Town Planning in Ancient India c9.37

c9.37

The Mānasāra—and the Mayamata supports it in several instances—classified the towns, according to their street-planning and site-planning under eight heads :—(1) Daṇḍaka ; (2) Nandyāvarta ; (3) Sarvatobhadra ; (4) Prastara ; (5) Chaturmukha ; (6) Kārmuka ; (7) Padmaka ; (8) Swastika. The Kāmikāgama cites six more types. Their plans are exactly similar to the corresponding prototypes of villages, as the village contemplated and designed in ancient India, both in practice as well as in theory, was a miniature town or fastness. Since their characteristics have been detailed in a separate chapter, they need not be repeated here.