Town Planning in Ancient India c19.23

c19.23

The Mayamata would, on the other hand, set water-passages or water-gates (jala-mārga or jala-dvāra) in these chambers: to wit, Jayanta, Vitatha, Sugrīva, and Mukhya. It should be noticed that the Mayamata replaces the Gandharva in the order of the Śilparatna by the Vitatha, and this adjustment restores the symmetry of the arrangement. These water-gates or water-outlets are of doubtful significance. The lie of the ground, according to its levelling, was towards the east and the north. Consequently these jala-dvāras could not possibly be gates through which the drains of the town fell into the outside ditches inasmuch the two of the gates, namely, the Vitatha and the Sugrīva gates lie in the south and the north. The Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati would make provision for the water-gates, along the eastern and the northern sides in the space between the Mahendra and the Argala via Īśāna as the water would flow towards the east and the north.¹ The Mānasāra’s directions are more specific on this point; it would open the water-gates at the Mukhya, the Bhallāṭa, the Mṛga, the Aditi, the Jayanta, the Mahendra, the Satya, and the Bhṛśa.² Thus the water-gates were confined to the north and the east. And this scheme stands to reason as well.