The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

i6

STANDARD

VILLAGE

PLANS

%

reasons.

First,

thatitwas

badfor

purposes

of

defence,

as

itgave

an enemy

many

opportunities

of

establishing

himself

m the

centreof

thevillage

byasudden

raid.

Secondly,

that

ittended

to

congestion

oftraffic,

andan

uncomfortable

plan

of

houseand

Fig.4.—Village

PlancalledPadmdka

(correctedfromRam

Raz,PI.XLIV).

garden,

especiallyin the

middleof the

village. -Thirdly, that

thestreets

would

mostlyrun in the

wrongdirectionforthesun.

Anotherinteresting

village

planwasbasedupontheSwas-

tika,the

mysticsign

derivedfrom

the

"

magicsquare,"which,

as stated

above,

representedthe

fourquartersoftheworldand

of the

universe.

The magic of

the swastika layin the fact