The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c7.33

c7.33

Just as the single cottage, or village hut, formed the unit of house-planning, so the village plan was the unit used to form the *mahalla*, or ward, in town planning.² The Mânasâra recognises forty different classes of villages and towns, according to the extent of the lands owned by them; commencing with a village-unit which was 500 *dandas*, or 4,000 feet square, so that the extent of the largest cities would be 20,000 dandas, or about 30 English miles square. Of this area about one-third was devoted to building space, and the rest to the agricultural lands owned by the community, It should be observed that neither a village nor a town was usually square in plan, but a rectangle, with the long sides running east and west, so as to secure a proper circulation of air even in the largest cities. In the description of Ayodhya given in the Râmâyana, the proportion between its breadth and length is as one is to four. Pâtaliputra was about 9 miles in length and 1½ miles in breadth. Hindu Gaur was also a long rectangle. One of the long sides generally faced a lake or river, an arrangement which provided bathing facilities for all the inhabitants, and obviated the necessity of building defensive works all round.