Indian Antiquary Vol 57

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 27

JANUARY, 1928)
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defence, and a channel of communication for traders and others; and orthodox Hindu ideas de manded their construction always on the right bank. The violation of this rule in the case of a city like Caloutta is one proof that it was laid out under foreign influence. The confluence of two rivers was also a favourite site for a town.
The multiplication of cities in Ancient India was primarily due, according to Mr. Dutt, to the large number of dynasties of greater or less importance, each uf whom required a fortified capital of its own, As far 18 possible centrally situatod. He quotes Sukracharya's recommendations in rogard to flora, fauna, and geographical situation, and the opinions of other old authorities regarding the lie of the ground, which, according to the Silpa Sastras, ought to slope downwards towards the north or east. In other words the town ditch, into which all impurities drained, was likely to prove legs offensive on the north than on the south, while with an easterly declivity the town would secure full advan. tage of the morning sunshine. Evon in the matter of town-planning the ancient fourfold social division was observed, for the soil was divided into four classes, according to colour, taste, smell, etc. The best kind-described in the Rajavallabha as white, fragrant, and agreeable to the taste-was naturally reserved for Brahman residents; the wretched Sudras had to put up with black soil, stinking like decayed fish. Ancient methods of testing the eolidity of the ground are quoted from the Matsya Purana, and these were followed by elaborate purificatory and consecratory rites, in which the plough played an important part. After that the the Indo-Aryan town planner was called upon to define the exact area, the circumference, and the chief internal sites of the new town.
A salient feature of Ancient Indian towns was the most and ramparts, owing to the fact that in primitive ages the citadel itself was the town. The description of Ayodhya, of Lanka and of Matburn indicates this condition, and it was not till & later age that the city outgrow the fort, which was often located at its centre. Elaborate instructions are given in the Arthasdatra and other worla regarding different types of forts, which depended as a rule rather on natural than on artificial defencos, regarding the number and size of walls, battlements and ramparts, which might be quadrangular, Square, circular or semi-lunar in shape, and regarding the number and size of moats. According to Mogasthenes, Pataliputra had a suomion of brick-linod moats, the waters of which were regulated by hidden sluicbe. Mr. Dutt declares that these moats were often converted into a form of urban adornment, as "the Aryan town-plannere" cultivated lotuses and lilies in their stagnant waters; and he quotes as evidence of this fact a Tamil poem describing the Chola fort of Pukar. It is doubtful whether a purely Dravidian capital like Pukar can be justly offered as ovidence of Aryan
ideas of urban decoration ; while the condition of such moats as have survived in India down to bistorical times induces doubts whether they were m delectablo adjuncts of the city as the poetie imagination portrays them.
As to communications, Mr. Dutt has collected the statements of various ancient authorities as to the width of different classes of roads or streets. These were almost always arranged on the rectangular or chess-board plan, encircled by a large boulevard inside the walls, which followed the line of circum. vallation. While it is difficult to decide how wide the atroots were, it is obvious that they cannot have attained some of the widths laid down in Sanskrit lore; and if the streets of old and still existing Indian towns afford any guide, many of the thoroughfares of ancient Indo-Aryan towns must have been, according to modern ideas, very narrow. The hyperbole of the poets is not a wholly trustworthy guide in these matters of detail. Incidentally, Mr. Dutt disputes the meaning of king's street" usually assigned to rdjapatia, i.e., the street loading to or passing in front of the royal residence. On the authority of Panini, he translates it "king among streets, and declares it signifies any large road. He also recalls the fact that the most ancient rules of Indian town-planning forbade any door or window to open on to a main thoroughfare, while the main roads through the wards were furnished at both ends with stout doors, which could be closed in sesons of disturbance. The pols of Ahmadabad offer a good example of this feature.
The author remarks that it was customary in Ancient India to perform the pradakshina of a cro88-road, and that consequently all vehicles and pedestrians must have observed the rule of keeping to the loft when crossing the open space at a junction. Traffic, in other words, followed "a clockwise motion ", in the manner recently introduced at Hyde Park Corner and other crowded points in London. If this is so, one can only deplore the completo oblivion into which the pradakshina of open spaces at cross-roads has now fallen. The chief problem of traffic regulation in #modem Indian town is concerned with making vehicular and pedestrian traffo keep to the left, instead of wandering all over the road. There is much interesting information about ancient site-planning, which is illustrated by diagrams of the arrangementa recommended in the Silpa Sdstras. Broadly speaking, they all allow for the location of separato guilds or castes in different streets or wards-an arrangement which can be seen in most Indian towns to-day-and for the reservation of the Best sites for the upper castes and classes. Some Sanskrit works enter into great detail, e.g., the Agns Purdna, which places goldsmiths in the south-east oorner of the town ; dancers and harlots in the south; stage-managers and fishermen in the southweat; dealers in chariots, woapons, and outlery in the weat; liquor-merchants, officers and servants