[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) › c8.37 # Town Planning in Ancient India c8.37 Town Planning in Ancient India c8.37 - **Language:** English ### [c8.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.37) (3) Desert-fort (dhānvana), i.e., a fort in the midst of a desert devoid of any water on all sides up to five yojanas.¹ ‘Nirudaka’ (water-less)² and ‘airiṇa’ are its principal varieties. Nirudaka is the fort encompassed by a barren tract devoid of water, trees, even of a single blade of grass.³ It corresponds to the airiṇa of the Mayamata.⁴ The second variety called airiṇa is a fort in the midst of a soil made barren by and saturated with salt or brine water. The difference between the two lies in the fact that the land enclosing the former is free from any element of salt and its barrenness might be due to sand or gravels, while the environments of the other owe their sterility to the presence of salt in them.⁵ Occasionally the second species is enveloped by fens full of saltish water and by thorny woods and rocks or stones.¹ In both the cases an oasis is turned into a fortified town. Many principalities in Rājputanā will fall under these heads. - [Previous: c8.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.36) - [Next: c8.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.38) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8) ## Linked texts (1) - [Mayamata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.mayamata) — Maya, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.37) · Pramāṇa