Town Planning in Ancient India c5.44

c5.44

¹ There are many authorities on the Vāstu Vidyā. The most renowned among them are said to number eighteen (Matsya Purāṇam, Ch. 226). Their names are :—Bhṛgu, Atri, Vaśiṣṭha, Viśvakarmā, Yama, Nārada, Nagnajit, Viśālākṣa, Purandara, Brahmā, Kumāra, Nandīśa Śaunaka, Garga, Vāstudeva, Aniruddha, Śukra, and Vṛhashpati. Let me supplement this list with additional names taken from the Toḍarānḍa, attributed to the great Toḍarmal; the names are Varāhamihira, Chyavana, Kaśyapa, Vṛddhagarga, Utpala, Māṇḍavya, Bharadvāja, Vṛddhavaśiṣṭha, and Lalla. Mānasāra gives the following list of the sages who are experts in architecture : Viśvakarmā, Viśa, Viśvasāra, Prabodhaka, Vṛtra, Maya, Tvaṣṭar, Mānabodha, Viśvabodha, Mahātantra, Vāstu vidyāpati, Ādisāra, Naya, Viśāla, Viśvakaśyapa Vāstubodha, Parāśarīyaka, Kālayūpa, Chaitya, Chitraka, Avarya, Sādhakasāra, Saṃhita, Bhānu, Indra, Lokajña, and Saura. Other notabilities in the field are Vātsyāyana, and the authors of the Purāṇas and the Tantras. But it cannot be definitely asserted that all the above personages ever dealt with town-planning; many of them must have only expounded domestic architecture. The works of many of them are missing. A regular investigation for the manuscripts should be instituted in Southern and Western India where they are still believed to be extant.