[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) › c8.89 # Town Planning in Ancient India c8.89 Town Planning in Ancient India c8.89 - **Language:** English ### [c8.89](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.89) It may not be out of place here to notice that Megasthenes who visited Pāṭaliputra when Chandragupta was on its throne and Chāṇakya, his famous minister, identified with Kauṭilya, author of the Arthaśāstra, was at the helm of affairs of that vast empire, refers, in his accounts, to "timber walls" of Pāṭaliputra. These timber walls referred to by Megasthenes are rather mysterious inasmuch as Kauṭilya was much against the use of wood because “fire finds a happy abode in it”. Considerations of climate, economy, and æsthetics were responsible for planting and rearing up in rows “the senators of the forests” round the ramparts. Thus we find that the town of Ayodhyā was girt with a belt of śāla trees (śālamekhalā).¹ - [Previous: c8.88](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.88) - [Next: c8.90](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.90) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8) ## Linked texts (1) - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.89](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c8.89) · Pramāṇa