Town Planning in Ancient IndiaThacker, Spink, 1925 - 379 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
according Agni allocation ancient India Architecture Arthaśāstra Aryan Brahma Brahmaṇḍa Brāhmaṇs breadth buildings called capital cardinal directions caste centre chapter civic architect Conjeeveram constructed cubits cubits wide daṇḍas deities Devi Purāņam dhanus directions east to west eight erected fortifications forts gardens gates gopuras grāma ground growth Harivamsa Havell Hence Hindu houses importance Indian town-planning Indian towns Indo-Aryan Indo-Aryan town Jayanta Jeypore Kautilya king laid lanes large number located Mahābhārata Manasara master-builder Matsya Matsya Purāņam Mayamatam Mayamuni Megasthenes modern muhallas Mukhya natural parapets planted plots principal Purāņa quarters Rāmāyaṇa ramparts rectangular river roads rows royal palace Savdakalpadruma shape shrine side Silpa Sastras Silparatna Sister Nivedita situated Smṛti southern square Sthapati storeys streets running Sūdras Sukracharyya Sukranītisāra surrounding Swastika tanks Taxila temple tion towers traffic trees Vaisyas Vedic Vide Vishnu Viśvakarmā vithi wards width Yama वा
Popular passages
Page 35 - In ancient times, when most •wars were carried on, not to maintain the balance of power of Asia or Europe, but to take possession of good pasture, or to appropriate large herds of cattle,1 the hurdles grew naturally into the walls of fortresses, the hedges became strongholds ; AngloSaxon tun, a close (German Zaun), became a town; and those who lived behind the same walls were called a gotra, a family, a tribe, a race.
Page 289 - ... city. Then going forward you have another gate with another line of wall, and it also encircles the city inside the first, and from here to the king's palace is all streets and rows of houses, very beautiful, and houses of captains and other rich and honourable men ; you will see rows of houses with many figures and decorations pleasing to look at. Going along the principal street, you have one of the chief...
Page 278 - ... in the centre of his kingdom : in a locality naturally best fitted for the purpose, such as the bank of the confluence of rivers, a deep pool of perennial water, or of a lake or tank, a fort, circular, rectangular, or square in form, surrounded with an artificial canal of water, and connected with both land and water paths (may be constructed).
Page 8 - broad" (prithvi) and "wide" (urvi). Sometimes strongholds are referred to metaphorically as "of metal" (ayasi).* "Autumnal" (saradi) forts are also named: "this may refer to the forts in that season being occupied against Aryan attacks or against inundations caused by overflowing rivers." Forts "with a hundred walls
Page 291 - What I saw from thence seemed to me as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight; there are many groves of trees within it, in the gardens of the houses, and many conduits of water...
Page 22 - ... the domain has been swallowed up in it ; or a number of different villages have been founded close together on what was perhaps at one time unprofitable waste land, but which has become exceptionally valuable through advantages of situation. This last was the origin of the great Anglo-Indian city of Calcutta, which is really a collection of villages of very modern foundation.'5 I must confess that the meaning of the foregoing proposition is not quite clear.
Page 27 - Hard river and its tributaries, and protected by a girdle of hills — on the north and east by the snow mountains of Hazara and the Murree ridge, on the south and west by the wellknown Margalla spur and other lower eminences. This position on the great trade route, which used to connect Hindustan with Central and Western Asia, coupled 1 There are good refreshment and waiting rooms for travellers at Sarai-kala railway station, and a small Public Works' bungalow about a mile distant, permission to...
Page 253 - The city of Sirkap (in the ruins of Taxila) shows several large blocks of dwellings, separated one from the other by narrow side streets. Although the plans of these houses exhibit considerable variety, they were all based on the same principles. The unit of their design is the open quadrangle surrounded by chambers...
Page 150 - To the south, the superintendents of the city, of commerce, of manufacturies and of the army as well as those who trade in cooked rice, liquor, and flesh, besides prostitutes musicians and the people of vaisya caste shall live.
Page 290 - I have described, and it is to be understood that the houses belong to men rich enough to afford such. In this street live many merchants, and there you will find all sorts of rubies, and diamonds, and emeralds, and pearls, and seed-pearls, and cloths, and every other sort of thing there is on earth and that you may wish to buy.