[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) › c9 # Town Planning in Ancient India c9: Chapter V: Streets and their Planning Town Planning in Ancient India c9 - **Language:** English ### Chapter V: Streets and their Planning ### [c9.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.2) One of the most important functions of a civic architect is lay-out of the streets. The roads serve two purposes : firstly, they are highways for traffic : secondly, they divide the sites for buildings. Incidentally and, as a matter of course, they have sanitary value, providing arteries of free ventilation. Hence in subservience to their primary purpose, streets should conform to the requirements of the principal currents of traffic circulation. They should be so laid out as to guarantee easy and speedy passage from one quarter of the town to another, especially to those centres of public importance to which will generally converge the mass of citizens, e.g., a market, a court, a council, a bank, a university—all institutions of corporate life. Besides, upon their construction coupled with that of the buildings, depends the quantity of sunlight and ventilation the latter can receive. The width of the thoroughfares must be commensurate with and adequate for the volume of traffic through them; and the streets as well as their cross-sections should be so adjusted as to minimise the probability of collision between two or more converging currents of traffic circulation. ### [c9.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.3) We have no direct materials to hand that may inform us whether the town-planning experts of ancient India understood the above principles or not. They lay down clear definite instructions about the alignment of streets and their widths; but so far as the fundamental principles underlying these instructions, or rather injunctions, are concerned, they are very reticent. This omission is in keeping with absence of any discussion of principles relating to any technical subject, peculiar not only to ancient India but to ancient times. As regards the particular topic in question, it may be said, by way of explanation, that the omission was perhaps due to absence of heavy street traffic which the modern town-planner has to take into consideration. We cannot expect the Indo-Aryan civic engineer to envisage the diverse offshoots of social evolution of dark future as reflected in the problems of modern town-planning and to provide for them in anticipation. Howbeit, the combined effect of their wonderfully harmonious and symmetric planning of the high-ways and the sites, of locating the buildings and the folks, has been to lessen and obviate the difficulties with surprising success. ### [c9.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.4) It is difficult to say with any degree of certainty whether the town-planners of India had any idea of the importance of light and air in street-planning and orientated their streets accordingly, they having always enjoined the setting of streets to the four cardinal directions of the heavens. All the Smṛti Śāstras however lay down: "The purity of streets is due to wind and light of the sun and the moon."¹ ### [c9.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.5) ¹ पन्थानश्च विशुध्यन्ति सोमसूर्यांशुमारुतैः ॥ ४० विष्णुसंहिता, २३श अध्यायः । ### [c9.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.6) They seem to have had a clear grasp of one principle, namely, that of adjusting the width of streets to the volume of traffic through them so as to reduce the probability of congestion. Thus we read in the Devī Purāṇa :² "The royal street or highway should be made as wide as ten dhanus, i.e., forty cubits, so that men, horses, elephants, and vehicles can have free movement without interference and collision." Sukrāchāryya prohibits construction of small lanes such as 'vīthis' (small shopping alleys) and 'padyās' (foot-ways) in the metropolis or large cities, for they are unsuited to the place not only because they augment insanitation, but also because they are ill able to accommodate the density of passage through them. To the same end are the segregation of the slow and the quick traffic and their confinement to distinct channels of progress ; for, congestion of street traffic is principally due to mixture of the two. In Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra, Book II, Chapter IV, dealing with buildings within the fort, we find mention of roads for chariots, roads for cattle, roads for elephants, and roads for minor quadrupeds as well as for men¹ which bears testimony to appreciation and recognition of the above principle by the town-planners of ancient India. It will be too bold and presumptuous to hold that this segregation was carried out in the same thoroughfare by its longitudinal subdivision into strips allotted to different kinds of traffic as is being done in some of the more advanced capitals of the modern age. In all probability the roads were different and separate for the varying speeds classified into groups. ### [c9.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.7) ² Ch. 72, ll. 78—9. धनु'षि दशविस्तारैः श्रीमान् राजपथः कृतः ॥ ३८ नृवाजिद्विपगानामसम्बाधसुखकरः । ### [c9.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.8) ¹ Cf. Harivaṁśa, Viṣṇuparva, Ch. 38, l. 38:—“Vehicular streets (rathyā), avenues (vīthi), and men’s roads (nṛṇām mārgah) were constructed in the city.” This classification of streets and their separate enumeration can be explained only on the hypothesis that there were distinct roads fixed for each class of passers-by. ### [c9.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.9) While on the subject of width of streets, it will not be inapt if the different widths of streets advocated by several authorities of town-planning are discussed here. Kauṭilya lays down:—“Chariot roads, royal roads, and roads leading to ‘droṇamukha’, ‘sthānīya’, country parts, and pasture grounds shall each be four daṇḍas (24 feet or 16 cubits) in width. Roads leading to ‘śayonīya’ (?), military stations (vyūha), burial or cremation grounds, and to villages shall be eight daṇḍas in width.”¹ This great width is due to the large number of people necessarily passing at the same time through these streets. “Roads to gardens, groves, and forests shall be four daṇḍas. Roads leading to elephant forests shall be two daṇḍas. Roads for chariots shall be five ‘aratnis’ (7½ feet). Roads for cattle shall measure four aratnis (six feet); and roads for minor quadrupeds and men two aratnis.”² Śukrāchāryya’s roads are wider: “The best royal roads (rājamārgāḥ) are 30 cubits wide, the average 20 cubits, while the worst royal roads are 15 cubits wide.”³ These are the main roads of towns and villages. Since the largest volume of traffic circulates through them, they are the widest: “these are used for the conveyance of marketable commodities……The ‘padyā’ or footpath is three cubits wide, the ‘vīthi’ (or shopping lanes) is five cubits wide and the ‘mārga’ or ordinary road is ten cubits wide whether in a town or in a village.”⁴ The authors of the Devī Purāṇa and the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa have put down exactly the same slokas (neglecting slight variations of readings) dealing with the measurements of roads and lanes. One must have copied the passage from another or both quote from the same authority :—" The 'deśamārgāḥ' (according to Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇam, 'diśāṃ mār-gāḥ') \*i.e.\*, country roads should be as wide as 30 dhanus. The 'grāmamārgāḥ'¹ (literally village roads or roads leading to villages) should be 20 dhanus wide and the 'sīmāmārgāḥ'(boundary roads) ten dhanus wide. The 'rājapathāḥ' or royal roads should be as wide, while the branch roads (śākhārathyāḥ) should be four dhanus or 16 cubits wide. The breadths of lanes (uparathyāḥ) are three cubits, while those of bye-lanes (uparathyikā) are two cubits. The ‘jaṅghāpatha’¹ (ghamṭāpatha, according to Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇam) is four feet in breadth, and the intervening space between two houses is three feet. The drains for receiving and washing off or scouring off offals and riff-raffs are one foot wide.”² The drains that are still extant in the ruins of Sārnāth, I may observe here, are exactly one foot wide. It is to be noted here that, according to the Devī Purāṇa, a dhanu is four cubits, while the dhanu of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa measures seventeen cubits ### [c9.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.10) ¹ Arthaśāstra, Bk. II, Ch. IV. ### [c9.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.11) ² Ibid. ### [c9.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.12) ³ Śukranītisāra, Ch. I, ll. 520-21. ### [c9.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.13) ⁴ Ibid, Ch. I, ll. 522-24. ### [c9.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.14) ¹ M.M. Dr. Ganganath Jha (\*Vide B.O.R.S.J.\*, Vol. II, June, 1916) says : "The highways leading from one town to another were 100 feet wide and the village roads were 60 feet wide." By the former he seems to refer to 'deśamārga', while by the latter to 'grāmamārga'. By village roads he means roads laid out in villages. This leads to an anomaly, for within the town, the principal roads were 30 feet wide and were therefore half as much wide as the roads of villages. He gives a far fetched explanation of this. With due respect to him, my humble opinion is that all his troubles are due to his wrong interpretation of the word 'grāmamārga'. As the deśamārgas were nothing but the highways of the country like the Grand Trunk Road, leading from one kingdom or principality to another, \*i.e.\*, joining capitals, so the grāmamārgas were the roads connecting one village with another and ultimately abutting on the deśamārgas. It should be remembered that in those days of alternating settlement and unsettlement, clusters of villages flourishing side by side, as in modern times, were non-existent or scarce. If villages lie in close proximity to one another, then the grāmamārgas identify themselves with the sīmāmārgas or the boundary roads forming lines of demarcation between them. Their exceptionally vast widths were due to the political condition of ancient India. The roads were utilised every now and then by the king or his subordinate regents or his commander-in-chief for expedition and locomotion with a vast army and suite. Indeed the origin of many of these roads can be traced to this sort of military necessity. Traces of such wide roads are however nowhere found in modern India though the bases of some may be an approximation to such breadth. Even the famous Grand Trunk Road is not so wide. \*Cf.\* Śukranītisāra, Ch. I, ll. 528-30. ### [c9.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.15) ¹ The ‘jaṅghāpatha’ is only a mountain pass fit for men and loaded animals, while ‘ghamṭāpatha’ is a road intended for carts which are required to carry bells as a warning to passers-by. Such roads are called in the Deccan as ‘ghant’ and in English ‘ghaunt’. ### [c9.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.16) ² Devī Purāṇa, Ch. 72, ll. 77—84. ### [c9.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.17) चि’षड्नु’षि विस्तोर्णौ दे शमागैस्तु तः कृतः । विंशद्धनुर्मार्गः सौमामार्गो दशैव तु ॥ धनु’षि दश विस्तोषः श्रोमान् राजपथः कृतः । स्वाभिरथगानामसम्बाधः सुसञ्चरः ॥ धनु’षि चैव चत्वारि शाखारथ्यास्तु निर्मिताः । विकरायोपरथ्यास्तु विकराप्युपरथ्यिका ॥ जङ्घापथचतुष्पादस्त्रिपदं स्याद् गृहान्तरम् । द्वौपादसार्द्धपादः प्राग्वंशः पादकः स्मृतः । अवकरः परोवाहः पादमात्रः समन्ततः ॥ ### [c9.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.18) Also compare Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇam, Ch. 8, ll. 227-35. ### [c9.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.19) and a half.¹ In that case, while the country roads and village roads of the Devī Purāṇa are vastly wide, being 120 and 80 cubits in breadth respectively, their widths as well as the widths of the royal roads and the branch roads of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa are respectively 525, 350, 175, and 70 cubits which is inconceivable and incredible. Whatever it may be, a street 40 cubits wide will be as broad as the Central Avenue or the Harrison Road, the two widest streets of Calcutta. It should be observed that the streets have widened according to the chronological order of the authorities quoted above, which demonstrates the growth of civic life and consequently, of volume of traffic with the advance of time. ### [c9.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.20) ¹ This measure of the dhanu is quite extraordinary and is opposed to its universally accepted measure which is four cubits. I think Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇam accepts this latter standard of the dhanu at least in the present case, but there must be some discrepancy in the transcription or interpretation of the original text. ### [c9.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.21) The number of main thoroughfares in any city must be adequate for its area: "The king should construct as many roads as the city requires."² The author of the Rājavallabha gives us his own estimate of the number of chief highways that may be in a city. "The greatest city has seventeen thoroughfares lengthwise, and as many breadthwise; the average city has four less, and the worst contains nine, this being the least number of longitudinal streets in a city worth the name.”¹ The estimates of the Mayamata are different. “The streets running from east to west may be 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, or 2 in number and as many may be running from north to south. Or their number may be odd so that it is 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, or 1.”² ### [c9.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.22) ² Sukranītisāra, Ch. I, l. 526: पुरं दृष्ट्वा राजमार्गान् सुबहून् कल्पयेन्नृपः। In my opinion the rendering of this line by Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar is erroneous which runs as follows: "The king should lay out many roads according to the number of towns." ### [c9.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.23) ¹ Ch. 4. ### [c9.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.24) ² Ch. 10. ### [c9.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.25) From the above and what follows it is evident that the streets of India were arranged and planted according to what is known as the rectangular chess-board system of street-planning. That is to say that the streets were laid out in parallel rows cutting one another at right angles. Ancient town-planning, whether Greek, Roman, or Indian, has been based on the straight lines and the right angles. This is the most natural method of street-planning that suggested itself to the unsophisticated mind of the Indian civic architect, but this is also the most generally recognised one even in modern times, because the rectangle is most convenient for building block. Sister Nivedita would however trace the origin of this rectangular plan of laying out streets to the predominant occupation of Indians which is agriculture, \*i.e.\*, labour in the paddy fields. "And certainly in the Indian Jeypore, we have the rectangular plan of the rice fields reproduced with their intersecting paths."¹ I need hardly add that the streets were all straight.² ### [c9.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.26) ¹ Civic and National Ideals, p. 10. ### [c9.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.27) ² Mayamatam, Ch. 10, \*l.\* 182. पसनमजुबीबीयुतं । ### [c9.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.28) A remarkable feature of the towns of ancient India was the big boulevard circumscribing the city within its walls. This is the concomitant consequence of circumvallation and was common to all old towns, Indian or European, for example, the cities of Sparta and Athens. One other peculiarity is that the canonical books of the Hindu city-builders called the Śilpa Śāstras are emphatic against any structure or vāstu pointing towards the diagonal corners of the heavens. Hence all the streets ran straight from east to west and north to south. This is as it should have been, as it has been pointed out in another chapter that the contours of the city were laid out axially to the cardinal directions. Even in very ancient times, we find these directions were acted up to as illustrated in the city of Dvārāvatī which had eight large highways crossing each other at right angles, girdled round by another. Even in recent ages the city of Jeypore was laid out after a similar scheme, by a Bengali Brāhmaṇ, Vidyādhar Bhaṭṭāchāryya. The plan was quite scientific and was drawn after the traditions of the Hindu city-builders. It is a chess-board plan similar to what is technically known as ‘prastara’. The main streets of the city run approximately from east to west and north to south. ### [c9.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.29) Indian cities were variously classified and denominated according to the number and direction of the streets and the arrangement of houses along them:—“That town is called Daṇḍaka which has only one easterly street resembling a phalanx or a staff (daṇḍa) with houses arrayed along it. If the town possesses also one northerly street intersecting the other at the centre, it is called Kartarīdaṇḍakam. If it further contains two building alleys running east-to-west (prāchīnau kuṭṭimau) at the extremities of the northerly street, then the town is known as Vāhudaṇḍakam having four gates in the four cardinal directions. If there are several sets of houses along the two sides of the northerly street with many house-lanes intervening between, it is called Kuṭikāmukhadaṇḍakam.¹ If the town is planned with three east-to-west streets and three other north-to-south streets, it is termed Kalakābandhadaṇḍakam.” The last four rural towns—these rather resemble the subdivisional towns in modern India—are clearly the four varieties of the daṇḍaka town. “Noted among other towns is Vedībhadrakam. It has three streets directed north and south and three vīthis or streets running to the east. These streets are separated by many residential lanes (kuṭṭimamārga), one lane intervening between every two streets. The Swastika town does not differ in plan from a Swastika village.¹ The Swastika is also a town which has six streets facing north and six others facing east, all encircled by another road and these dividing the city into residential plots (vīthipadam). The town-plan is known as Bhadrakam, if it consists of four streets running eastwise and four other running northwise. In it there are one street going round the quarters of Brahmā and three lanes to the east intervening between the ### [c9.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.30) ¹ दण्डका वोधो तद्दण्डकमित्यभोट' स्यात् ॥ ५४ उत्तरदिक्सुखमेकं तन्मध्ये संप्रयुक्तं चेत् । कर्तरीदण्डकमितं प्राचीनी कुट्टिमी तर्हि ॥ ५५ तद् वाहदण्डकं स्याद् दिक् चतुर्द्वारसंयुतम् । ### [c9.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.31) ¹ Vide the Chapter on the Village. ### [c9.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.32) बहुकुट्टिमसंयुक्तं मध्ये वीथ्या द्विपाश्र्वतः ॥ ५९ शेषं पूर्ववदिएं कुटिकामुखदण्डकं प्रोक्तम् । मयमतं दशमोऽध्यायः । प्रागुदगय मार्ग कस्तंरीतदण्डवत् तन्मध्ये ॥ ४१ द्वारषट्कयुतं दण्डकमिति कथ्यते मुनिभिः । दण्डवदिका वीथौ साध्ये वै दण्डकं प्रोक्तम् ॥ ४२ मयमतं नवमोऽध्यायः । ### [c9.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.33) rows of houses. If the number of similarly directed streets be five and five and there be many building plots, the name of the town is Bhadramukham. Another type is Bhadrakalyāṇam; the number of streets in it facing east and also of those facing north is six, dividing it into many building plots. The plan is known as Mahābhadram, if the number of such streets be seven and the rest as before. The town plan of Subhadra has eight streets facing the east and eight more transverse to them. The lanes which divide the building plots of this town-plan are furnished with gates and cross-bars. The Jayāṅga is the name of the town containing the imperial head-quarters. This town has a net-work of nine streets lying east to west with nine others transverse to them. It has four main gates in the four cardinal directions and four other subsidiary gates in the four corners. The lanes between the building plots are provided with portals which open out on the main streets. The experts designate the town as Vijaya in case it is divided into many building plots by lanes fitted up with gates and cross-bars to bolt them with. The number of main streets in it is ten versus ten. The imperial castle is installed in the town. Another town called Sarvatobhadra has eleven streets crossed by another set of eleven. The royal mansions are situated on any site barring the central quarters dedicated to Brahmā. In the front of the royal castle is a vast courtyard where is situated the harem. The rest should be planted according to necessity and exigencies of the situation. Its¹ street running towards the east (tat-prāg-diggata-mārga) is called Rājavīthī. The buildings of the rich range on both sides of it. Adjoining them are the quarters of the merchants. To their south are settled the weavers and to their north are established the wheel-wrights (chakriṇaḥ, carriage-drivers ?). In their neighbourhood are quartered kindred professions. The rest is as before.”² In fact, the above are varieties of street-planning in towns, but their difference consists in the number of principal streets and incidentally in the allocation of sites and arrangement of houses. ### [c9.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.34) ¹ What is this ‘it’ related to ? Is it the town or the Brahmā-plot or the royal house ? ### [c9.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.35) ² Mayamatam, Ch. 10. ### [c9.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.36) In the above dissertation mention is made of the doors of the roads. Such arches and gates are still visible in the lanes of Benares and Jeypore. The doors can scarcely be found, having yielded to the wear and tear of time. These doors were kept open in ordinary times and in all likelihood were bolted at night. In abnormal times such as in the event of any hostile attack or of depradatory incursions by brigands as frequently happened in those days of insecurity, the doors could be closed with stout and strong cross-bars and the wards could be turned into miniature strongholds. It must be remembered in this connection that the most ancient canons of town-planning forbade any doors or windows of houses opening out on the main thoroughfares. In later times this original utility and significance of the gates vanished; yet, the arches were there. The architecture of these arches was often magnificent rising to the sublime in many instances and a pedestrian could not but be impressed with the imposing spectacle confronting his eyes. His eyes would delight in feasting upon these resplendent facades. ### [c9.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.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. ### [c9.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.38) All these towns can be generalised into one representative type of a rectangular enclosure—only the Kārmuka and the Padmaka have different forms—with four sides facing four quarters of the heaven. The town was generally divided into four wards or sections by two large streets crossing each other at right angles at the centre.¹ These streets terminated at each end at four principal gates and the town possessed four other supplementary gates at the corners. The town was encircled within by a wide path which intervened between the walls and the outer blocks. This path went by the name of Maṅgalavīthī or the path of blessing or auspiciousness, for through this street the chariot of the presiding deity Viṣṇu or Brahmā was drawn and along this path the Hindu population of the town circumambulated the town after the immemorial rite of ‘pradakṣiṇa’. Hence this boulevard was also known as Janavīthikā, literally the path of men. ### [c9.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.39) ¹ This was not the case with all towns; for, a few towns had no central streets. ### [c9.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.40) Denominations of the various kinds of streets in a town are as follows:—" A street that goes round the village or town is called Maṅgalavīthī which should be one to five daṇḍas wide. That which runs from east to west is called Rājapatha ; that which had gates at both extremities is termed Rājavīthī; that which has ‘sandhis’ (literally junction) is Sandhivīthī; and that which lies in a southerly direction, is named Mahākāla or Vāmana.”¹ According to Mayamuni, “the streets that run straight like a staff from east to west are called Mahāpathas (broad highways). Of them the street passing through the centre (that is, the plot presided over by Brahmā) is called Brahmavīthī and this forms the navel of the network of streets. On both sides of this street and comparatively smaller than it are those streets (rest of the Mahāpathas ?) called Rājavīthī and these are fitted with gates (at the extremities). The Maṅgalavīthī and the Rathamārgas (car-streets)² all are ‘kuṭṭimakas’ (because they seem to have been paved with slabs of stone).³ These roads if furnished with transverse doors go by the name of Nārāchapathas. The comparatively narrower streets facing towards the north and equipped with gates and bolts are called Vāmanapathas. The street that goes round the village is called Maṅgalavīthikā and the corresponding street in a capital is called Janavīthikā. But in ancient authorities and in other towns, this street is technically termed as rathyā or the road along which the processional chariot (ratha) is dragged. The streets are one to five dhanus wide.”¹ ### [c9.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.41) ¹ Rāmrāz’s ‘Essay on Architecture’. My MSS. of the Mānasāra do not contain these lines. ### [c9.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.42) ² Are these car-streets identical with the rings of streets that encircle a town, as in Conjeeveram ? (Vide Ch. VII). Or, are these roads for carriage ? ### [c9.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.43) ³ Cf. “The remains of ancient stone-paving in the principal streets” still exist in the village of Aihole in the Bijāpore district once a renowned city known as Aryapura. ### [c9.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.44) ¹ Mayamatam, Ch. 9, ll. 72–79. ### [c9.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.45) Mr. E. V. Havell—and in this matter he takes the cue from Rāmrāz’s excerpt—says that of the two central streets, the one running from east to west is called Rājapatha and the other running from north to south is called Mahākāla, or Vāmanapatha (the short street). In my opinion he is wrong. Firstly, it is not an invariable practice that the towns are planted longitudinally from east to west; some run north and south. In these cases the north-to-south central street cannot be called Vāmanapatha or short street. Secondly, in the case of an ### [c9.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.46) प्राक्प्रत्ययातमागार् ऋजुदण्डमथाप्यथास्ते ॥ ३६ मध्यमयुक्ता वीथी ब्रह्माख्या सैव नाभिः स्यात् । द्वारसमेता वीथी राजाख्या च विप्रास्त्रतः क्षुद्राः ॥ ३७ सर्वाः कुट्टिमकाप्या मङ्गलवीथी तथैव रथमार्गम् । तिर्यग्द्वारसमेता नाराचपथा इति ख्याताः ॥ ३८ उत्तरदिक्मुखमार्गाः क्षुद्रां खवासनाख्यपथाः । ग्रामाहता मङ्गलवीथिकाख्या पुराहता य अनवीथिका स्यात् । तयोस्तु रध्याभिहिताभिधा स्यात् पुरातनैरन्यतमेषथैवम् ॥ ३९ ### [c9.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.47) Cf. शिल्प रत्ने पञ्चमाध्याये ।— ### [c9.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.48) ग्रामपध्यन्तवीथिस्तु ख्यातामङ्गलवीथिका ॥ ६८ नगरे रथवीथी सा रध्याख्या ख्यैठादिषु । ### [c9.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.49) even number of streets, there cannot be one versus one central streets. Thirdly, Rāmrāz’s extract does not warrant such a conclusion. And Mayamata’s appellations clearly explode it. According to this authority the street that passes through Brahmā’s chamber is called Brahmavīthī and all the principal roads fitted with gates and running from east to west are Rājavīthīs. Fourthly, a Rājapatha or Rājavīthī is not ‘king’s street’, that is, the one that runs in the front of the king’s palace. All the treatises, e.g., Mayamatam, Arthaśāstra, Śukranītisāra deny such a compound. The proper rendering should be ‘king among streets’. Pānini, the renowned grammarian, expounds the word as ‘panthānām rājā’, i.e., king among streets. In other words, it refers to any large street. Fifthly, Vāmanapathas and Rājapathas are used in the plural number which furnishes additional proof against their singularity or uniqueness. I venture to say that Vāmanapathas are the short roads lying north to south joining two easterly parallel streets. They are the short-cuts. These short-cuts may be planted in a straight line so as to form a continuous road. The central among the northerly streets may sometimes be called Mahākālapatha. Sandhivīthīs seem to be roads which, when abut on other streets, form a triangular cross-section. ### [c9.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.50) The broad central streets, the Brahmavīthī and the Mahākālavīthī constituted the principal arteries of communication of the town with other towns and villages, thus linking them together. They were the military and commercial routes, because Indian towns and villages were generally planted at the meeting points of such high-ways. These crossings were the trysting places of caravans of traders and offered a market for disposal of their merchandise. It should be borne in mind in this connection that the towns served also as fastnesses to defend the surrounding villages under their ægis and jurisdiction. This net-work of main routes knitting together the towns and villages of the kingdom and affording easy access to them augmented the administrative efficiency of the state. Their manifold utility was patent to all and they were maintained by the co-operation of groups of villages which furnishes another example of their civic consciousness. Only the most important routes, such as the military ones, were repaired and maintained by the state, for the state was more interested in their upkeep than the villages. ### [c9.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.51) This peculiarity in the situation of the Indian towns had another remarkable bearing upon Indian town-planning. As already observed, the two middle northerly and easterly streets formed the principal channels through which the main currents of importing and exporting commerce passed. India at that time had an extensive foreign trade with Arabia, Turkey, and Persia and through them with Europe. The trade routes lay through the famous passes of the North Western Frontier Provinces. Hence in normal times, the Mahākālapatha running from north to south formed the chief commercial route; it was also the road along which the foreign invasions came. The Brahmavīthī was generally the road for inland military expeditions and inland trade. But in northern and eastern parts of India the streets exchanged their purposes. Thus we are informed that the Brahmavīthī of Chandragupta’s empire was that which passed through Pāṭaliputra and right up to north-western povinces. ### [c9.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.52) The fact that the two principal roads of every town and village of ancient India continued up to the main highways of the empire and thus constituted the most important channels for the ebb and flow of commerce was one of the reasons why the Hindu town-planners did not advocate diagonal streets in their town-plans. One of the functions of these diagonal streets in modern times is to provide direct short-cuts between railway termini or between the railway stations and the docks. It is obvious that the main streets of Indian towns adequately provided for similar through-traffic. Another reason for these radiating streets is that they afford easy and short access to important public buildings and places, such as banks or markets. But the peculiar custom of the Indian towns of centralising and judiciously allocating the public buildings at the centre, and round about it, obviated this necessity. Hence when we consider that these radial streets are responsible for ill-shaped buildings and rooms at the cross-sections—which, by the way, should be the important and picturesque edifices—and also that the main streets and the intelligent distribution of buildings splendidly served the purpose of diagonal streets of modern towns, we cannot but admire the skilful manipulation of the whole town-plan by the Indian civic architects which could only proceed from a thorough grasp of the subject. ### [c9.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.53) But it must not be supposed that diagonal streets were never used. We find in the circular form of the Nandyāvarta town-plan that streets radiated from the centre of the town. But it is not definitely known if this scheme of radiating streets proceeded from any conscious understanding of the principles for which they stand. It is more likely they were the result of merely copying the configuration of the ribs of the nadyāvarta flower.¹ But the circular type of the Nandyāvarta village was seldom executed in practice, for generally the village was planned after the mystic geometrical figure Nandyāvarta. Inclined streets were sometimes adopted along the outskirts as in the Swastika or multi-lateral village plans. In these, they could not be avoided.¹ But maps of many towns of ancient India, especially of Rājputanā and the Deccan, show that there are many diagonal curved streets in them. I am not sure if all of them were laid out according to orthodox town-plans or according to any pre-designed plan at all, though the town-planning traditions might have unconsciously asserted themselves in some features. Curved streets might have been there, prior to the foundation of the town and it was thought advisable not to deviate them, for natural routes best adjust themselves to the exigencies of the situation. Again many of the towns in Rājputanā and the Deccan are situated in hilly tracts where curved streets are inevitable and enhance the effectiveness of mountain vistas. Thus in the city of Vijayanagara, “ instead of a flat-lying town surrounded by cultivated fields and intersected by streets regularly laid out, we find the whole site interspersed with groups of bare rocky hills or huge granite boulders, with little vegetation of any sort upon them. The ancient streets or bāzārs are placed in the villages among the hills.”¹ We have at least one definite instance of a diagonal street that was deliberately conceived and laid out as a direct approach from the king’s palace to another city. This was the ‘ Pān Supāri Bāzār ’ street of Vijayanagar. Even in abstract theory we find in the Garuḍa fort that central diagonal streets were advocated to be laid out connecting one corner with its opposite. As in the case of city contours where, though exact mathematical figures were recommended in the authoritative treatises on Indian town-planning, yet the territorial restrictions made irregular zigzag shapes unavoidable, so was the case with the planning of streets. They certainly were made to conform to local conditions so that, economic and æsthetic considerations were not sacrificed to the fetish of symmetry or rectilinearity in a fixed direction. It cannot be said that the curved form of these streets was due to the ignorance of the master-builders of the directions of the town-planning authorities; for there exist even to-day in Southern India numerous descendants of these master-builders of olden times who understand and preserve the traditional lore on town-planning. Indeed they are the only persons extant who can explain the technical terms of architecture and cognate subject of town-planning. The very existence in India of the sub-castes, trade guilds in fact, is a sure guarantee that the principles of caste-profession were handed down from generation to generation. ### [c9.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.54) ¹ Vide the Chapter on Town Expansion. ### [c9.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.55) ¹ “The word ‘swastika’ conventionally signifies a method of crossing the arms or legs so as to form diagonals af a square or rectangle. The plan of this type contemplates some diagonal streets dividing the vāstu into certain triangular plots. The site of the town-plan need not be marked out into a square or a rectangle. It may be of any form.” (Indian Architecture by Messrs Ananthalwar and Reas). This new and radical interpretation of swastika-plan strikes a departure from its orthodox conception based upon the figure Swastika. ### [c9.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.56) ¹ Archæological Survey of India, 1902-3. ### [c9.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.57) It is not definitely known whether the streets were lined with foot-paths like the streets of a modern town. The word padyā (noticed above), literally meaning foot-fath, seems to have had a different significance and referred to only narrow roads, too narrow for vehicles plying through them. In his commentary on Āpasthambha’s direction about the particular passage to be given to a murderer of a Brāhmaṇ, Horadatta, however, writes, “Some say that his passage lies along one of the two paths that border a large street (rathyā) on both sides.”¹ ### [c9.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.58) ¹ Āpasthambha Dharmasut:a, Praśna 1, Paṭala 9, Khaṇḍika 24, Sutra 12. तस्य पन्या चन्तरावलंबनि । अपर आह, यत्र रथ्यादौ उभयोः पार्श्वयोर्वर्त्मनी भवतः, तत्र तयोर्मध्ये सूवकरार्दपथेन सञ्चरेतेति । ### [c9.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.59) Special attention was devoted to the trimming of the intersections of roads. They were either triangular as when one road abuts on another or quadrangular as when two roads cross one another¹ or circular as in the case of Nandyāvarta town at the centre of which converge eight streets. These intersections were given definite shapes and were very much widened by straightening the projecting angles of the adjacent building plots. Thus we read in the Harivamśa that the sixteen cross-sections formed by the eight large streets of Dvārāvatī, four running transverse to the four others, were very wide.² On these cross-roads of the village or town were situated the council-trees or pavillions where elders of the village chatted together or laid their heads together to discuss village politics.³ Bhuvaneswar has its great tree in the centre of the parting of three roads. The pedestals round these trees served the purpose of a dais and the trees were therefore called council-trees. On some cross roads one would find wells or fountains or water-sheds. I observed at Bharatpur one such well attached to a water-shed (i.e., a house where drinking water is supplied to passers-by free of charge) made of rough-hewn stone at the junction of three roads. In some cases lamp ### [c9.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.60) ¹ Harivamśam, Viṣṇuparva, Ch. 88, l. 17. ### [c9.61](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.61) ² Ibid, Ch. 98, l. 55. ### [c9.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.62) ³ Vide Agni Purāṇam, Ch. 65, l. 4. ### [c9.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.63) काल्पान्ताम् चिकचत्वराः । ### [c9.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.64) चतुष्पथे ग्रामादौच न शून्यकारयेत् सभाम् । ### [c9.65](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.65) posts were planted. The Smṛti Śāstras enjoin lighting lamps at the cross-roads. Divine edifices were also erected at the intersections of roads. The central site of a town or a village was almost always set apart for shrines of Brahmā. The great width of the cross-sections, and the well, the chaitya, the sabhā-vṛksha (council tree),¹ or the light-post (dīpa-sthambha)² situated at their centres minimised the chances of collision between countergoing vehicles. In ancient India it was the custom to make a ‘pradakshiṇa’ (or rounding of the cross-way with the right hand turned towards it) of the cross-roads³ and this was not possible if pedestrians or conveyances did not keep to the left. Indeed great stress was laid ### [c9.66](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.66) ¹ Harivaṁśa, Viṣṇuparva, Ch. 88, l. 131. ### [c9.67](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.67) ² It is difficult to say with certainty that there was any elaborate and systematic arrangement of lighting the towns of ancient India. We generally come across ritualistic injunctions upon the householder to light lamps at the cross-roads. This cannot be interpreted as a part of any lighting scheme of towns inasmuch even village roads are included within the operation of the rule and even to-day lamps are lighted, on some special occasions, at the crossings of village roads. On festive occasions only light-posts (dīpavṛksha) were erected at regular intervals throughout the city. The Brahma Purāṇa and the Agni Purāṇa however lay down that lights should be posted in rows in the streets (rathyā) after sun-set. (दीपमालाश्च कर्तव्याः......रथ्यापथाग्रतः-यु... ). I am not quite certain whether this rule was dictated by reasons of civics or of ceremonials and if it was followed in pratice at all. ### [c9.68](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.68) ³ Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Book III, Ch. 12, sl. 26. ### [c9.69](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.69) अपसव्यं न गच्छेच्च देवगारचतुष्पथान् । ### [c9.70](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.70) upon this rule of keeping to the left. "The most convenient arrangement is to have a round space with the traffic circulating in one direction. Vehicles coming from any one road fall in with the line of traffic, circulate with it, and fall out again when they reach whatever of the other roads they wish to pass down."¹ If the custom noted above was actually followed in practice, then the vehicles in ancient India followed a clockwise motion in going round the circulation spaces at the cross-section described above. From the æsthetic point of view, a tree or a tower at the junction of roads is highly desirable. The hazy vacuity of long straight streets wearies the eye-sight as there is nothing in the front to fix the eyes upon. Contrast with this the very pleasant effect which the street causes, if it leads to some fine architectural structure or a beautiful tree. In ancient India, the junctions of roads were therefore utilised for erection of monumental buildings, such as a college, a shrine, or a monastery. At the centre of the town were sometimes erected the imperial mansions. The principal four streets radiated from this central place and they terminated at the four city gates surmounted by arches and turrets. The royal mansion or the sacred shrine of Brahmā had also gopuras at the four cardinal directions and the streets as a rule started from these gates. The temple or the imperial edifice was the finest building of the town and the sublimity of the vista was considerably enhanced by the picturesque gardens they contained within their compound. A pedestrian wending his way along these streets could not fail to be impressed by the delightful panorama revealed before his eyes.¹ Even the small streets and lanes had arched doors at their extremities. The Indian master-builders were very particular in bringing about this spectacular effect, for it goes a great way towards promoting the art culture of the citizens. Thus we read in the Matsya Purāṇa that the four terminii of the two main cross-streets were artistically adorned with four magnificent structures, all important from the civic point of view.² The principal thoroughfares were lined with trees whose sanitary and æsthetic value is obvious. "The mangoe trees and the mādhavī trees were planted at convenient spots along the streets (of Conjeeveram) and at the intersection of the streets. Indeed the city was unsurpassed for the magnificence of its broad streets and the beautiful rows of noble avenue trees on either side.”¹ The streets of the most ancient towns were lined with walls on both sides² and no lane or window opened on them. Later on, there was however some modification. The windows of the second storey were allowed on the road side. Small stalls for shopping were raised in rows against the walls. The height of the stall did not exceed that of the walls. I have seen a beautiful picture of such streets honey-combed with rows of shopping stalls of uniform height in the picture gallery of the Calcutta Museum.³ Sometimes an entire profession or business or class of citizens was represented along a street which was named after it. ### [c9.71](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.71) ¹ R. Unwin, Town Planning in Practice. ### [c9.72](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.72) ¹ "At the front of the gates there should be an arbour (latāmaṇḍapa) and a garden. Every gate should be furnished with a royal chamber and also with windows. Their fronts should be decorated with ornate pictures. Bowers or maṇḍapas should be erected hard by the quarters of the armed gate-keepers." Vide Devī Purāṇam, Ch. 72, ll. 235—46. ### [c9.73](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.73) ² Vide Chapter VI. ### [c9.74](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.74) ¹ Town Planning in Ancient Deccan. ### [c9.75](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.75) ² Vide Śilparatna, Ch. 5, l. 42. पांसुचययुक्तमार्गे विधिवत् कार्य्य हि सर्व्वत । ### [c9.76](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.76) ³ For the ornamental effect of the pictures on the lateral walls, vide Chapter XI. ### [c9.77](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.77) The buildings were not constructed in an irregular fashion and there was co-operation in alignment and structure. Thus we read in the description of Ayodhyā that the fronts of the buildings were harmoniously arranged (suniveśitaveśmāntām). We have bās-reliefs showing the general design of the frontage of buildings belonging to the Buddhistic age.. Their sculptural ornamentation and architectural workmanship are magnificent. The patriotic sculptor chiselled on the facades of the buildings splendid scenes of Buddhist mythology and culture. ### [c9.78](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.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 ### [c9.79](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.79) ¹ Śukranītisāra, Ch. 1, ll. 531-2. ### [c9.80](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.80) ² Śukranītisāra Ch. 1, ll. 585-6 ### [c9.81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.81) कूर्मपृष्ठा मार्गभूमिः कार्याः याव्यैः सुसेतुकाः । कुर्यान्मार्गान् पार्श्वखातान्निर्गमाथ अलक्षच ॥ ### [c9.82](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.82) पङ्क्तिद्वयगतानां हि गेहानां कारयेत् तथा । मार्गान् सुधाशर्करैर्वा घटितान् प्रतिवत्सरम् ॥ ### [c9.83](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.83) conduit pipe discharged the water of the city into the ditch near the entrance gate where it was covered over with a stone culvert. ### [c9.84](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.84) By such a drainage system, the water used in private homes for domestic and bathing purposes, was conducted by pipes into the main conduit which poured its contents into the ditch. Those who could afford the expense, had separate baths specially constructed for them in such a manner that water might be filled in or let out of such baths at their pleasure. When they had finished bathing, they opened the outlet of the baths which emptied water into the drain which led to the ditch outside.¹ ### [c9.85](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.85) ¹ Town Planning in Ancient Deccan, pp. 61–2. ### [c9.86](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.86) It may not be out of place in this chapter to note that, like the walls ranging on both sides of the streets of the city, sometimes the streets outside the city had their own walls. In the palace-city of Rājagṛha, it is said that the roads which traversed the plain country beyond the city seem to have been protected by walls on either sides. In 1812, Buchanan was able to trace "the foundations of a double wall leading to the gap," all the way from the south gate to new Rājagṛha to the entrance of the new valley. One such road was the pilgrim's road from Sonagiri to the Son Bhāṇdār cave which now passes through one gap in the south wall which probably represented a south-east gate leading towards Jithian.¹ ### [c9.87](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.87) ¹ Archæological Survey of India, 1907—8. ### [c9.88](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.88) In a tropical country like India where the prevailing wind blows either from the north or south throughout the whole year, it is reasonable that the houses should lie east to west so as to admit of free ventilation. But to receive the orient sun, the houses of the oriental countries are also directed to open out towards the east.² ### [c9.89](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9.89) ² Śukranītisāra, Ch. 1, l. 515. निवेशनं पुरे यानि प्रागुदमुखमेववा । ## Linked texts (24) - [Agnipurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.agni) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.brahmanda) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Brahmapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.brahma) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Kāmikāgama](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sampradaya.saiva.agama.siva.kamika) — Sanskrit - [Matsyapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.matsya) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Mānasāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.manasara) — Sanskrit - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Aṣṭādhyāyī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.vyakarana.astadhyayi) — Pāṇini, Sanskrit - [Mayamata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.mayamata) — Maya, Sanskrit - [Viṣṇusaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sampradaya.vaisnava.pancaratra.visnusamhita) — Sanskrit - [Āpastambadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.apastamba) — Āpastamba, Sanskrit - [Bhadrakasutta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.samyutta.4.42.11) — Pāli - [Harivaṃśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Viṣṇupurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Subhadrā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.jaina.post.natya.subhadra) — Hastimalla, Sanskrit - [Sārnāth](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.sarnath) - [Pāṭaliputra](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.pataliputra) - [Rājagṛha](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.rajagrha) - [Aihole](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.aihole) - [Vijayanagara](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.vijayanagara) - [Dvārakā](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.dvaraka) - [Śilparatna](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.dravida.silparatna) — Śrīkumāra (Śilparatna) 1500, Sanskrit - [Paryāyaratnamālā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.med.nighantu.paryaya.paryayaratnamala) — Mādhavakara, Sanskrit - [Devīpurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.upa.sakta.devi) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.dutt-1925.c9) · Pramāṇa