Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c53.16

v1.c53.16

The peculiar defensive character (walls and ditches all round) of the ancient towns in India stood as a hurdle in its extension. One of the methods of meeting the over-congestion and over-crowding of the population was by expelling the low-class people out of the city. Another way as suggested before, was the Matsya Purāṇa formulae (Ch. 217): No person should be allowed to remain in the city without any necessity or purpose. The rule of the Devī Purāṇa (Ch. 72) is— "The low-class people (Prakṛti) should be quartered outside the city." Another method (as per the account of the Harivaṁśa (Vishṇuparva chapter · 58) is the reconstruction of the town as well as its expansion on the outskirts of the city. This leads to a very sound canon of the improvement. It is laying out the suburb—to put in the terminology of the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra—the Śākhānagaras (branch-towns) as already spoken of. The Śabda-Kalpadruma gives the following definition of the Śākhānagara—the subsidiary town: "The town which is constructed in the vicinity or on the outskirts of the main city, to accommodate its overflowing population is termed branch town (Śākhānagara) from analogy with the branch of a tree." Instances of its expansion are not unknown in History, and we can adopt this method for the good of our land. We are doing no doubt in cities, but our bold policy should be to make villages as our śākhā-nagaras. These ultimately will result into the garden-villages or garden-cities, so much preferred in the modern world.