Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T20:06:42.780Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Urban hierarchies, typologies and classification in early medieval India: c. 750–1200

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

Renu Thakur
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Architectural treatises and inscriptional evidence from buildings, artefacts and monuments are used to identify the different terms ascribed to urban settlements in medieval India. These sources reveal the diversity of terms used to describe towns and cities, and accordingly the diversity of functions associated with them. The linguistic variations employed indicate how urban functions changed over time, and convey contemporary perceptions of an urban hierarchy based on a functional classification or typology of towns.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , April 1994 , pp. 61 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Dr Laxman Singh Thakur and Dr Chetan Singh for their comments on an eariier draft.

References

1 Acharya, P.K. (trans.), Architecture of Munnsara, Manasara series: vol. IV (rpt. New Delhi, 1980).Google Scholar

2 ibid., ch. x, 93–8, and ch. XL, 423–31.

3 Bhattacharyya, T., The Canons of Indian Art (Calcutta, 1963), 183–95Google Scholar; Dagens, B. (trans.), Mayamata: An Indian Treatise on Housing Architecture and Iconography (New Delhi, 1985), VIII.Google Scholar

4 For an English translation see Dagens, ibid. The Sanskrit passages have been quoted from Dagens, B. (ed.), Mayamata, 2 vols (Pondicherry, 1970, 1976).Google Scholar

5 ibid., vol. 1, 106–81.

6 Agrawala, V.S. (ed.), Samaranganasutradhara of Maharajadhiraja Bhoja (Baroda, 1966).Google Scholar See chs 15,18,30 and 45.

7 Mankad, P.A. (ed.), Aprajitaprccha of Bhuvandeva (Baroda, 1950), xii.Google Scholar

8 Ramachandran suggests classification of the cities, based on their site characteristics such as sea front, lake front, river front, flat land or hilly cities, or these may be classified on the basis of their social attributes such as Hindu cities, Muslim cities, Christian cities or Sikh cities, see his Urbanization and Urban Systems in India (Delhi, 1989), 187.Google Scholar The latter classification seems irrelevant in the early medieval context considering the social mobility among the people of different social groups.

9 Nagarams mainly represented the market centres in south India.

10 Samaranganasutradhara, ch. XVIII, 5.Google Scholar

11 An inscription of the reign of Sankana and Sinda Vikramaditya, Saka 1102, Epigraphia Indica, vol. XIX, 233,1.15 says: ‘nagaram-madamb-aughadim kude cheluvam teleda dronamukha-sreniym-eseva nadi-jaladim bhuri bhumamda’. The Mayamata also refers to such towns which extend (both) along the right and left banks of a river and which is frequently visited by traders of all sorts and people of all classes live here, ch. x, 32.

12 Pattana is a town where products from other countries are found, there are shops and an abundance of merchandise such as precious stones, grains, fine doth and perfumes; it is situated on the sea and extends along the coast, see Mayamata, ch. x, 28.Google Scholar Inscriptions also refer to such towns situated on the sea coast and conducting commerce across the seas; Ramesh, K.V. and Murthy, S.S. Ramchandra, ‘The Ahadanakaram plates: a critical study’, Studies in Indian Epigraphy 1, (1975), 126.Google Scholar

13 These were market towns mainly found in Karnataka: see Indian Antiquary, vol. XIV (1885), 19–25Google Scholar; also see Prasad, O.P., Decay and Revival of Urban Centres in Medieval South India (A.D. 600–1200) (Patna, 1989), 73–4.Google Scholar

14 These centres worked as ‘inland ports’ and were mainly located in remote and frontier areas, see Hall, K.R., Trade and Statecraft in the Age of Colas (New Delhi, 1980), 142–3Google Scholar; also see Champaklakshmi, R., ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’Google Scholar, in Bhattacharya, S. and Thapar, R. (eds), Situating Indian History for Sarvepalli Gopal (Delhi, 1986), 67.Google Scholar

15 Sibira is an army camp situated in proximity to the realm of an enemy prince, and is provided with everything necessary for war and accommodates the army and commander-in-chief, see Mayamata, ch. x, 29–30Google Scholar; Manasara, ch. x, 67–9.Google Scholar

16 The Mayamata refers to this place as a settlement having royal palace with a well-fortified garrison; the people of all classes live here, ch. x, 30b–31a; Manasara, ch. x, 70–1Google Scholar refers to it as an outpost which has many defences and contains a diverse population.

17 Sthaniya is a town founded by the king and situated beside a river or near a mountain; it has a royal palace and a large garrison, see Mayamata, ch. x; 31b–32aGoogle Scholar; Manasara, ch. x, 72–4Google Scholar refers to it as a fort.

18 Skandhavara or military camp; these camps, at times, functioned as the capitals of the kings; see Mayamata, ch. x, 35b–36aGoogle Scholar Manasara, ch. xGoogle Scholar refers to it as a fort.

19 Indian Antiquary, vol. xv (1886), 36.Google Scholar

20 Pura has been referred to as a town mainly concerned with political and administrative activities, though socio-economic functions are not ruled out. See Aparajitaprccha, chs II, 17 and LXXII, 33–40.Google Scholar It has been referred to as a centre of administration not very different from nagara; whereas Manasara, ch. x, 53–5 refers to pura as a town furnished with orchards and gardens, with the dwellings of a varied population, frequented by buyers and sellers and having the noise of trading folk and temples of seven gods.

21 Nagara is represented as a centre of administration, though not a centre of the highest ruling authority. See Aparajitaprccha, ch. LXX, 1, 3, 16Google Scholar, whereas Manasara, ch. x, 56Google Scholar refers to nagari as the same as pura with only a royal palace inside it; the Mayamata, ch. x, 21b–26aGoogle Scholar refers to it as a centre of administration situated in a forested country with houses for all classes and shops.

22 Rajadhani is a heavily populated place, with a royal palace situated in the middle of the kingdom. See Mayamata, ch. x, 19, 21–6.Google Scholar The Manasara also refers to rajadhani as having the king's palace in the centre inhabited by the wealthy people and laid out on the banks of the river, ch. x, 44–7. However, the Aparajitaprccha does not refer to rajadhani. In this text pura served as 3 capital town (ch. II, 17) and nagara as residence (nivesa) of small rulers (nrpa), ch. LXX, 1. The Samaranganasutradhara refers to rajadhani as the chief seat of a king, see ch. XVIII, 2.

23 Tirthas or sacred places also developed into towns on account of regular traffic of pilgrims to these places, see Epigraphia Indica, vol. I, 129.Google Scholar

24 The suffix puram refers to the cultural importance of the towns. No doubt these also served as centres of commerce and administration mainly in south India, see Champaklakshmi, , ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, 67.Google Scholar

25 Agraharas and brahmadeyas were village gifted to brahmanas. Here the scholars used to teach students and gradually some such centres developed into large educational institutions to which students flocked from distant places.

26 The Silparatna describes the matha which is similar to vidyasthana and vihara. It is a residential university where not only the learners reside but monks also lodge. This definitely gave impetus to urban activity. See Shukla, D.N., Vatsu-sastra. Vol. 1Google Scholar: Hindu Science of Architecture (Lucknow, n.d.), 255.Google Scholar Other texts such as the Mayamata, Manasara, Samaranganasutradhara and Aparajitaprccha do not, however, refer to this town.

27 Mayamata, ch. x, 28.Google Scholar

28 Samaranganasutradhara, ch. XVIII, 4–5.Google Scholar

29 Mayamata, ch. x, 32.Google Scholar

30 Ramesh and Ramchandra Murthy, ‘The Ahadanakaram plates’.

31 ibid., 129.

32 Epigraphia Indica, vol. xix, nos. 1–2, 58–9.Google Scholar

33 ibid., vol. I, nos. 2,11,17,162–79.

34 Pattinam were centres of exchange of foreign merchandise situated mainly on the coastal areas, but interior towns with suffixes pattinam are also found in the sources, see Champaklakshmi, , ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, 67, n. 164.Google Scholar

35 Hall, K.R., ‘International trade and foreign diplomacy in early medieval south India’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 21, pt. 1 (1978), 82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36 Champaklakshmi, , ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, 34–105.Google Scholar See also Hall, K.R., ‘Price-making and market hierarchy in early medieval south India’, Indian Economic and Social History Review, 14, 2 (1977), 207–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37 Champaklakshmi, , ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, 47.Google Scholar

38 Prasad, , Decay and Revival in Medieval South India, 73–4.Google Scholar

39 Indian Antiquary, vol. XIV (1885), 19–25.Google Scholar

40 Yazdani, G. (ed.), The Early History of Deccan (rpt. New Delhi, 1982), 401.Google Scholar

41 Hall, , Trade and Statecraft, 143, 151.Google Scholar See also Champaklakshmi, , ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, 52–3.Google Scholar

42 For example, Basinikonda in Chittoor district, Aiyapolil Kattur in Chingleput district and Vikramacolapuram in Coimbatore district. See Champaklakshmi, ibid., 52–3.

43 Upadhyaya, B., Vedic sahitya aur sanskriti (in Hindi) (Varanasi, 1967), 523.Google Scholar

44 It was a capital town having eighty-four markets each specializing in a separate commodity such as elephant tusk, silk, pearls and diamonds. Separate areas were occupied by goldsmiths, artisans, physicians and navigators. See Jain, V.K., Trade and Traders in Western India (A.D. 1000–1300) (New Delhi, 1990), 101–14, 138.Google Scholar

45 Epigraphia Indica, vol. XI, 47ff.Google Scholar; earlier it was referred to as a grama in the epigraphs, ibid., vol.IX, 56–70.

46 Altekar, A.S., A History of Ancient Towns and Cities in Gujarat and Kathiawad (Bombay, 1926), 27, n.101.Google Scholar

47 Yazdani, , Early History of Deccan, 401.Google Scholar

48 Mysore, Archæological Reports, 1911–12, 37CrossRefGoogle Scholar; See also Report for 1920, 35.

49 Indian Antiquary, vol. x (1881), 186–8.Google Scholar

50 Epigraphia Indica, vols XII, 25–7, and xv, 361.Google Scholar

51 ibid., vols XIV, 273, and xv, 362.

52 The epithet puram was more frequently used with south Indian commercial centres, see Champaklakshmi, ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, 40–3.Google Scholar

53 Mayamata, ch. X, 19.Google Scholar

54 Samaranganasutradhnra, ch. XVIII, 2.Google Scholar Both in north and south Indian texts the word rajadhani has been used to denote capital towns.

55 Aparajitaprccha, chs LXX, 1, LXXII and LXXIII.

56 This term is frequently used in the context of south Indian cities from the tenth century onwards. In the earlier texts we do not find any reference to rajadhani-pattana.

57 Indian Antiquary, vol. VII (1878), 104, 112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

58 South Indian Inscriptions, vol. xx, 125.Google Scholar

59 Epigraphia Indica, vol. v, 10–11Google Scholar refers to mahajana looking into the town administration.

60 ibid., vol. II, 170.

61 South Indian Inscriptions, vol. xv, 82.Google Scholar

62 Travancore Archaeological Series, vol. II, 77.Google Scholar Quilon is referred to as an important port of south India which was a fort of Venadu princes. It was visited by the merchants of foreign countries such as Arabia, Egypt and Europe.

63 Epigraphia Indica, vol. XIX, 52ffGoogle Scholar; Tattanandapura was an important urban settlement of early medieval period and is confirmed by archæology as well, Archæological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1925–26, 56–8. The mound at Ahar covers a total area of 3,800 acres.

64 Indian Antiquary, vol. XV (1886), 36.Google Scholar

65 Epigraphia Indica, vol. I, 160.Google Scholar

66 Karimi, S.M., ‘Origins and evaluation of towns in Bihar’, Journal of the Bihar Research Society, vol. LIX, pts 1–4, 88–9.Google Scholar

67 Archæological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1936–37, 75.Google Scholar

68 Annual Progress Report, Madras, and Coorg, , 1904–5, 41.Google Scholar

69 Upadhyaya, U.N., ‘Skandhavara as precursor of ancient cities’, Journal of the Ganganatha Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, vol. XLI, pts 1–2, (1985), 11.Google Scholar

70 Mayamata, ch. x, 35b–36a.Google Scholar

71 Manasara, ch. x, 85–7.Google Scholar

72 Epigraphia Indica, vol. XXVIII, 269.Google Scholar

73 Magha, , Sisupalavadha v.Google Scholar

74 Dutt, B.B., Town Planning in Ancient India (rpt. Delhi, 1977), 337.Google Scholar

75 Indian Antiquary, vol. VII (1878), 104–7Google Scholar; South Indian Inscriptions, vol. xx, 4, 11.Google Scholar

76 ibid., 125.

77 Similarly the Pala kings established many jaya-skandhavaras which served as the rajadhanis of the Pala kings. The archæological excavations conducted at a few sites reveal that these army camps covered wide areas. Even if these were not permanently inhabited by the king, they did play an important role in a similar manner as the towns of the period did.

78 Tirthas are mainly the places of pilgrimages usually on the banks of the streams; cf. Williams, M., A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (New Delhi, 1960), 449.Google Scholar

79 See Beal, S., Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World (rpt. New Delhi, 1983), 1–43.Google Scholar The decline in these settlements has been proved by archæological excavations. For example see Sinha, K.K., Excavations at Sravasti, 1959 (Varanasi, 1967)Google Scholar; Archæological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1907–8Google Scholar; Indian Archæology: A Review, 1973–74Google Scholar, and Archæological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1904–5.Google Scholar

80 The villages gifted to brahmanas are referred to as agraharam, agra-brahmadeya and brahma-manglam. Stein, B., Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India (New Delhi, 1980), 145Google Scholar, however, assigns different meanings to agraharam, i.e. a set of privileges enjoyed by brahmadeya brahmanas were much higher than those enjoyed by agraharam brahmanas.

81 Champaklakshmi, , ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, pp. 39–43Google Scholar; see also Heitzman, J., ‘4’, Journal of Asian Studies, XVLI (1987), 791–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

82 Maningavalli, a brahmana settlement, developed into Malurpatana, see Nandi, R.N., ‘Growth of rural economy in early feudal India’Google Scholar, Presidential address, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 45th session (Annamalainagar, 1984), 89. n. 230 (separately printed text used). Similarly Mannarkoyil, eariier a brahmadeya settlement, became the nucleus of an urban centre along with two nagarams Rajendracolapuram and Vindanur. Itinerant merchant guilds and big merchants from Kumbhakonam region participated in the commercial activities, see Champaklakshmi, , ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, 41–2.Google Scholar

83 Epigraphia Indica, vol. XIII, 334Google Scholar; also see Altekar, A.S., Education in Ancient India, (Varanasi, 1957), 142–3.Google Scholar

84 Annual Report of the Mysore Archaeological Department, 1939, 84.Google Scholar

85 Southern Indian Inscriptions, vol. xv, 136.Google Scholar

86 Cf. ibid., n. 26.

87 Kaul, M. (ed.), Desopadesa and Narmamola of Kshemendra, Kashmir Series of Text and Studies, no. 40 (Poona, 1923), 8.Google Scholar

88 Champaklakshmi, , ‘Urbanization in medieval Tamil Nadu’, 42.Google Scholar

89 Epigraphia Indica, vol. xx, 43.Google Scholar

90 Samaranganasutradhara, ch. x, 79–80.Google Scholar

91 Aparajitaprccha, chs LXXIII, 26 and CVII, 21.

92 Mayamata, ch. x, 1–13Google Scholar; Manasara, ch. x, 1–37Google Scholar, also gives certain dimensions for large and small cities. This might have regulated the diverse functions of the cities.

93 Manigrama was one such settlement on the Konkan coast where flourishing commerce was carried on with foreign countries, see Epigraphia, Indica, vol. I, 44.Google Scholar Also see Epigraphia Indica, vol. XIII, 15–36Google Scholar for Venugrama which was also an important trade centre in north Karnataka. Groups of traders and manufacturers actively carried on their business here with the neighbouring countries.