Town Planning in Ancient India c19.9

c19.9

Gradually however all classes of men became conscious of the advantage of this system and they came to accept it. Perhaps the Mānasāra was compiled at a period of transition when the old usage of arranging doors or gates was giving place to the new and the natural. In this book we find that in some village-plans the old rule has been retained and also recommended, while in others the new has been advised. Thus in the Nandyāvarta town-plan Mānasāra directs a peculiar arrangement of the principal gates. The principal gates of the village, instead of being constructed along the sides, were located in the four corners. The eastern gate was situated at the Īśāna; the southern gate at the Agni (hence it was also called Agni-dvāra); the western gate at the Pitṛs (therefore known as Pitṛ-dvāra) and the northern gate at the Vāyu (hence also called Vāyu-dvāra). And in the same village-plan again he would seem to recommend another set of four principal gates on the four sides and located on the central lines running towards the cardinal directions.¹ This way of distributing the principal gates he has adopted in the other village-plans as well. On the other hand he has not totally discarded the old practice to which he makes a general reference.