History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.401.3

v4.c62.401.3

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.