CITIES OF ANCIENT INDIA

Development of towns periodically

• Towns flourished since prehistoric times in India.
• Even at the time of Indus valley civilization, towns
like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were in existence.
• The second phase of urbanization began around
600 BC. It continued with periodic ups and downs
until the arrival of Europeans in India in 18th
century.
• Urban historians classify towns of India as:
 Ancient - between 3000 and 5000 BC
 Medieval – 350 till 1500 AD
 Modern – Since 20th and 21st Century
 Ancient period
• Ancient period is considered to be between
3000-5000 BC . In this period, so many towns
were created with some unique features.

• Development of towns taken place like -

1. Indus valley civilization
2. Vedic towns
3. Buddhist towns
 Indus Valley Civilization: (3000 B.C)
• It was located on the banks of river
Indus(presently in Pakistan) and Ravi.
• In 1920, excavation was done by a British
Archaeologist Alexander Cunningham in
Indo-Gangetic region.
• He found that there is an old city/civilization
and there was human settlement named
Mohenjo-Daro (which means Hill of Dead).
• It was covering an area of about 260
hectares with Harappa(on bed of river Ravi)
now in Pakistan; Kalibangan in Rajasthan;
Lothal, Sukortada and Dholavira in Gujarat;
Rakhigadhi in Haryana, shows that it was
developed around 4000-3000 BC.
Salient features of Indus Valley Civilization:
1. Street of 9m width divided the city in 12 blocks.
2. Layout of street was based on ‘grid-iron’ pattern.
3. Series of houses were arranged around open-to-sky
central court.
4. They dependent fully on ventilation and roof lighting.
5. Houses with G+1 storey made of kiln-brick with
complete bathing establishment.
6. City had effective system of drainage.
7. It had a Great bath of 7m width, 12m length and
2.4m depth made of bricks at bottom and was made
waterproof by providing layers of bitumen and it
formed to be part of ritualistic bathing forming part
of Hindu temple.
 Kalibangan, Rajasthan:
• Kalibangan is the third excavated city of Harappan
sites and the earliest town destroyed by
earthquake. Excavated between 1960-61 and 1968-
69, this ancient city of Indus valley civilization is
located on the bank of the dry bed of the Ghaggar.
• Kalibangan comprises of two mounds: a small
mound is located in the western direction and the
larger mound is situated in the east with an open
space in between them.
• The excavations revealed that the western mound
was a walled enclosure with rectangular towers.
This was further partitioned into two units by an
inner wall with stairways on either side for
movement between the two units.
Kalibangan, Rajasthan
 Surkotada,Gujarat
• Surkotada is located 160 km (99 m) north-east of Bhuj, in
the district of Kutch, Gujarat.
• The ancient mound stands surrounded by an undulating
rising ground clustered by small sandstone hills. These
hills are covered with red laterite soil giving the entire
region a reddish brown colour.
• The vegetation is scarce and consists of cactus, small
babul and pilu trees and thorny shrubs. The mound is
higher on the western side and lower on the eastern side
and has an average height of 5 to 8 m (16-26 ft).
• In the ancient days, a river 750 m (½ mi) wide flowed past
the north-eastern side of the site. This river, which
emptied into the Little Rann, might have been an
important reason for sitting the town here. Now this
river is only a small nalla (stream).
Surkotada,Gujarat
 Rakhigadhi, Haryana
• It has three distinctive phases of the pre-
Harappan culture. In the earliest people lived
in pits.
• In the second, moulded mud bricks were used
to line the dwellings.
• In the third phase bricks were used to make
square and rectangular houses.
• They may have been used by the king or an
elected headman and his consort.
Rakhigadhi, Haryana
 Vedic Period: (400 BC)
• In this period, Vedas as well as books were wrote on
Town Planning.
• In “Vishwa-karmaprakash” it was stated that “First
layout the towns and then plan the houses.”
• “Shilpshastra” wrote by “Architect Mansara”
discussed study on soil, topography, climatology
and various layouts like Dandaka, Swastika,
Padmaka, Nandyavarta.
Vedic Period: (400 BC)
 Vedic Period: (400 BC)

• The main roads were aligned east-west following the wind

direction.
• Short roads were aligned in north-south direction.
• Roads running around the village were preserved for priests.
• Moats were all around the town to secure the town for outside
forces.
• Rajmarg were the widest road through which four elephants can
pass at a time. Such roads are found in Mysore
 Buddhist Period: (up to 320 AD)
• During the period of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Kautilya and
Chanakya was the chief minister who wrote the famous “Arthashastra”,
a treatise of Town Planning. Features stated in it were:
1. Regulation of zoning depending on communities.
2. Highway (Rajamarga) to be parallel to the main cardinal direction.
3. Road were aligned in grid-iron form.
4. Rajmarga to be not less than 30 ft. or nearly 3 lanes of traffic.

• The excavation carried out at Patliputra, capital of Magadha (now in

Bihar), shows evidence of advance knowledge of planning.

• Taksha-sila and Nalanda, the renowned place for learning were formed
in this period.

• Nalanda consist of three main essentials – stupas, temples & hotels for
monks. It had 300 halls for accommodating 10,000 pupils and libraries
were nine-storeyed high.
Buddhist Period
(up to 320 AD)
 Medieval Period: (350-1500 AD)
• Trade and commerce were developed in that
period. One of the towns that became famous
due to trade & commerce is Dhaka
(Bangladesh), which is famous for Malmal and
hence become a port.
• Other towns that developed and become famous
were:
1. Krishnanagar, WB for clay models.
2. Agra, UP for marble and perfumery.
3. Murshidabad, WB for silk.
4. Jaipur, Rajasthan for majestic buildings.
 Mughal Period: (1500-1700 AD)
• Cities like Agra, Delhi (Shahjahanabad) were re-
developed.
• Other important thing started in this period was
laying of gardens and parks. It was a new trend in
planning, many ornamental gardens, of Mughal
period.
• Lal-kila , Kutub Minar was developed in this period
by them.
• “Moghal garden” in front of Rashtrapati Bhavan
was also developed by them.
• “Fatehpur Sikhri” was developed by them during
this period.
Mughal Period: (1500-1700 AD)
1600 – 1800 AD

1674
2011
1600 – 1800 AD

1727
2015
Pre-independence Period: (before 1947)
• When the British first settled in India, they found most of the towns
are unhygienic. So they built independent colonies on the outskirts of
existing towns.
• These extensions were called “Cantonments” and “Barracks” for
military occupied areas and “Civil lines” for the residents of civilians.
• Hence they created these cantonments:
1. Delhi cantonment known as British colonies.
2. Agra cantonment.
3. Bangalore cantonment.
4. Ahmadabad cantonment.

• After this, they found that the climate of India is so hot. So they
developed the hill- stations in the nearby area of cantonments. They
were:
⁻ Shimla nearer to Delhi.
⁻ Matheran nearer to Mumbai.
⁻ Kodaikanal nearer to Chennai.
⁻ Darjeeling nearer to Kolkata.
Pre-independence Period: (before 1947)
• In the first decade of 20th century,
they took up the work of building
New Delhi. Plan was prepared
based on modern town planning
principle by eminent town planner
“Edwin Lutyens”.
• He also designed Rashtrapati
Bhavan.
• The industrial buildings were
separated from the residential
sector.
• Lutyen also contributed for making
“Canaught place” which is the
common area having circular plan.
2021

1911 1857
2015 1946
Post-independence period: (after 1947)
• After independence, Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister,
invited Le Corbusier to visit India and develop cities. Hence,
Chandigarh was planned by him. “Rourkela” & ”Jamshedpur”
were also planned by him.
• Towns planned and developed during this period were:
1. Steel Towns-
₋ Durgapur- West Bengal
₋ Bhilai- Madhya Pradesh
₋ Rourkela- Orissa
2. Industrial Towns-
₋ Jamshedpur- Bihar
₋ Bhadravati- Karnataka
₋ Chittaranjan- West Bengal
3. Capitals-
₋ Gandhinagar- Gujarat
₋ Chandigarh- Punjab
Post-independence Period: (after 1947)
1975
 Few Planned Cities in India - 2015
1. Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh
2. Dhule, Maharashtra 19. New Kanpur City, Uttar Pradesh
3. Lavasa, Maharashtra 20. Cooch Behar, West Bengal
4. Navi Mumbai (New 21. Durgapur, West Bengal
Mumbai), Maharashtra – a satellite city 22. Kharagpur, West Bengal
of Mumbai; Largest Planned city in the 23. New Town, Kolkata
world 24. Kalyani, West Bengal
5. National Capital Region (disambiguation), 25. Bokaro, Jharkhand
New Delhi, Delhi 26. Dispur, Assam
6. Dwaraka, Delhi 27. Gandhinagar, Gujarat
7. Gurgaon, Haryana 28. Indore, Madhya Pradesh
8. Punjab, Haryana, 29. Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
9. Chandigarh, the most planned city of India 30. K.K. Nagar, Chennai
10. Nangal, Punjab 31. Madurai, Tamil Nadu; built around
11. Naya Nangal, Punjab the Meenakshi Temple in 3rd BC[citation needed]
12. Mohali, Punjab 32. Mysore; Karnataka,the oldest planned city
13. Panchkula, Haryana in India
14. Jaipur, Rajasthan 33. Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh
15. Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan 34. New Tehri, Uttarakhand
16. Udaipur, Rajasthan 35. Pondicherry, Puducherry
17. Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh 36. Bhubaneswar, Odisha
18. Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 37. Rourkela, Odisha
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