harvesting farms in open spaces away from the dwelling-houses, while in the towns everything has to be kept within sight. It was this fear of robbers which led the people of the town gradually to give up all consideration for sanitation and concentrate their attention on devising means for safety from robbers; and it is the result of this that we find in our older towns today, where the more thickly populated parts, inhabited by the most well-to-do persons, have become mere dens where the sun's rays seldom reach. The older Indians paid due attention to drainage. It is laid down that a town or a village should always be located upon sloping ground, the slope towards the north and south being considered most desirable; and it was considered very wrong to have ditches and pools in close proximity to human habitations. Eight miles from the city there were hunting grounds, and four miles from there villages were located. It is clear from the description of cities found in the Rāmāyana and the Mahabharata that Indian towns in ancient times were clean, houses were placed apart from one another, the roads were clean, wide and well-watered and (occasionally) perfumed; and the markets and squares were carefully distributed. (Vālmiki's Rāmāyana, Bālākānda). In the Kadambari Banabhatta also describes the city of Ujjayini as containing wide and clean roads and markets. In Agni-Purāna (Adhyāya, 106) we find elaborate rules regarding town-planning. The area of the town should vary between 32 and 64 square miles; it should be surrounded by a wall-four gates on four sides, at least 9 feet wide, through which elephants may pass with ease;-the market-place should be broad; the shape of the town should be like that of the bow; every town and village has its own temple and places of Cattle. worship; the inhabitants were distributed in three lines, somewhat in the following manner : So much for towns and villages. As regards building-sites we find detailed directions laid down in the Matsya Purāna and the Brihat-samhita. No dwelling-house is to be built upon barren land, or upon a plot that is sandy or damp. Special care should be taken in selecting a site, with a view to avoid the contingency of free access of light and air being endangered by the presence of obstructions in the shape of trees, etc. It is said that if there is a tree in front of the house, it gives rise to many undesirable results; if, in front of the house there happens to be a puddle, there is sorrow in the household; the presence of a well in close proximity to the house brings upon the inmates the disease of epilepsy, and the presence of a drain leads to suffering (Agni-Purāna, Adhyāya, 104). Nor were these people prone to merely propounding utopian rules; they were fully alive E. to the fact that in several cases it may not be possible to avoid the presence of the forbidden things in front of the house. With a view to such cases it is laid down that if it be impossible to remove any particular obstruction, the house should be built in such a way as to leave between the house and the obstruction a clear space, which should be at least twice as long as the height of the proposed house. From this it is clear that in laying down this rule, the teachers had in view the necessity of free access of light and air. To the same end we have another rule, forbidding the building of one house immediately in front of another; every house should have a clear space at least in front and towards its left. They were not content with only the cleanness of the upper surface of the site. It is laid down that before a house is built, the whole ground should be dug up-if possible, until a layer of water is reached, but, in any case-not less than 3 feet deep; and every unclean thing should be removed. That they were very particular about the surroundings being clean and free from undesirable things is shown by the minute rules that have been laid down in connection with trees in the vicinity of houses. Exact reasons for the choice of these trees are difficult to imagine; but that the selection was not due to consideration for purely transcendental results is clear from the rule prohibiting the presence of the holy Ashvatha Ficus religiosa tree on the eastern side of the house. In point of transcendental results, the presence of this holy tree, an object of worship, should have been considered most desirable on the eastern side. It would seem therefore that these rules are based, more or less, upon sanitary considerations;-the result of long practical experience. We can reproduce here only a few of these rules :(1) 'On the east avoid the Ashvaṭṭha; on the south the Plaksa; on the north-east, the Red-flower tree; on the southeast trees exuding milk'. (2) It is advisable to have the Banyan Ficus Indica on the east; the Udumbara Ficus racemosa on the south; the Ashvaṭṭha on the west and the Plaksa on the north' (Matsya-Purāna). (3) 'It is not right to have near the house trees with thorns; trees exuding milk or fruit trees'. But if there be any such tree already existing, it should not be cut; as the cutting of trees is deprecated; between the house and the prohibited tree some other desirable tree should be planted; such trees for instance, as the Ashoka, the Bakula, the Champa, Pomegranate, Grapes, Cocoanut and Bilva. Considerations of light and air come in here also: it is said that 'even a tree of gold should not be planted opposite to the main door of the house,' II We have seen above with what care and foresight the old Indians chose their dwelling sites. We now proceed to examine what rules they have laid down in regard to the building of the dwelling-houses. There used to be eight kinds of houses: (1) Built of stone, called Mandira', (2) built of baked bricks, called 'Västu', (3) built of unbaked bricks, called Sumanta', (4) built of clay, called 'Sudhara', (5) built of wood, called 'Mānāsya', (6) built of bamboos, called Mandana', (7) built of cloth, called 'Vijaya', and (8) built of grass, called 'Kālima'. The Charak-samhita (Sutrasthāna, Adhyāya, 15) lays down the following directions :-The house should be strong; free from air-draughts; and yet some parts should be open enough to admit of fresh air from all four directions. Rooms should not be very small; they should be large enough to allow of all members of the family moving about freely. The house should not be built just below another high house. There should be free access of light and air. Places exposed to much smoke or dust or noise or bad smell should be avoided. It is not desirable to have the rooms exposed to too much sun. The plinth should be at least high enough to make it necessary to have a flight of sters leading to it. Kitchen, bathing room and latrine should be each apart, and aloof from the dwelling-house. Further on, in Adhyāya II of the Nidānasthāna, the Charaka-samhita goes on to say that one should avoid places where there is bad smell, where the ground is barren or damp, which is infested with snakes, insects or mosquitoes, where there is too much of weeds growing wild, where the neighbours are ill-mannered or addicted to bad pursuits, which is liable to shocks of earthquake, and which is not open enough to receive sufficient light and air. All the books insist upon the latrine being aloof from the rest of the dwelling. But even so this latrine was meant for the sick and the infirm only. For the man in ordinary health, it was necessary to go out into the open jungles. It is laid down that one should proceed at least so far from his house as would be reached by an arrow shot with ordinary force; and the further minute directions laid down bear testimony to the care and attention that people devoted to this branch of sanitation. If these directions are followed there can be no possibility of any kind of evil smell spreading. Each ordinary household, according to the Brihat-samhita, consisted of five houses, built round a courtyard. The exact dimensions of the houses varied with the caste and profession of the dweller. Different dimensions have been prescribed for the houses of Kings, Commanders of armies, Ministers, Brahmanas, Ksattriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. In this paper when speaking of the details in regard to the dimensions we shall take the Brahmana's house as the standard. 36 width 10 Of the five houses, the width should be 48, 42, 36, 30 and 24 feet respectively; and the length of a house was width+ so that the length of the houses would be-(1) 48+ 48, (2) 42 +13, (3) 36 +15, (4) 30+30, and (5) 21+14. In regard to the cattle-house, granary and fire-house' (the Sacrificial House) no precise dimensions are laid down. These would naturally vary with the requirements of the householder. 109 Towards the courtyard there should be verandahs to all the five houses. The width of the verandah was (Length of House+width of House) × - 14 so that in our standard house it would be- 14 15 feet approximately. |