History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.401
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.401
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Manu IX. 294 places the capital (pura) even before rāṣṭra. Medhātithi (on IX. 295) and Kullūka explain that the loss of the capital is a more serious danger than even the loss of some territory, because if the capital, which possesses all the stocks of food, in which are centred the principal elements and the army, is saved, then it is possible to retrieve even lost territory and to protect the country. It is as it were the pivot of the whole machinery of government. Other writers (and even Manu in VII. 69-70) place the capital or fort after the rāṣṭra. It is probably due to the geographical situation in North India and the nature of the fighting in ancient times that made the capital and forts of great importance in the several elements of the State. The capital mirrored the prosperity of the country and if properly walled also provided security. Yāj. I. 321 says that forts are meant for the safety of the king, the people and the treasury (*janakośātmaguptaye*). The reason for the construction of forts is well put by Manu VII. 74 viz. that a single archer under the shelter of the fort-wall can fight a hundred of the enemy and a hundred can fight ten thousand. The Pañcatantra (I. 229 and II. 14) has a similar verse. Bṛhaspati quoted by the Rājanītiprakāśa²²⁸ p. 202 states that the king should construct a fort with walls and a gate for the protection of himself, his wives, the people and the (wealth) collected by him. Kaut. (II.
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3 and 4) deals at length with the construction of durgas and the laying out of the capital in one of them. He says that in the four quarters of the boundaries of the kingdom forts should be built for offering resistance (to the enemy) on ground naturally fitted for the purpose. He speaks of four kinds of forts viz. '*audaka*' (water-protected, which is on an island surrounded by water or on a plain surrounded by low ground), *pārvata* (mountain one, such as a rocky hill or a cave), *dhānvana* (desert fort, on a waterless tract full of thickets or waste land), a forest fort full of wagtails and water and thickets of reed. He says that the first two are suited for the protection of populous places and the last two for the protection of foresters. Vāyu 8. 108 refers to four kinds of durgas. Manu VII. 70, Śānti 56. 35 and 86. 4-5, Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 6, Matsya 217. 6-7, Agnipurāṇa 222. 4-5, Viṣṇudharmottara II. 26. 6-9, III. 323. 16-21, Śukra IV. 6 speak of six kinds of forts viz.
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dhanvadurga (which is waterless five yojanas round a raised plain), mahīdurga (a land fort, which is surrounded by a wall built of stones or burnt bricks, that is at least twelve feet high and twice as high as it is broad), jaladurga (water fort, surrounded on all sides by deep water), vārkṣa durga (fort that is surrounded for one yojana on all sides with thorny and tall trees and thorny creepers and bushes), nṛdurga (fort that is guarded by a numerous army of four sections on all sides), giridurga (mountain fortress, difficult to climb and with only one narrow access). Manu VII. 71 says that the mountain fortress is the best of all, while Śānti 56. 35 states that nṛdurga is the most difficult to conquer. The Mānasollāsa (II. 5 p. 78) speaks of nine kinds of durgas (adding those built with stones, bricks and mud). The Paraśurāma-pratāpa enumerates eight kinds of durgas (Rājavallabhakāṇḍa, folio 1) and states that the wall of a fort may be of stones or of baked bricks or of mud. Manu VII. 75-Sabhā 5. 36 (=Ayodhyā 100. 53), Matsya 217. 8, Kām. IV. 60, Mānasollāsa III. 5 (verses 550-555), Śukra IV. 6. 12-13, Viṣṇudharmottara II. 26. 20-88 prescribe that forts should possess plenty of arms, grain, drugs and other materials, wealth, horses, elephants, beasts of burden, brāhmaṇas, artisans, machines (called Śataghnīs acc. to Matsya, that kill a hundred), water and fodder. The Nītivākyāmṛta (durga-samuddeśa p.
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199) says that there must be means of leaving it secretly, otherwise it will be a prison and that no one should be allowed to enter it or leave it without a pass or without being searched. Kauṭ. (II. 3) gives detailed instructions for the construction of fort walls, towers, ditches, pillars, lotus ponds and buildings inside the fort, which are all passed over for want of space. Vide the Rājadharmakāṇḍa pp. 28-36 and the Rājadharmakaustubha pp. 115-117 for numerous quotations from the Dhanurveda of Uśanas, the Mahābhārata, the Matsya, the Viṣṇudharmottara and other works on *durga*.