Town Planning in Ancient India c8.91

c8.91

Outside the walls and not very close to them (nātisamīpaprākārā) there were ditches surrounding the city. The number of ditches is optional, depending upon the necessity and security of the place. Thus we read in the Devī Purāṇa² that the number may be two, three, four, or eight as the ground requires (bhūmibaśāt). But Kauṭilya fixes the number at three; and the three ditches are to have an intermediate space of one daṇḍa (6 ft.) from one another. The sides of the ditches were made of stones or bricks. That the ditches of Pāṭalīputra, the capital of the renowned Magadha empire, were constructed in conformity to these rules is corroborated by the account of Megasthenes. He writes that the “massive timber walls were defended by successive brick-lined moats filled with water.” It may not be at all improbable that the actual number of ditches Kauṭilya saw round his principal place of activity suggested to him the specified number. The king dug three moats round Mithilā—a water-moat, a mud-moat, and a dry-moat.¹