Town Planning in Ancient India c16.3

c16.3

Art is expression. A true and great art is not a mere body; it shows a heart, a soul scintillating through the form. A national art not only expresses the matter, *i.e.*, the needs and interests of the nation, but also its spirit—its culture and ideals. Civic art therefore must express the needs, life and aspirations of the community in the outward form of their towns, portraying the community, as it were, on a gigantic canvas. "The city as a whole is but a visible symbol of this life behind it." I shall make here an attempt at an interpretation of Indian civic art, especially in its socio-political and cultural aspects; how Aryan master-builders not only attended to the needs of the community, but imparted to the city a permanent value and interest by embodying in its design the spiritual and cultural life of the race; how Indian cities are the most convincing records of the evolution and progress of India, more so than the edicts and the copper-plates. It is very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to do full justice to this vast and comprehensive subject; I have merely essayed to draw its bare outlines in this chapter.