Town Planning in Ancient India c8.6

c8.6

But the parapets and the trenches were not the only kinds of fortifications of an ancient town. Thus does Kauṭilya enumerate their different classes in his famous Arthaśāstra: "In all the quarters of the boundaries of the kingdom, defensive fortifications against any emergency of war shall be raised on the grounds rendered inapproachable by nature (daivakṛta)¹; water-fort (audaka) such as one of an island in the midst of a river (antar-dvīpa) or of a plain surrounded by low ground or morass in which water is stagnated (sthala); a mountain-fort (pārvata) such as one surrounded by a rocky tract (prāstara)² or a fort in a valley in the midst of an encircling range of hillocks (guhā)¹; a desert-fort (dhānvana) such as a fort in the centre of a wild tract devoid of water and even thickets² or of a soil sterilized by desert-salt (iriṇa)³; a forest-fort (vanadurga) such as a fort encompassed by many bogs and fens interspersed with trees and bushes (khāmjana)⁴ or one girt round by thickly set tall trees and underwoods.”⁵