch. 2, l. 306; and Mayamatam, Ch. 30, l. 221. This indicates that the rule was widely appreciated and generally observed. ### [c13.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.31) ² Mānasāra, Ch. 38. ### [c13.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.32) “Life in the clear air and under the cloudless skies of India, is necessarily passed much in the open air. The street is a kind of club.”³ ### [c13.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.33) ³ Sister Nivedita, Civic and National Ideals, p. 15. ### [c13.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.34) (8) Outside the house and touching it there should be planted a foot-path (vīthikā), like the two paved foot-paths on either sides of the main thoroughfares of a modern city which should be as wide as one-third of the breadth of the house.⁴ The foot-walk formed an indispensable part of the house. Mānasāra clearly lays down that there should be raised foot-paths on both sides of the streets.⁵ (9) All the houses should face the royal roads and at their backs there should be vīthīs or narrow lanes to allow passage for removal of offals and night-soil. ### [c13.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.35) ⁴ Vṛhat Saṃhitā, Ch. 53, l. 39; Viśvakarmaprakāśa, Ch. 2, l. 307; Viśvakarmavidyāprakāśa, l. 77; and Mayamatam, Ch. 25, l. 73. So many authorities’ emphasis upon the same rule testifies to its wide appreciation. ### [c13.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.36) ⁵ शालाविभाग तुल्या कर्त्तव्या वीथिका बहिर्भवात् ॥ २६।५३ वीथीनां पार्श्वयोर्देये वेदिकाद्यैरलङ्कृता । ### [c13.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.37) The first part of this bye-law forms an interesting study in the evolution of civic architecture with reference to construction of buildings. For in many ancient treatises and even in old buildings extant now, we find that the doors never opened on the roads. The credit of this improvement upon older styles is due to Śukrāchāryya.¹ ### [c13.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.38) ¹ Śukranītisāra, Ch. 1, ll. 533-4. राजमार्गमुखानि सग्गृहानि सकलाण्यपि । गृहपृष्ठे सदा बोधिर्मलनिर्हरणस्थलम् ॥ २६७ ### [c13.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.39) (10) "The front, middle and back doors of a private dwelling house should be so designed as to be on the same level and in the same straight line with one another. Let the outer door be placed, not exactly in the middle of the facade but a little moved to one side. The general practice is this: If the front of the house be ten paces in length, the entrance should be between five paces on the right and four on the left."² (11) "Not encroaching upon what belongs to others, new houses may be constructed. From each house a water-course of sufficient slope three pādas or one and a half aratnis long shall be so constructed that water shall either flow from it in a continuous line or fall from it into the drain. Violation of this rule shall be punished with a fine of fifty-four panas. ### [c13.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.40) ² Mānasāra. Rāmrāz's Essay on Architecture. Cf. Dr. Ganganath Jha; "House building and Sanitation in ancient India", J.B.O.R.S. Vol. 11. Pt: 11: "Every house should have doors on all four sides, but no two doors should be exactly opposite each other" His reference is difficult to be traced. ### [c13.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.41) "Between any two houses, or between the extended portions of any two houses, the intervening space shall be four pādas or three pādas (feet).¹ The upper storey shall be provided with a small but high window. If a neighbouring house is obstructed by it, the window should be closed. The owners of houses may construct their houses in any other way they collectively like; but they shall avoid what is injurious. Violation of this rule shall be punished with the first amercement. The same punishment shall be meted out for causing annoyance by constructing doors or windows facing those of others' houses except when these houses are separated by the King's road or the high road."² ### [c13.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.42) ¹ Vāyu Purāṇam, Ch. 8, l. 241; and Bhavishya Purāṇam and Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇam ### [c13.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.43) ² Arthaśāstra, Bk. III, Ch. 8. ### [c13.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.44) This reservation of an intervening space between any two houses of the same owner or two neighbouring tenements of different owners is conducive to sanitation. ### [c13.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.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 ### [c13.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13.46) ¹ A Guide to Taxila, by John Marshall, pp. 70-1. ## Linked texts (10) - [Bṛhatsaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.samhita.rsi.brhatsamhita.53.32) — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya.3.8) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Mayamata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.mayamata.25.73) — Maya, Sanskrit - [Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.brahmanda) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vāyupurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.vayu) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Mānasāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.manasara) — Sanskrit - [Nāradasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.sangita.prachina.naradasamhita) — Nārada, Sanskrit - [Bhaviṣyapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.bhavisya) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Sirkap](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.sirkap) - [Vāstuśāstra (Giridhara)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.grhavastu.vastusastra) — Giridhara, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c13) · Pramāṇa