Book Title: Jain Agam Sahitya
Author(s): K R Chandra
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 321
________________ *Town Plannig in the Jain Anga 297. : Names of Towns : The Anga literature notes the towns in at least two catagories One of it is the territorial towns and cities like Campā, Hastināpur, Rājagyha, Kausambi, Śrävasti, Dvārāyati, Vitasokā and others. The other is the terrestrial ones like Saudharma Kalpa, Kșema. Kșemāpuri, Ristä, Susimā, etc. The study for the identification of the territorial ones, and understanding their area, planning, history etc. requires careful future work. In this short paper this exercise is not undertaken as per restrictions of the seminar. The Vannao of these towns tries to describe them. This townscape is discussed in this paper. Town-plan : The description gives the shapes of towns, and help one to understand their planning. The following four town-plans are noted or could be inferred from the description. 1. Dhanukudil or Addhacanda. 2. Āyata 3. Caturasra. 4. Gopuccha. Dhanukndil : • Usually in fortified towns, the port line covers it up and explains the shape. The Prākāra is noted in Aupapātika and Rāyapaseniya Sūtra 1 as Dhanukudil and Addhacanda. Besides the cities of Campā and Amalakappă, the terrestrial Saudharmakalpa (Rāyapaseniya, 112) is also described as Addhcanda or of the same shape. Thus the towns were of Ardhacandra västu of the Silpa text Aparā Jita Prcchā 57, 10, 22, Interestingly this shape seems to be either planned or develops in the riverine cities. The geomorphological character of the area forms the physical back-ground for this plan. In the riverine areas, the main stream is joined by the subsequent erosional nālās and develop the bad-land topography. In this topography usually, uneroded small plataeus develop. On two sides of these plataeus, erosional mālas join the main stream and often produce D-shaped Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330