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Town Planning in Ancient India c14.s3: Public Halls

Town Planning in Ancient India c14.s3

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Public Halls

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Other minor centres were the serais, the theatres, and the markets. The Mahābhārata (Ch. 69 of the Śāntiparva) cites the following centres—a market, a field for athletics, a hall of the nobility, a pleasure garden, a garden, the assembly of officials, and the council. I need not repeat that serais were placed at the cross-sections of highways. Tanks were attached to them. There were also special halls exclusively meant for ascetics. “The public rest-houses or choultries were constructed either by the state or by private citizens in the town. It was usual to construct a ‘chattram’ on some good locality with ample open space around it.”¹ In the markets lanes were carefully laid out. No carriage, even that of the king, was allowed admission into them. Mr. Ayyar furnishes us with a description of the market of Kaveripumpattinam; “The central market was situated in a wide open area between the two important divisions of the city. Each stall floated a flag bearing the name of the article sold therein. The stumps of freshly cut trees were planted in front of these stalls, that they might afford a cool shade and breeze. The sun-shade in front of these stalls was raised on these stumps so that they served the double purpose of serving as support for the roof in front of the stalls while providing fresh air in a busy place. As each stall had thus a tree in front of it, the market presented the lively appearance of a park. In the centre of the area set apart for the market and where the main streets intersected, there was a temple dedicated to the Guardian Deity of the city. Here was a temple with a tree and a shrine.¹ There were also town-halls (sabhā or nagara-mandira). These centres and places are signified by the word *manram* in Tamil literature, which means " a public hall, a public place of worship, a place of public resort, public walk or maidan, a law-court with the guardian deity of Justice installed therein, a public bath or park." Any ward allotted to men of a particular caste or profession contained a hall where the confraternity or the guild of these persons periodically met to debate and transact corporate business. These constituted supplementary local centres.

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¹ Venkatarama Ayyar, p. 140.

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¹ Venkatarama Ayyar, p. 90.

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Of what are called technically ‘places’ or ‘enclosed places’ in the modern town-planning science, there were many in ancient towns not only in India but also in other countries as well, inasmuch congestion of cities was not so intense then as at present and tanks had to be provided for to supply water. Much attention was paid to their maintenance and distribution. It has already been noticed that each shrine of the city was associated with ‘tīrthams’ or bathing tanks. “There should be at least two tanks or reservoirs in a city or a village, one of which would be in the south-west.”¹ According to the Silparatna,² there should be abundance of tanks and reservoirs judiciously distributed in all the wards, whereas pleasure-gardens should be allocated in the north. Gardens were laid out on their banks; and lily, lotus and other flowering plants were reared up in the water, thus enhancing the charm of the place. A small alley called khsudra-vāhya-vīthi was planted round the tank so that people could breathe fresh air and enjoy a pleasant walk in the morning and evening. In many villages and towns large tanks for the purpose of fresh drinking water were excavated in their centre. Besides public tanks, there were private tanks too. Moreover deep wells were sunk here and there with flights of steps leading into them. Over and above the gardens trimmed as adjuncts to the tanks, there were also gardens and parks, all excellent open spaces, with no tanks attached to them. The remarkable features of these gardens and the enclosed tanks were the cool ‘gūḍhagṛha’ or ‘samudra-gṛha’ (used in summer) i.e., a secluded or shaded room, may be subterranean, a shower-bath room (called dhārā-gṛha or dhārā-yantra-gṛha), a fountain, a bower, a cradle (dolā) swinging from the branch of a tree.” There were also constructed vedikās or pīṭhikās, that is, altars or raised pedestals where the walkers could take their seat and enjoy rest and friendly chats. There were also raised water-sheds (prapā) for distribution of pure drinking water and they were placed at the junctions of roads. It is interesting to note that in ancient cities sites were also assigned for ladies’ parks.¹ There were also public play grounds (krīḍā-sthāna). There were open spaces where horses and elephants were trained for military purposes. The cross-sections of roads were widened and arranged into triangular plots and quadrangular squares.

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¹ Rāmrāz, Essay on Architecture, p. 41.

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² Vide Ch. 5, l. 140. ततस्सर्वत्र वाप्यादि उत्तरे पुष्पवाटिका ।

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¹ The Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Canto 71, verse 22.

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These centres and enclosed places were evenly distributed. Every ward or residential quarter was endowed with them to relieve congestion and to ensure ventilation of fresh air and proper light. So much importance was attached to these centres and places and so much attention was devoted to their proper management, that hardly any city is met with in ancient Indian literature, e.g., the Purāṇas and the two Epics, which fails to glorify them. A description of the city is identified with the description of these. Indeed the authors seem to take pride in their prominent edification and this bears testimony to appreciation of their civic importance.

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