Town Planning in Ancient India c14.s3.4

c14.s3.4

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.