[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 # Town Planning in Ancient India c15: Chapter XI: Individuality of Indo-Aryan Towns Town Planning in Ancient India c15 - **Language:** English ### Chapter XI: Individuality of Indo-Aryan Towns ### [c15.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.2) The deadening monotony caused by drilling all town-plans of a country into a similar type or pattern and its evil effects are too obvious. Such uniformity not only spells a lack of lively imagination on the part of the civic architect, but also a disregard of all the local circumstances regulating style and shape of the city-structure and the materials available, as well as the peculiar purposes for which the city stands. And it also hampers the natural lay-out of the city to the best advantage and, at the same time, with minimum troubles and expenses. Individuality of cities is so spontaneous and natural that every city is unconsciously but unmistakably stamped with it and conscious efforts only emphasise this individuality. ### [c15.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.3) The site of the city—a river laving its feet and gurgling beside it, the high summit of a mountain commanding panoramic vistas, or a dreary wilderness—contributes much to the growth of this individuality. Again there were cities wreathed round with girdles of several broad ditches and wild woods. We further meet with charming description of lofty walls, strong ramparts with bastions and buttresses, watch-towers and embrasures, a belt of lofty trees, in all of which was displayed skill of architecture and civic engineering. These, coupled with the style and shape of the cities, square or rectangular, circular or elliptic, lotus-like or bow-shaped, could not but impress any traveller with the diversity of character of the Indo-Aryan towns. To crown all, there were the sublime and gorgeous gopuras or pyramidal towers surrounding the great city-gates—their storeys varying from one to fourteen, their structure at once fantastic and diversified. ### [c15.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.4) Local building materials endowed the ancient towns with certain peculiarities of colour and workmanship. In these days of superabundant facilities for carriage and transport building materials can be easily conveyed from one end of the country to the other and blind uniformity is often the result. In the city of Sirkap, the walls of the buildings were constructed either of rough rubble or of diaper masonry which came into fashion at the beginning of the Kushan period; and both the inner and outer faces were covered with lime and plaster to which traces of painting are still found adhering. In the city of Conjeeveram red bricks were used in the building of houses. None can fail to notice the reddish or white stone walls and floors of the buildings in the towns of Rajputana such as Jaipur, whereas the houses in Southern India were generally made of wood and those in Burma made of teak and bamboo. "In earlier times, the superstructure at least of the dwellings was either of wood-work or brick-work. In either case it was often covered, both internally and externally, with fine chunam plaster work, and brilliantly painted, in fresco, with figures or patterns."¹ I have myself marked such picturesque paintings on the walls of the buildings ranging on the streets of Jaipur. Certain special characteristics also arise from the nature of the local natural scenery, life of the citizens, as well as from the character of the industries prevalent in the locality. ### [c15.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.5) ¹ \*Vide\* Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 68. ### [c15.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.6) In the Vāstu Śāstras, towns are classified according to their characteristics. The following are the free renderings of the descriptions given in Mānasāra (Ch. 10) and Mayamatam (Ch. 10). ### [c15.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.7) (1) Nagara :²—A nagara or an ordinary town has four gates in the four cardinal quarters surmounted by pyramidal towers. It is full of thick-set buildings; it is a place of brisk traffic, sale and purchase of merchandise, congested with all classes and ranks of people. Artisans settled there busily ply their tools. The place is sanctified by shrines dedicated to all deities, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva and the like. In other words it is a place of inland trade and the headquarter of the district. I need hardly add that for military defence, the towns were generally well fortified. Their dimensions, according to Mānasāra, vary from 100 × 200 daṇḍas upwards. ### [c15.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.8) ² दिग्ध चतुर्दियुतं गोपुरयुक्तं तु सालाढ्यम् । क्रयविक्रयक्रयक्तं सर्व्वजनावाससङ्कीर्णम् ॥ २० सर्व्वसुरालयसहितं नगरमिदम् केवलं प्रोक्तम् । मयमते दशमोऽध्यायः । जनैःपरिवृतं द्रव्यक्रयविक्रयादिभिः ॥ अनेकजातिसंयुक्तं कर्मकारैः समन्वितम् । सर्व्वदेवतसंयुक्तं नगरं चाभिधीयते ॥ मानसारे नवमोऽध्यायः । ### [c15.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.9) (2) Rājadhānī:—Mayamatam furnishes us with a description of a royal capital with its imperial castle. It has a belt of walls and ramparts circumscribed by ditches. Further away from the ditches are encamped the military outposts to watch the approach of the enemy. Within the walls and along its western and northern sides are rows of residential quarters, while in the east and the south are quartered the royal army and officers. It has lofty gopuras with many garlands adorning it. Within the metropolis there are shrines dedicated to various deities. Of brothels there are many. Gardens are evenly laid out in it. The elephant, the horse, the infantry, and the military officers and all classes of men put up in it.¹ It possesses many gates, principal and subsidiary. Sukrāchāryya’s description of a capital runs as follows :—"It is to have the beautiful shape of a half-moon, a circle, or a square, is to be surrounded by walls and ditches and must contain sites for grāmas or other divisions. It is to have the Sabhā or Council Hall in the centre, must ever be provided with wells, tanks and pools; it is to be furnished with four gates in the four directions. It must have good roads and parks planted in rows, and well-constructed taverns, temples and serais for travellers."² ### [c15.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.10) ¹ प्रत्युगदिशि गङ्घना परितः साला वहिः सपांसुचया ॥ २१ परितः परिखा बाह्ये शिविरयुतानेकमुखरचा । पूर्वाद्या' दक्षिणस्याभिमुखा राजपथयुक्ता ॥ २२ छत्रसगोपुरयुक्ता नानाविधमालिकापेता । सर्व्वसुरालयसहिता नानापणिकान्विता वलद्याना ॥ २३ हस्त्यश्वरथपदातिवहुमुख्या सर्व्वजनयुक्ता । हारीपदार्युताभ्यन्तरतोऽनेकजनवासा ॥ २४ या नृपवेश्मसमेता सा कथिता राजधानीति । मयमतै दशमोऽध्यायः । ### [c15.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.11) ² Mr. B. K. Sarkar's Translation. ### [c15.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.12) (3) Paṭṭana :—It is a large commercial port, situated on the bank of a river or sea. It is frequented by traders from distant lands (dvīpāntarāgata, deśāntarāgata) coming on commercial missions. Merchandise is imported in large quantities. All classes of men, especially the trader class called Vaiśyas, are settled there and brisk commercial transactions are constantly carried on. It is replete with jewels, wealth, silk, perfumery and other articles.¹ ### [c15.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.13) ¹ द्वीपान्तरागतवस्तुभिरभियुक्तां सव्वजनसहितम् । क्रयविक्रयकेयुक्तां रत्नधनधान्यवस्तुआढ्यम् ॥ २८ सागरवेलाभागे तदनुगतायामि पत्तनं प्रोक्तं । मयमतं दशमोऽध्यायः । क्रयविक्रयसंयुक्तमसितौरसमाश्रितं । देशान्तरगतजनैर्नानाजातिभिरन्वितम् ॥ पत्तनं तत् समाख्यातं वैश्यैरध्युषितं तु यत् । मानसारे नवमोऽध्यायः । पत्तनसंज्ञं तद्वत् पोतान्वितवारिधितटोपेतम् । १७।२ मनुष्यालयचन्द्रिका । पत्तनं शकटैर्गम्यं घाटिकैर्नाभिरैव च । नौभिरैव तु यद्गम्यं पत्तनं तत्प्रचक्षते ॥ इति रायसवीय सूत्रव्याख्याने—प २०६ कौटिल्यार्थशास्त्रे पण्डितश्यामशास्त्रिधृतवचनम् । ### [c15.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.14) (4) Durga :—A fort or a fortified town. It must have a unfailing stock of forage and provisions, a perennial source of water and should be strongly equipped with weapons and arsenals. It is girt round by brick-built walls at least twelve cubits high with many watch-towers and military outposts. It is surrounded by ditches overgrown across with thick jungles. The approaches to the fort are at once difficult and well guarded. Its gates are embellished with massive towers tapering ### [c15.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.15) This leads us to suppose that there is a distinction between ‘pattana’ and ‘pattan a’. ### [c15.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.16) high and furnished with secret flight of stairs. The pair of doors had four iron or wooden bars to bolt with and were thick-set with large pointed nails. The sizes of the gates should be in proportion to the dimensions of the buildings and towns. The fort bustles with many classes of men. Camps were pitched round it. The royal quarters and the barracks of the army are situated within the fort. It must possess a large storage of paddy, oil, salt, medicine, iron, fuel, etc.¹ ### [c15.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.17) There is a fort known as Suparṇa Durga or Garuḍa fort. The general plan of this is like the ### [c15.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.18) अचयजलान्नशस्त्रं अतिविपुलोच्चं जघनसाहम् । सर्व्वं हि दुर्गजालं सप्राकारं त्वनेकमुखरचम् ।। ३८ वह्निदकं रहितवनं अन्नपवं दुषप्रवेशं च । गोपुरमहपयुक्तं सोपानच्छन्नच्छन्नम् ।। ४० द्विकवाटचतुष्परिखार्गलहस्तोन्रतन्द्रकौल्युतम् । सणममध्यमालथमिष्ठकसहितं सगूढसोपानम् ।। ४१ द्वाराषि मण्डपसभाशालाकाराणि कव्याषि । द्वादश सालाकाराश्चतुरं हतं तदायतं च पुनः ।। ४२ चक्रं हतं कौकुटमिष्ट कुम्भं नागवत्तं च । मग्रचतुरं चिकीर्णमष्टात्रं नेमिस्त्रच्छं च ।। ४३ प्राकारयेष्टकया द्वादशहस्तोच्चिताधोनाः ।। उत्तक्षोधाङ्गं विशाला सूक्ष्मे भित्तिः ससञ्चारा ।। ४४ सर्व्वसाभ्यन्तरतः पांसुचयोप्यनेकयन्त्रयुतम् । परितः परिखोपेतं पांसुचये संहताट्टालम् ।। ४५ परितः शिरिखोपेतं नानाजनवाससंकौर्णम् । नृपभवनसमीपेतं इष्ट्रश्वरथपदातिबहुसुष्यम् ।। ४६ धान्यसैलेः चारैः सखवणभैषज्य गन्धविषम् । खाद्यारक्षायुविषावेष्टितं नैय्यं ज्ञम् ।। ४७ ### [c15.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.19) Padmaka type of village, but the main roads run from north-west to south-east instead of west to east and is slightly more elongated in that direction. The cross-road runs from south-west to north-east. The temple is located in the north-west and the royal palace in the south-east. There are only two entrances in the fort at the north-east and south-east corners. There is no particular rule that such a fort shall be surrounded by a moat. No Śaiva or Śākta shrine should be built within the fort premises. Shrines to Nāgarāja or Serpent God may be located within the fort. But if there be no Viṣṇu temple built there, a temple to Garuḍa should invariably be erected and the usual processions carried out. The evil consequences of departure from the traditional rule of temple or town orientation are staved off in this plan by virtue of what is called Garuḍa mantra or Garuḍa symbol adopted in it. The king residing in such a fort shall bear a flag staff carrying the figure of Garuḍa.¹ ### [c15.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.20) ¹ Vide Indian Architecture by Ananthalwar and Raes. ### [c15.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.21) (5) Kheṭa :—It is a small town situate on the plain near a river, or in a forest by the side ### [c15.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.22) वृषधर्माकारयुक्तं सवल्कल' सारदारुयुतम् । दुर्गं दुर्गममुक्तं दुर्लङ्घ्यं दूरगाहं च ॥ ४८ ### [c15.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.23) मयमत नवमोऽध्यायः । of hillocks. It is girt round with a mud-wall. It lies in the midst of villages¹ having facilities of communication by land or water. The main population of the town consists of Śūdras or labouring class. Such a town if thrown out by local industries, such as mining, is known as Śākhānagara.¹ According to its area it is classified into three varieties whose breadths respectively are 256, 320, 384 daṇḍas, while their lengths are 2, 1¾, 1½, 1¼, 1⅛, 1⅛ times or equal to their breadths. ### [c15.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.24) (6) Kharvaṭa :—Exactly similar to a Kheṭa is the town called Kharvaṭa defended with a girdle of wall. Its walls are not massive enough. It is a town lying in the rāṣṭra or country side.¹ It is from here that the neighbouring town gets its daily supply of foodstuff and other articles of consumption. According to Kauṭilya it is situated in the centre of two hundred villages. The three measures breadth-wise of its three classes respectively are 448, 512 and 576 daṇḍas, the ratio of the lengths to the breadths being the same as in the case of the Kheṭa. It is a town bigger and hence more prominent than the Kheṭa.¹ ### [c15.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.25) ¹ Śilparatna, Ch. 5, ll. 28, 67—8. ग्रामयोः खेटकं मध्ये राष्ट्रमध्ये तु खर्वटम् ॥ १४ वने वा नगरोपान्ते नागरैस्तु जनेवृतम् । चैवारामाकरोपेतं शाखानगरमिष्यते ॥ ३४ Cf. शूद्रैरधिष्ठितं यच्च वलावेष्टितं तु तत् खेटम् ॥ २५ Mayamatam. ‘प्रासुप्राकारनिवद्धखेटं’ ॥ ### [c15.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.26) ¹ परितः पर्वतयुक्तं खर्वटकं सर्वजनसहितम् । Mayamatam, Ch 10, l. 53. “क्षुद्रप्राकार वेष्टितं खर्वटं” । ### [c15.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.27) (7) (i) Śivira :—It is a military encampment of a king out on an expedition of fresh conquest and annexation, within his own kingdom or in the dominion of another king, where soldiers and officers are busy with preparations before commencing hostilities.² I have given elsewhere a detailed description of Śivira. ### [c15.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.28) ² परनृपदेशसमीपे युद्धारम्भक्रियोपेतम् ।। २८ सेनासेनापतियुतमिदमुदितं शिविरमिति च वरैः । Mayamatam, Ch 10, ll. 58-9. परराष्ट्रे स्वदेशे वा चतुर्विधबलान्वितम् ।। २९ विजिगीषोः सन्निवेशं शिविरं तत् प्रचक्षते । ### [c15.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.29) (ii) On a par with the Śivira is the Senāmukha. It is like a military base, rear station where the military staff carry on their duties away from the battle field. Hence it is well guarded and always lively with bustle of active officers. In times of yore when kings used to be at the head of every military expedition, the royal camp was also stationed in this Senāmukha. It may also be a suburban town a little away from the main city guarding the latter at its main approach and thus commands a strategic situation.¹ ### [c15.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.30) ¹ सर्व्वजनैः सङ्कीर्णं नृपभवनयुतं तदेव तथा ॥ ३० वङ्गरच्चै पेतं यत् सेनामुखमुच्यते तज्ञ्ज्ञैः । Mayamatam, Ch 10, ll. 60-1. ### [c15.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.31) (iii) Skandhāvāra:—This and its suburb cherikā fall under the above category. Rivers, mountains and woods form its defences. Many people reside there as was always the custom with people of ancient India who invariably followed the royal camp in order to enjoy security under the king’s protecting auspices. The Skandhāvāra contains the imperial quarters. It appears that a Skandhāvāra is nothing but a camp of the soldiers, not very remote from the actual battlefield, when two kings are fighting together.² Its plan is detailed in the appendix. ### [c15.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.32) ² Śilparatna, Ch. 5, ll. 60—1. नातिदूरे तदेव स्यान्न पयोर्युध्यतोमिधः ॥ ३० सेनानिवेशं तु पृथक् स्कन्धावार उदीरितः । Also compare नद्याद्रिवन समेतं बहुजनयुक्तं सन्नपवासम् ॥ ३५ एतत् स्कन्धावारं तत्पार्श्वे चेरिका प्रोक्ता । ### [c15.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.33) (8) Sthānīya:—Kauṭilya says: “There shall be set up a sthānīya (fortress of that name) in the centre of eight hundred villages.” It is stationed by the king on the bank of a river or at the foot of mountains. There is a garrison of police there. It is a muffassil town and headquarters of the district or divisional officer. According to Śilparatna it is the headquarters of the dignitary who defends the frontiers of the kingdom.¹ ### [c15.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.34) ¹ नदीप्राप्तंयुक्तं नृपभवनयुतं सबहुचरम् ॥ २१ यत्र पतिस्थापितकं तत् स्थानीयं समुदिष्टम् । Mayamatam, Ch 10. पर्वतस्याथवा नद्याः पार्श्वे राजवलान्वितम् ॥ २१ राष्ट्रान्तकपालाय वा तत् स्थानीयं विदुर्वुधाः । ### [c15.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.35) The radical import of the word sthānīya is local. Hence literally it is a local fortified town. This refers us to a period of Indian history when her political state was in chaos and her condition was far from being settled and tranquil. Hence the king could not have a permanent sway over a fixed kingdom. His sway extended as far as his mighty arms could reach. The kingdom always followed him from place to place. Hence he had to quarter fortified capitals, wherever he could rest and settle for a while. In my opinion this clears up the following opinion of Kauṭilya. "With ready preparation for fight, the king may have his fortified capital sthānīya as the seat of his sovereignty (samudaya-sthānam) in the centre of his kingdom: in a locality naturally best fitted for the purpose such as the bank of the confluence of the rivers, a deep pool of perennial water or of a lake or a tank, a fort circular, rectangular or square in form surrounded with an artificial canal or water, and connected with both land and waterpaths (may be constructed).” ### [c15.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.36) (9) Droṇamukha :—It is a market town frequented by traders, lying on a river bank or sea shore, generally at their confluence, known also as Droṇimukha. It is a harbour where many ships sail in and lie at anchor and also traders from distant islands fare to the place for traffic.¹ In other accounts, it is a small centre of traffic in the midst of four hundred villages. Local productions are offered to the market here. It may be that a police outpost is stationed here for the sake of administrative efficiency. There are five measures of its breadth varying from 400 to 496 daṇḍas with a common difference of 24 daṇḍas, the ratios of the lengths to the breadths being the same as before. If the Droṇamukha be a populous place in the midst of villages, it is also termed Viḍamba. It is mainly inhabited by peasantry. Its measurements vary from 200 to 500 daṇḍas, the common difference being 50 daṇḍas. From the measurements it appears that these cannot be properly designated as towns; they are only prominent village markets. ### [c15.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.37) ¹ तदैवाब्धेश्च नद्याश्च सङ्गमागतपोतकम् ।। २८ द्वीपान्तरवणिग्जुष्टं विदुद्रोणीमुखं बुधाः । Silparatna, Ch. 5, ll. 56–7. मध्याब्धिचाब्धिचणभागं वणिगादिसंयुतम् ।। ३२ सर्व्वजनावासं यद द्रोणमुखं प्रोक्तमाचार्य्यैः । ग्रामसमीपे जनतालयमिदमुदितं विड़म्बमिति ।। ३३ Mayamatam, Ch. 10, ll. 64-6. द्रोणमुखं जलनिधेः प्रवेशं पट्टनमित्यर्थः । ### [c15.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.38) (10) Kotmakolaka :—It is a populous settlement in a hilly or wild tract.¹ There are five varieties of it varying in breadth from 100 to 500 daṇḍas, one greater than the preceding by 100 daṇḍas. ### [c15.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.39) ¹ \*cf.\* "वनमध्ये जनवासं" ### [c15.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.40) (11) Nigama :—It is a market mainly of artisans; but all the four castes of people also live here. It seems owing to insufficiency of space, the rule of allocating different sites to different castes and professions was not rigidly observed in this town. Nigama literally means a trade route. Hence it is a trysting place for traders and caravans. Again Nigama may be a market with a police outpost situated on the approaches to the capital or the kingdom.² (12) Maṭha or Vihāra :—Last but not the least in importance is the university town called Vidyāsthāna, Maṭha or Vihāra. Literally it means students' quarters or colleges. Hence it is a residential university where not only the learners board and lodge but religious itinerants (parivrājakas) or monks also reside. Savants from foreign lands also repair to the place, where there is provision for (free ?) supply of food and water. It is defended against hostile attack.¹ The student celibates who prefered religious pursuits and philosophical lore to a worldly life used to put up at this university town, it may be, in the capacity of professors. "And as the Brāhmaṇs became the custodians of Aryan traditions and culture, the Āśrama or Brāhman village developed into the university town to which Aryan youth of the twice-born classes went for instruction."² ### [c15.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.41) ² चातुर्वर्ण्यैः कर्मकारैर्नानाकर्म्मौपजीविभिः। पण्यान्नधनधान्याद्यैर्युक्तं तु निगमं स्मृतम्॥ ३३ Śilparatna, Ch. 5, ll. 65-6. चातुर्वर्ण्यसमेतं सर्व्वजनावाससङ्कुलम्॥ ३४ बहुकर्म्मकारयुक्तं यन्निगमं तत् समुदिष्टम्। ### [c15.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.42) ¹ आगन्तुकानां च सर्वेषां नैष्ठिकानां निवासभूः । अन्नपानौयसंयुक्तः केवली वा मठो मतः ।। विद्यास्थानं तु तद्वत् स्यात् बहुमेनासमन्वितम् । Śilparatna, Ch. 5. ### [c15.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.43) ² E. V, Havell. ### [c15.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.44) Here closes the catalogue of all the noted types of towns, great and small, which ancient India knew and their number is by no means small. Diversity and architectural ingenuities or peculiarities in their planning are nowhere alluded to. Only we have their definitions—that too not distinctly differentiating, but on the contrary very vague—based on genetic causes and the purposes they served. Nevertheless these sufficed to endow them with characteristic features; for the sea ports, the halting places for caravans, the capitals and headquarters of the Government, the military stations during expeditions, all could not be shaped and planned in the same style, their temporary or permanent character and the houses therein built so as to suit different purposes constituting the distinguishing factors. Even in modern towns, it is not so much the peculiarity of street-planning which cannot strike the eyes of a pedestrain, as the civic centres and public places as well as natural beauties which emphasise their personality. And all of these peculiarities are natural and spontaneous rather than factitious, developing from local circumstances. It has been already mentioned that the shape, style, height, and the storeys of buildings were different for different people according to their ranks and avocations. ### [c15.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.45) A reference to the relevant chapters will show that even in the planning of streets and distribution of public buildings and places there was a great diversity of arrangement. I have only to draw notice to the different types of towns known as Daṇḍaka, Nandyāvarta and so on. I may recount here that all the sites were not planned in the same style (vide Ch. VIII). As regards the planning of plots and distribution of public buildings, it is to be noted that the royal mansions, the council house, the quarters of the premier and other imperial officials, the tenements of the different castes, artisans and traffickers were variously distributed in various towns. The style of architecture after which the buildings were constructed also contributed to the development of the individuality. It should be borne in mind that diversity was not attained at the sacrifice of harmony and concord. Every building in a certain quarter or along same street was not constructed after a style different from the rest. Such an architectural chaos will be repugnant to the view. Indeed, on the contrary, a sort of structural unity and architectural uniformity, (but not of the Procrustean type), as in Jaipur, marked the buildings ranging along a particular street. ### [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 ### [c15.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.47) ¹ Vide Ch. II, Conjeeveram. ### [c15.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.48) The corporate life of modern society being centralised in the city, people, a considerable percentage of them, now a days abandon their villages and settle in the city, some by their own choice, some by force of circumstances. The congestion of modern cities is the result. A narrow conception of town and town-planning has usurped every square inch of land and denuded the city of all trees or tanks, to make room for human habitations. The serried phalanx of cloud-high chimneys—the lofty pinnacles of modern civilisation—volleying forth incessant curls of smoke has imparted to the suburbs a most dreary and desolate appearance. Indeed the deforestation of the whole city, in and out, is complete. The aridity of this city life, devoid of the humanising and inspiring touch of gentle Nature, has reacted upon the life of citizens and they are therefore to-day looking for relief from this suffocating and artificial atmosphere. They have now realised their error in driving out Nature and are laying out garden-cities. These constitute rather a compromise between a city and a village, represent a harmonious combination of human art and soul-vivifying Nature. In these garden-cities there is symmetric distribution and allocation of parks, squares, gardens and tanks; trees are reared in rows along both sides of the streets, sometimes in the middle, sometimes in two or three rows on the streets thus segregating the different currents of traffic. Again every house has its own garden in the front. Some longitudinal portion of the street is sometimes kept evergreen with grass and installation of factories in large numbers is prohibited or discouraged. ### [c15.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.49) In ancient India when congestion such as we notice in modern towns was out of question, tanks, parks or squares and even gardens were laid out in large numbers in every city. It must be remembered that modern water-taps were not then in vogue. Hence the large tanks or wells were necessary accompaniments to towns and were evenly distributed throughout the city. And their number could not consequently be small. We come across in the Śilpa Śāstras emphatic directions for excavation of tanks. Every tank with its high embankment overgrown with mighty trees affording shady rest to passers-by corresponded to the modern square or what is technically called ‘place’ in town-planning. Again Indian communalism required that there must be rendezvouses where citizens could assemble and discourse together. For this purpose there were the council trees with their spreading branches shading a large area. These grew into groves. There were gardens as well; and even orchards were not wanting. In Northern India reminiscences of these tanks and gardens can still be marked in Gaya, while they are still abundantly found in Southern India. It was the practice with the Aryan town-planners to dress the faubourgs of the city into fine gardens and orchards. This bespeaks sound economy and sanitation, let alone æsthetic propriety. Again the holy bæl (\*ægle marmelos\*), the shady baṭ (\*ficus bengalensis\*), the sublime kadamaba (\*anthocephalus cadumba\*), the febrifuge neem (\*azadirachta indica\*), the sacred aswatha (\*ficus relegosa\*), the flowering champaka or bakul (\*plumerica acuminata\* or \*mimuspos elengi\*), and other plants whose flowers were offered in daily worship of deities, were copiously planted in the city so that Indo-Aryan cities partook much of rural aspect and wore a sylvan air. The Portuguese and Italian travellers who visited the kingdom of Vijayanagara in the early twenties of the 15th and 16th centuries have left detailed accounts of its capital. They called it a garden-city and their descriptions leave no room for doubt. From the stand-point of town-planning and town-expansion, the graphic description of the town of Vijayanagara, as left by them in their books of travels, presents a very interesting study. I think I need not apologise for quoting at length their description of the city at this place. ### [c15.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.50) The city was founded by Harihar Deva in 1336 A.D. Its foundation in the middle of the 14th century notwithstanding, there is nothing to suspect that it was not laid out according to the canons of the Śilpa Śāstras, especially when we remember that many cities, particularly the capitals of many principalities in Rajputana founded much later were planned according to the best Indo-Aryan town-planning traditions and this demonstrates beyond doubt that Indians never relegated this science to oblivion until the advent of European civilisation into this country. From the description of the city by Nicolo, an Italian traveller who visited it in 1420-21, we learn: "The circumference of the city is sixty miles; its walls are carried up to the mountains and enclose the valleys at their foot, so that its extent is increased." Here and there were wonderfully carved temples and fanes to Hindu deities with Brāhmaṇical colleges and schools attached to the more important among them. The narrative of Domingo Pæz, the Portuguese traveller (1520-22) is more extensive and minute: "The whole country (of Vijayanagara) is thickly populated with cities, towns and villages. The king allows them to be surrounded only with earthen walls for fear of their becoming too strong. But if a city is situated at the extremity of his territory he gives his consent to its having stone walls; but never the towns; so that they may make fortresses of the cities but not of the towns. ### [c15.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.51) "Returning then to the city of Vijayanagara, you must know that from it to the new city (the reference here is to Nagalpur, a league off from the main capital) goes a street as wide as a place of tourney, with both sides lined throughout with rows of houses and shops where they sell every thing and all along this road are many trees that the king commanded to be planted, so as to afford shade to those that pass along. On this road he commanded to be erected a very beautiful temple of stone and there are other pagodas that the captains and the great lords caused to be erected. ### [c15.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.52) “ So that, returning to the city of Vijayanagara you must know that before you arrive at the city gates, there is a gate with a wall that encloses all the other enclosures of the city. This wall has a moat of water in some places and in parts where it was constructed on low ground.....From this first circuit until you enter the city there is a great distance, in which are fields in which they sow rice and many gardens and much water, which water comes from two lakes. The water passes through this first line of wall and there is much water in the lakes because of springs and here and there are orchards and little groves of palms and many houses. ### [c15.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.53) “ Returning then to the first gate of the city, before you arrive at it you pass a little piece of water and then you arrive at the wall, which is very strong, all of stone work, and it makes a bend before you arrive at the gate; and at the entrance of this gate are two towers, one on each side, which make it very strong. It is large and beautiful. As soon as you pass inside there are two little temples; one of them has an enclosing wall with many trees, while the whole of the other consists of buildings; and this wall of the first gate encircles the whole of the city. Then going forward you have another gate with another line of wall and it also encircles the city inside the first, and from here to the king's palace are all streets and rows of houses very beautiful, and houses of captains and other rich and honourable men; you will see rows of houses with many figures and decorations pleasing to look at. Going along the principal street, you have one of the chief gateways which issues from a great open space in front of the king's palace; opposite there is another which passes along to the other side of the city, and across this open space pass all the carts and conveyances carrying store and every thing else; and because it is in the middle of the city, it cannot but be useful. ### [c15.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.54) This palace of the king is surrounded by a very strong wall like some of the others, and ### [c15.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.55) encloses a greater space than all the castles of Lisbon. ### [c15.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.56) “ Still going forward, passing to the other gate you see two temples connected with it, one on each side. ### [c15.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.57) “ Close to these pagodas is a triumphant car covered with carved work and images, and on one day in each year during a festival they drag this through the city in such streets as it can traverse. Going forward you have a broad and beautiful street, full of rows of fine houses and streets of the sort I have described, and it is to be understood that the houses belong to the men rich enough to afford such. In this street live many merchants, and there you find all sorts of rubies and diamonds and emeralds, and pearls, and seed pearls, and cloths and every other sort of thing there is on earth and that you may wish to buy.....At the end of this street you have another gate with its wall, which wall goes to meet the wall of the second gate of which I have spoken, in such sort that this city has three fortresses, with another which is the king's palace. Then when this gate is passed you have another street where there are many craftsmen, and they sell many things ; and in this street there are two small temples. There are temples in every street, for these appertain to institutions like the confraternities, you know of in our parts, of all the craftsmen and merchants; but the principal and greatest pagodas are outside the city.....A fair is held every day in different parts of the city. At the end of this street is the Moorish quarter which is at the very end of the city. ### [c15.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.58) "...There are many groves within the city, in the gardens of the houses, and many conduits of water which flow into the midst of it, and in places there are lakes, and the king has close to his palace a palm grove and other rich bearing fruit trees. Below the Moorish quarters is a little river and on this side are many orchards and gardens with many fruit trees, for most part, mangoes and areca-palms and jack-trees. and also many lime and orange trees, growing so closely one to another that it appears like a thick forest; and there are also white grapes. All the water which is in the city comes from the two lakes outside the first enclosing walls. ### [c15.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.59) " This is the best provided city in the world, and is stocked with provisions such as rice, wheat, grains, Indian corn, and a certain amount of barley and beans, moog, pulses, horse-gram and many other seeds which grow in this country which are the food of the people and there is a large store of these and they ### [c15.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.60) are very cheap....The streets and markets are full of laden oxen without count, so that you cannot get along for them." ### [c15.61](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.61) I supplement this exhaustive picture with extracts from the chronicles of Fernazo Nuniz, another itinerant :— ### [c15.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.62) The city was enlarged by Ajarao, the grandson of Bukkaraya who succeeded to the throne after Harihar Deva, the founder. This king made in the city of Vijayanagara many walls and enclosed it anew. The king desiring to increase that city and make it the best in the kingdom, determined to bring it to a very large river which was at a distance of five leagues away. So he did damming the river itself with great boulders. By means of this water they made round about the city a number of gardens and orchards and groves of trees and vineyards, and many plantations of lemons, oranges and roses, and other trees which in this country bear good fruits." ### [c15.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.63) I venture to think that the Aryan traditions of town-planning preserved in the Śilpa Śāstras and handed down from generation to generation were recognised and followed in the planning of the city of Vijayanagara. This can be ascertained by comparison with the description of ancient cities found in such ancient epics as the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and other treatises chronologically following them. The city of Ayodhyā abounded in gardens and mangoe-orchards.¹ Bharata, the son of Kyakeyī, founded two towns in the country of Gāndhāra (this included the West Punjab and East Afghanistan), one Taxus at Taxila and another Puskal at Puskalwat. Treasures in large quantities and gardens of various kinds embellished both the cities. Intensive commerce and a great concourse of people lent fame to both. In both of them shops were symmetrically arranged in rows on both sides of the main thoroughfares. Many splendid shrines, useful trees like tāl (palmyra), tamāl, tilak, bakul and the like rendered these cities pleasing to the eye. Five years were spent in their foundation.² Mathurā is also described to have been rich in gardens and groves (udyānavana-sampanna). We learn from the Harivaṃśa that Dvārakā was adorned with tanks of pure water, troughs and sheds for drinking water, splendid squares and parks, orchards and gardens.³ In this connection a glance at the description of Indraprastha given in the Mahābhārata which will be found in the appendix will shew that the renowned capital of the Pāṇḍavas was conceived and planned as a garden-city. Indeed almost all ancient Indian cities of note were more or less garden-cities. We will hardly be justified in attributing the descriptions of cities reproduced above and also in the appendix to the winged imagination of Indian poets noted for their fondness of imaginative hyperboles. Even such books on technical subjects as the Yuktikalpataru and the Mayamata lay great stress on this aspect of Indian cities. According to the former, a town should be, "trimmed with sheds for drinking water, shrines and halls, tanks, gardens and the like" (prapā-maṇḍapa-kāsāra-kānanādyopaśobhita)¹; while the latter lays down: "There should be a fair distribution of reservoirs, tanks and wells." Only the necessity of defence and fortification lending a fortress-character to the cities of olden times hindered their full development into garden-cities as grand and magnificent as those of the modern age. ### [c15.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.64) ¹ The Rāmāyaṇa, Ādi Kāṇḍa, Ch. 5, sl. 12. ### [c15.65](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.65) ² The Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Ch. 114. ### [c15.66](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.66) ³ Viṣṇu Parvam, Ch. 58, l. 93. ### [c15.67](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15.67) ¹ Kāsāra really signifies artificial lotus lakes : कृत्रिम पद्माकरः । ## Linked texts (11) - [Mayamata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.mayamata.10.53) — Maya, Sanskrit - [Mānasāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.manasara) — Sanskrit - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Manuṣyālayacandrikā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.manusyalayacandrika) — Tirumaṅgalattu Nīlakaṇṭhan Mūssatu 1500, Sanskrit - [Harivaṃśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit - [Kanchipuram](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kanchipuram) - [Nāgalāpura](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.nagalapura) - [Sirkap](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.sirkap) - [Śilparatna](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.silparatna) — Śrīkumāra (Śilparatna) 1500, Sanskrit - [Viśvakarmaśilpa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.visvakarman.visvakarmasilpa) — Viśvakarman, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c15) · Pramāṇa