[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) › c15.46 # Town Planning in Ancient India c15.46 Town Planning in Ancient India c15.46 - **Language:** English ### [c15.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.46) One proud glory of India is her temple-cities. Representing as they do India's national culture, they deserve special treatment. Temple-cities are generally those which had their origin in and evolved out of holy shrines with the spread of their fame and influence. Their peculiarities consist in the several successive rings of circumambulatory paths that writhe round and round their central plots whereupon the temples, their nuclei, are generally situated. These attest the successive stages of their growth and development. Another peculiar characteristic of these temple-cities lies in a good number of minor shrines set up in them. For many saints attached to the old temples set up their own shrines. Again their disciples raise others to their revered memory. It should also be noted that followers and preachers of creeds other than that represented by the original temple repair to the place either to measure their religious strength or from iconoclastic motives. A city like Benares offers the best forum for proselytization. Whatever may be the outcome of this trial of strength, the city, in consequence, soon outgrows its temple and develops a distinct corporate life. The new immigrants also settle here and raise their own monasteries.¹ - [Previous: c15.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.45) - [Next: c15.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.47) - [Up: c15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.46) · Pramāṇa