Town Planning in Ancient India c9.78

c9.78

Finally the streets were elevated in the middle so that they looked like the back of a tortoise and the country roads were provided with sufficient number of culverts and bridges. There were drains on both sides of the roads for passage of water.¹ The streets were sometimes paved with slabs of stones or were macadamized with broken stones and gravels. Every year they had to be repaired in this way.² Mr. Ayyar says that dust-bins (purimums) were also placed in streets, generally in the corners at the two extremities of a street. He also supplies us with a detailed description of the drainage system of the town of Vanji:—"As in other cities so also in Vanji the ditch encircled the walls of the city. The water from the palace, public halls, and private residences fell into this ditch by means of a conduit sluice known as Tumbu. The