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EVOLUTION OF STREETS : MADURAI
A P R O J E C T R E P O R T
In partial fulfillment for the award of the degree
of
BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE
SVS SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, COIMBATORE
A N N A U N I V E R S I T Y : C H E N N A I 6 0 0 0 2 5
A P R I L 2 0 1 5
Submitted by
srinivasan.A
722111251021
SVS SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
COIMBATORE – 642109
ANNA UNIVERSITY: CHENNAI 600 025
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
INTERNAL EXAMINERS EXTERNAL EXAMINER
HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT
Ar. SURESH BHASKAR
GUIDED BY
Ar. THUSHARA
Certified that this dissertation report “ Evolution of Streets: Madurai” is the
bonafide work of “SRINIVASAN. A” who carried out the dissertation work under
the supervision of
APPENDIX 1
( i i )
DECLARATION
I, SRINIVASAN.A (722111251021) Do hereby declare that this
Dissertation entitled “ EVOLUTION OF STREETS: MADURAI” is
a bonafied record of the study done by me independently during
the 8th semester B.Arch. Degree programme in the SVS School
of Architecture, Coimbatore
Date : April 2015
Place : Coimbatore
SRINIVASAN.A
722111251021
APPENDIX 2
( i i i )
Table of Contents
1. Development of Town planning .................................................................................. 1
1.1 Pattern of Settlements ............................................................................................ 2
1.2 Fortified Settlements .............................................................................................. 2
1.3 Early Settlements ................................................................................................... 4
2. Vastu Mandala ............................................................................................................. 5
2.1 Manasara silpa-sastra ............................................................................................ 6
2.2 Zoning in Vastu ...................................................................................................... 7
3. Mandala and the Town layout ................................................................................... 10
3.1 Mandala – Brahma Divisions ................................................................................ 11
4. Temple city - Madurai ................................................................................................ 15
4.1 History of the city .................................................................................................. 16
4.2 Town planning ...................................................................................................... 17
4.3 Vastu in Town planning ........................................................................................ 21
4.4 Later Madurai ....................................................................................................... 23
5. History of Roads ........................................................................................................ 28
5.1 Earlier Roads ........................................................................................................ 29
5.2 Indian Road history ............................................................................................... 31
5.2.1 Pre-historic Roads ..................................................................................... 31
5.2.2 Roads under Early Indian Rulers ............................................................... 31
5.2.2.1 Aryan Period .................................................................................... 31
5.2.2.2 Mauryan Period ................................................................................ 31
5.2.2.3 Roads during the Mughal Period ...................................................... 32
5.2.2.4 Roads during the British rule ............................................................ 33
5.2.3 Roads under the post-independence period............................................... 35
6. Madurai Streets (In the past)..................................................................................... 37
6.1 Heritage structures ............................................................................................... 39
6.2 User Index ............................................................................................................ 43
7. Madurai Streets (Present) ......................................................................................... 48
7.1 Heritage structures ............................................................................................... 48
7.2 Main Streets ......................................................................................................... 52
7.3 Land use map ....................................................................................................... 53
7.4 Past and Present .................................................................................................. 54
8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 55
Biblography ............................................................................................................... 57
Figure Contents
1. Development of Town planning .................................................................................. 1
1 Iron Age settlements .............................................................................................. 1
1.1 Urban scenarios: Mesopotamia, Harappa and ziggurat ......................................... 3
2. Vastu Mandala ............................................................................................................. 5
2 Vastu Structure ...................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Vastu pattern for construction ............................................................................... 7
2.2 Manasara silpa-satra ............................................................................................. 8
2.3 Silpa-satra organisation ......................................................................................... 9
3. Mandala and the Town layout ................................................................................... 10
3 Mandala – Town Layout .................................................................................................. 10
3.1 Brahma Divisions ............................................................................................................. 11
4. Temple city - Madurai ................................................................................................ 15
4 Landmarks in Madurai city. ............................................................................................. 15
4.1 Madurai Zoning .................................................................................................... 18
4.2 Plan of Madurai in 1757 ....................................................................................... 19
4.3 Schematic sketch of Madurai ............................................................................... 20
4.4 Connection between Temple and Tank ................................................................ 21
4.5 Plan of Madurai in 1914 ...................................................................................... 22
4.6 Perumal Koil Street ............................................................................................. 24
4.7 Neighbourhood Centre ....................................................................................... 25
4.8 Street corner ........................................................................................................ 26
5. History of Roads ........................................................................................................ 28
5. Roads in North Britain ..................................................................................................... 29
5.1 Western Road Laying Methods ............................................................................ 30
5.2 Ancient Streets .................................................................................................... 32
5.3 British streets in India ......................................................................................... 33
6. Madurai Streets (In the past)..................................................................................... 37
6. Plan of Madurai in 1950’s ................................................................................................ 38
6.1 Streets in Madurai in 1920’s ................................................................................ 39
6.2 Nagara Mandapam .............................................................................................. 40
6.3 Pudhu Mandapam ............................................................................................... 41
6.4 Raya Gopuram .................................................................................................... 41
6.5 Elukadal Street .................................................................................................... 42
6.6 Tirumalai Nayak Palace ....................................................................................... 43
6.7 Madurai map During Pandiyan rule ...................................................................... 43
6.8 Madurai map during Vijayanagar rule .................................................................. 43
6.9 Madurai map during colonial rule ......................................................................... 43
6.10 Madurai present map ........................................................................................... 43
7. Madurai Streets (Present) ......................................................................................... 48
7. Chithirai street .................................................................................................................. 49
7.1 Pudhu Mandapam ............................................................................................... 49
7.2 Shops in Chithirai streets ..................................................................................... 50
7.3 Old structures in Chithirai streets ......................................................................... 50
7.4 Madurai map showing Public spaces ................................................................... 51
7.5 Main streets ......................................................................................................... 52
7.6 Land use map ...................................................................................................... 53
7.7 Detail Land use map ............................................................................................ 54
7.8 Past and present streets ...................................................................................... 55
Abstract
Evolution of streets: Temple city of Madurai.
Srini Arivalagan
Submitted to the Department of Architecture on April 16, 2015, in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the 8th semester in B.Arch.
The ancient South Indian city of Madurai is undergoing a gradual shift away from a relatively cohesive, medieval ordering towards a new and unpredictable flux of social and physical forces. This study is an attempt to explore the nature and impact of that earlier ordering of the streets.
The point of reference is the city as a spatial environment, a built landscape. Within the complexities of the dense three-dimensional fabric exists a significant, imageable pattern - most importantly, an expanding series of concentric streets about a central temple complex. Nowhere visible as a whole, the organization is experienced only gradually over time. What is striking is the use of a fairly simple underlying geometry to express important attitudes toward collective dwelling.
In its generic sense, such a pattern is a ‘vastu-mandala’, a diagram (mandala) of ordered existence (vastu). The relationship between the vastu-mandala and the building process is exolored in the Šilpa-šastras, traditional Indian treatises on architecture and town planning. Their prescriptive rituals suggest that the sacred geometry of the mandala is essential to establishing a secure claim within an active landscape. The process is more a relaxation than an intensification of religious energy. a cautious secularization, in fact, of the sacred environment.
In terms of town layout, the careful geometry of the imbedded mandala does not necessarily translate into a literal ground plan. As a diagram, it explains rather than represents. Madurai is not a city of straight lines and right angles; a basic pattern is here distorted and enlivened by local events and sources of energy. But topologically a significant interrelationship of parts remains intact. The fluid quality is best expressed in the festival processions, which delineate the mandala over the course of
the year. As the important mode of celebrating corporate identity, they reconfirm the underlying form and its use as a principle reference for the community’s sense of itself in space and time.
Dissertation Supervisor: Ar.Thushara.
மதுரை
மாய ான் க ாப்பூழ் மலர்ந்த தாமரைப்
பூக ாடு புரையும், சீர் ஊர்; பூவின்
இதழ த்து அரை கதரு ம்; இதழ த்து
அரும் க ாகுட்டு அரைத்யத, அண்ணல் ய ாயில்;
- ரி ாடல்
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Chapter 1
Development of Town planning In India
The characteristic settlement of early Aryanized India was the village. It is within these
autonomous units that there seems to have developed an important social patterns and
ideologies which affected even those cities, which did arise because of large-scale trade
and commerce. Their organization typically involved individual homesteads tightly
clustered about a central open space identified by a large spreading tree. The shaded
area served as a meeting place for the village elders; the spatial significance of the tree
as a central axis attached a sacred dimension to the elder’s dispensation of secular
justice. In time, many villages erected a public hall, which again might acquire both
religious and secular functions.
Most villages were open; although so had a surrounding wall, in general security was
provided by separate walls around each family’s compound. These large individual
homesteads consisted of separate huts and sheds around a central courtyard. The
encircling mud wall had an important gateway on the entrance side; richer houses might
have two or even three courtyards. Some homesteads existed independently off in the
countryside.
Fig 1 : Some of the Iron age settlements
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1.1
Pattern of settlements
A significant pattern was a segregation of people belonging to different occupational
groups into separate villages. There are specific trade distinctions, villages of hunters,
carpenters, weavers, fishers, and so on, and more general caste-groupings, of
brahmanas, sudras, chandilas and others. The villages inhabited by those following
specific crafts, industries or professions seem to have been more cohesive physically
and socially than those that were purely agricultural. In larger villages where different
occupational and professional castes congregated, segregation was maintained. This
accounts for the emergence of different quarters in large settlements, each quarters
consisting of people belonging to the same caste or profession.
In the closing centuries B.C., national and international trade and commerce expanded
greatly. Localisation and specialization of various craft, and industries developed.
Powerful guilds began to appear. All this was reflected in a major growth of towns and
cities, and a new emphasis on the life of the city dweller. Kautilya in his Arthasastra (o,
300B.C.) treats village as primarily production centres of food, subjected to the
economic and political exploitation of the towns. He recommends that they be peopled
primarily by foreigners and the peasant caste. But his plan for an ideal city are based
on the notion of distribution by caste and occupation, thus in effect creating a city by
aggregating village forms. The town-planning tradition in general maintains this
characteristic pattern.
1.2
Fortified settlements
The other source of a prototype for city layout can be seen in the tradition of planning
of forts. As opposed to the village, which might grow slowly as the accretion of individual
homesteads, the notion of a fortified encampment, structured by walls and gates,
implied a more integrally planned unit. This sense is reinforced by the fact that a prime
impetus for the appearance of cities was the establishment of centres of royal power.
These naturally adopted the defensive characteristics of a fort, and at the same time
provided an opportunity for conscious internal layout. Conquering kings often deserted
the existing capital in favour of new construction both for security reason and as a
display of power.
With constant warfare between small principalities, these cities constituted glorified
military camps. They might quickly attract commerce and trade, however, and so would
assume the qualities of any urban centre. In so cases the royal fortress was not
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coextensive with the city, but rather a citadel in the centre. However, there then seems
to be a secondary city wall, often with its own resplendent gates and turrets.
There were cities, of course, which owed their existence to strategic positions in terms
of trade, local industry, or the like, such as Kaveripatinam at the mouth of the Kaveri
River. As these became concentrations of wealth and power, they would erect
fortifications and perhaps attract royalty. The same might be said of some of the
important religious sites. But the military encampment, in its expanded role as
administrative centre, seems to have provided an impetus for the development of a
science of town planning. A portion of Kautilya’s Arthasastra, mentioned above,
constitutes one of the first real treatises on planning, and in essence it describes a well-
fortified royal capital, methodically zoned with the palace at the centre. Some have taken
it to be a description of the existing capital, Pataliputra, a magnificent place by all
accounts. But the latter, despite its major fortifications, was more loosely organised, an
aggregation of villages joined together by spacious parks (the sacred groves) and the
Fig 1.1 (A ,B C) : Well planned
urban scenarios: Mesopotamia, Harappa and a view of a ziggurat complex.
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stately avenues. The ideal city is marked by stricter control, a clearer expression of the
king’s power imbedded in the landscape.An interesting but elusive question is the
legacy of the town planning expertise of the Indus Valley civilization. This very early
urban culture flourished from about the third millennium B.C. to the middle of the
second, when it was destroyed by Aryan invaders. The rest of Indian history is then a
complex intermingling of Aryan (or Sanskrit) and pre Aryan influences. North India
became highly Sanskritized; the South retains a lot more of the pre-Aryan, particularly
Dravidian element. With the script of the Indus Valley still undeciphered and its
achievements seemingly destroyed, it has remained pretty much a marginal chapter of
Indian history and civilization. But there are connections, linguistically and racially,
between the great culture complex embracing both Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley
and the early Dravidian culture of South India. The word pura which occurs in Vedic
literature seems to mean a place of shelter or residence surrounded by strong walls or
ramparts.
1.3
Early settlements
Mohenjadaro and Harappa the two most impressive of the culture’s sites so far
uncovered, are walled cities which share a conscious layout not found in Mesopotamian
centres. The street pattern is rectilinear and oriented to the cardinal directions. The
major streets create distinct residential areas; these are further subdivided by side
streets set at right angles and small footpaths separating the individual courtyard
homesteads. A citadel containing not a palace but rather communal facilities and
perhaps a religious centre occupies one of the western sectors.
From about the 6th century onwards, there begin to appear šilpa sastra, technical
treatises on the arts. In them can be found extensive rules and rituals pertaining to
architecture and town planning. Their complexity, particularly in their comprehensive
schemes of classification, indicates that they are an attempt to rationalize existing
practices as well as simply prescribe a coherent system. One consistent element is the
use of a vastu-mandala, the initial ordering of any building site according to a sacred
geometry. There is a control exercised here which has a parallel in the earlier schemes
of Kautilya and others for royal capitals. But in the silpa sastras, the intimation is of the
primacy of sacred authority. A proper distribution in accord with the established pattern
of deities is essential. This tradition may relate to the apparent role that a deity seems
to assume in some of the South Indian temple towns, of adopting the characteristics of
a supreme ruler. The mandala underscore sacred authority in a secular landscape.
The more interesting question seems to be of development over time. There may be a
non-Aryan legacy of city design, which in the šilpa-šåstras is given an Aryan gloss, the
5 | P a g e
mandala establishing a field of Vedic deities in non-Aryan landscapes. This process
perhaps does occur primarily in the South; Various of the Aganas, associates primarily
with religious developments in South India, can be considered early Šilpa—šlstra
treatises. The Kamikagama, for example, devotes 60 of 75 chapters to town planning,
architecture, and sculpture, in terms very similar to the Manasara silpa-satra. As regards
the question of ‘political’ authority in relation to town layout, the early focus on a secular
ruler infused with quasi-divine status seems to shift to an eventual accumulation of
secular roles by a central deity. The texts, with their use of the vastu-mandala, would
help rationalize such a transformation.
Chapter 2
Vastu Mandala An introduction
The use of a ritual diagram in architectural enterprises can be traced to a religious
understanding of the nature of dwelling. The struggle to live securely, to ‘reside’ in the
midst of unpredictable forces and events, is not easy. A village settlement is regularly
contrasted with aranya, the forest. The process of claiming space in the landscape, of
controlling natural/supernatural forces for the purposes of inhabitation, is in fact a kind
of secularization. There is the need for demystification, desacralization of a sort; the
cosmic forces must be recognised and their powers harmonized before a person can
relax into an ordered existence. The connotation of mystic diagrams today is quite the
opposite, a sense of concentrating religious energy in an otherwise blank field. But our
starting point is an enveloping secular environment. In the India of the Silpa-sastras, the
given was a sacred landscape, and secularization a cautious necessity. Within a sacred
landscape, secularization is a religious process. The creation of profane space
coincides with the erection of a temple and is not a separate issue.
Vastu-vidya is the general term for architecture. The art or science of building. ‘Vastu’,
built form comes from the verb vas, to dwell. It is often translated simply ‘abode’, the
place where men and gods reside.
The most important dimension of vastu is its ordering of the ground. The notion of
building, of architecture more generally, is implicit once the primary step of a structured
site is achieved. The four dimensions of vastu are dhari, ground form; harmya, building;
yana, conveyance; and paryanka, couch. Of these:
The ground is the chief object for all purposes. The mansion and other buildings are
truly called dwellings because of their connection with the chief object (the ground).
6 | P a g e
Mandala, literally ‘circle’, can be more generally interpreted as any enclosed figure. In
architecture, it becomes the geometrical diagram which defines vastu. The drawing of
the vastu mandala constitutes the initial ordering of space. The visual form confirms a
creative act; it is the “record of an architectural rite”. Over time the ritual and the diagram
Fig 2 (A, B) : Pictures showing vastu structure.
become increasingly complex. But still the purpose is to delimit the swirl of cosmic
forces, to create and enact their conditional aspect in space and time. The simplest
mandala in the texts, with no subdivisions, is called sakala, ‘comensurable’; it has set
up measurable limits. The continuity of the vastumandala may be more or less direct in
terms of a three-dimensional realization: its real continuity is perhaps better realized in
rituals which re-enact its delimitation of space. This correspondence will be elaborated
later.
2.1
Manasara silpa-sastra
The most detailed use of these diagrams is in the prescriptive rituals of the šilpa—
šastra. The Mansära šilpa sastra, one of the óIdest and most complete (e. 6th Cent. A.
D.), can serve as a reference. It opens, like Vitruvius, with the qualifications of an
architect and the classifications of architecture. It also describes in detail the system of
measurement, and careful instructions for making measuring sticks, rods, and braided
rope. Vasuki, the serpent god is the deity of the measuring rope, and Brahma is the
presiding deity of measurement.
7 | P a g e
With equipment in hand, the next step is the selection and preparation of a site. A gentle
slope to the north or east is prescribed. Contour, colour, smell, sound, taste and touch
are considered. Observations of existing flora and fauna are to be carefully interpreted.
A significant initial ceremony includes constant repetition of the mantra, Let all
creatures, demons and gods as well, leave this place; let them go elsewhere and make
their abode there. Then seeds are sprouted in water and planted. When the crops have
matured, and the flowers are in bloom, cows are brought to graze, and left for one or
two nights. The ground is purified by their presence. On an auspicious day the land is
ploughed with carefully selected oxen and a specially made plough.
Th. cardinal directions are then ascertained by means of a gnomon, a small tapering
column which is fixed in place and has its shadows recorded. Great accuracy is sought,
and minute adjustments made for the declination of the sun according to the time of
year. The importance of proper orientation is referred to.
2.2
Zoning in Vastu
With the preparations completed. The vastu mandala itself is drawn, accompanied by
the recitation of mantras. Cords are laid out to define the perimeter. Carefully-made
pegs are fixed at the four directions and the four corners. The assumption is of a square;
although derived initially through a circle, the square recognizes the cardinal axes which
fix it in place. The mandala is completed by dividing the site into plots, or padas, and
establishing the pattern of deities.
The plots are defined by a grid, set up by establishing an equal number of divisions
along each side (from 1 to 32). Thus the simplest diagram, sakala is a single plot; the
next, pechaka, is 2 x 2; Pitha is 3x3 and so on.
Fig 2.1 : Vastu pattern for construction.
8 | P a g e
The eighth and ninth plans, the manduka (or Chandita) and the Paramasayika, are the
most fully elaborated in the Manasara šilpa sastra. Their geometrical form, and the
arrangement of deities, is described in the following figure.
Fig 2.2 : Manasara silpa-sastra, arrangement of deities
These are further defined by the figure of västu-.purusa, spirit of the site, who lies spread
eagled beneath the diagram. Emphasis on this anthropomorphic image leads to the
image vastu purusa-manda1a, The Matsya-purana describes the mythological origin of
vastu-purusa. Controlling the purusa-demon allows ordered existence to emerge.
Drawing the mandala recreates this event. The actual arrangement of deities has
several notable features. There is a strong concentric ordering, beginning with Brahma
in the centre; around this nucleus or Brahmasthna, are 12 Adityas, and then 32 Pada—
devatas on the perimeter. This circular form is then locked in place by a strong cardinal,
orientation.
The deities controlling the various directions establish the territorial claim of the
mandala. Because of the mutual interdependence of the parts, emphasized by their
relationship to the underlying purusa body, the integrity of the whole is important. The
chapter in the Manasara silpa-sastra on the drawing of the diagram concludes with a
warning:
This primary object should be carefully kept in view in connection with buildings of gods
and men. Root as it is of good and evil, none of its parts should be rendered defective.
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Further interpretation of the mandala is developed elsewhere. In a later chapter in the
manasara silpa-sastra, the vastu mandala divisions are organized into four zones: in
the centre, Brahma, as before (covering the same number of plots); around Brahma,
the Daivaka round, or realm of the gods; beyond this, the Manusha round or realm of
beings, and at the perimeter the Paisacha round, or realm of demons and goblins. This
surprisingly inclusive population of the mandala reflects more directly, in a way, the
Matsya—purana story above which has Daivas, Asuras, and Humans collectively
pinning down the demons. The organisation is spelled out for the seventh, eighth, and
ninth plans:
Fig 2.3: Silpa-sastra organisation.
One last perception, particularly interesting, because it involves movement and recalls
the original drawing of a circle, is the image of the snake who underlies the mandala
and defines its outer limit. An elaboration of the concept can be found in the Bhubana-
pradipa treatise.
Once the vastu-mandala has been drawn, sacrificial offerings are made to Brahma and
ail the other deities. “The architect should fast overnight end with pure body and cheerful
mind, and putting on his best clothes, should collect the requisites for the offerings. For
temple purposes (i.e. on the occasion of building a temple) the ordinary offerings, and
for village purposes the special offerings should be made. To each deity is presented
a different set of foods, flowers, woods, perfumes and so on. “In this way the deities
should be worshipped for the safety of the village. Such a passage makes clear the
strong association of these rituals with the task of ordering and inhabiting the world.
10 | P a g e
Chapter 3
Mandala and the Town layout
The vastu-mandala of the texts is a generic diagram for any building enterprise.
Sometimes overlapping mandalas share a common centre, as in the case of successive
mandalas defining the extent of each concentric court in a large temple or palace. But
more often, mandalas in their multiple use radiate from different centres, each one
celebrating a particular event in the landscape.
The mandala has an integrity in each
application, and at any scale. ‘A pilgrimage
through the sacred landscape of India has
a counterpart in circumambulation around
a holy city, or through the corridors of a
temple; so also in the ritual turning-on-the-
spot in front of a deity. Each of these
movements suggests the sort of spatial
definition made explicit in the mandala
The mandala itself has a careful geometry,
but like the process of circumambulation
itself the relationships it establishes are
more topological than geometric. It is a
diagram, and thus “a graphic design that
explains rather than represents”. Only in the Garbha-griha of the temple, perhaps, is it
given vertical dimension, arid even here the process is indirect. The lines of the
mandala, and particularly the points of intersection must not be obscured by the lines of
the actual built wall.
In the villages and towns of the texts the translation into three dimensions is anything
but literal. Some of the town plans can be super imposed on the mandalas of 84 or 91
plots, so that the streets follow the sutras or lines of demarcation of the plots. But this is
not an explicit rule, and seems to be a fortuitous overlapping where there are two
gridded systems operating. A more direct interaction is the assignment of plots within
the town according to the pattern of presiding deities set up by the mandala. Thus:
The houses of the priests should be situated in Sugri-va and Pushpa-danta parts. In the
Dauvarika and Sugri-va parts should be the houses of the police. In the Gandharva, the
Roga or the sosha part should be the house of the drummers and others; therein should
also be the halls fit for the dancing of courtesans. In the Vayu or the Naga part should
be the houses of the architects.
Fig 3: Mandala Town layout.
11 | P a g e
But even here, the identification is not so much with a geometrical plot as with a certain
direction and a distance from the centre. Sometimes the allocation simply shifts to “in
the southwest”, “in the north”, and so on.
3.1
Mandala : Brahma divisions
The division of the mandala into the Brahma, Daivaka, Manusha and Palisacha rounds
is mentioned in the manasara šilpa-sastra only in relation to town layout. It suggests
directly a concentric hierarchy which is played out particularly in the second and third of
the eight schemes described. These are the Sarvatobhadra and Nandyivarta schemes.
Fig 3.1 : Brahma divisions in the mandala layout.
Presumably the deity association has nothing to do with the allocation of trade groups
and so on. But this relationship is not spelled out in the text, and the patterns seem to
vary a good deal from treatise to treatise (the pattern of trade distribution, that is; the
pattern of deities is more firmly fixed, according to their connection with the various
directions). In general, the hierarchy from the centre outward is maintained. The
Sarvatobhadra scheme clearly calls for a temple in the central Brahmasthana. The
Nandyavarta is vague about the central plot, but establishes a correlation of status with
the annular zoning.
In this village (when inhabited by people of all castes) the houses of the Brahmins should
be situated in the parts ending at the Manusha part (i.e. including the Daiva part); the
royal palace should be situated in the Daiva, the Manusha, and the Paisacha parts; and
the houses of the Vaisyas, the sudras and others are situated in the Paisacha part.
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Both schemes include streets which circumscribe the Brahmasthana, the Nandyvarta
with a more interesting geometry that has a suggestion of movement in it. In practice,
such streets often exist around a temple, with a single name along their full length. They
are associated with religious car-festivals. Whether their appellation in the texts as ratha
(ratha=car) refers specifically to religious processional cars is unclear. The rite of
circumambulation is the principal feature of the final ceremonies on completion of a
village. The image of the snake underlying the vastu mandala is here brought to mind,
a moving force defining and protecting a piece of land.
The other controlling element, the concentration of forces at a central point, is also
recognized.
At the time of circumambulation of villages (on the occasion of the first entry into it) the
circumambulation should be completely carried out by going round the parts of the Lords
of the eight quarters, proceeding from those of Bhudar (i.e. north), Indra (Stiresvara, i.e.
east) and of others; or in the absence of a (circumambulatory) path by (going round) the
neighbourhood of the plots of the Lords of the eight quarters (of the village).
The offerings to the Lords of the quarters should fully be made at (a temple built in) the
Brahmin (i.e. central) part (of the village); one should go and see the deity and then
should retire.
And with this, the inhabitation of the landscape is accomplished at a communal scale.
The reality of the vastu-mandala is affirmed.
At the time of circumambulation of villages (on the occasion of the first entry into it) the
circumambulation should be completely carried out by going round the parts of the Lords
of the eight quarters, proceeding from those of Bhüdar (i.e. north), Indra (Stirešvara, i.e.
east) and of others; or in the absence of a (circumambulatory) path by (going round) the
neighbourhood of the plots of the Lords of the eight quarters (of the village).
The offerings to the Lords of the quarters should fully be made at (a temple built in) the
Brahmin (i.e. central) part (of the village); one should go and see the deity and then
should retire.
And with this, the inhabitation of the landscape is accomplished at a communal scale.
The reality of the vastu-mandala is affirmed.
They most clearly express the topology of the mandala. The texts are cryptic in their
physical descriptions, but the following are visual interpretations.
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Chapter 4
Temple city – Madurai An Intro
The temple cities in south India are formed with the enlargement process of the principle
temple as the center. In and around Tamil Nadu, there are several temple cities of the
shape of a concentric rectangle with a large Hindu temple as its center. They are
regarded as the cities constructed according to the ideal city plan described in
Shilpasastra, the ancient Sanskrit texts. There are few cities representing such a clear
concentric form, which symbolizes the structure of the Cosmos, on a city scale, though
cities and temples reflecting the cosmology are often observed.
Madurai, well known as a pilgrim centre today, is one of the oldest cities in south India.
For the last two thousand years it has been a great centre of south Indian culture and
civilization. It is one of the few cities to have enjoyed a continuous history which can be
traced back to pre-historic times, the origin traced back to the 6th century B.C. Politically
Madurai was the capital of a single dynasty, the Pandyas who ruled continuously as far
as is known from the early years of Christianity down to the 14th century. This fact more
than anything else is enough to gain for Madurai a unique place. Even after the
Pandyas, Madurai has continued as the capital of some dynasty or other for four
centuries more. It has therefore had a continuous history as a political capital for
eighteen centuries. At the present day Madurai is still one of the premier cities in the
State next only to Chennai in importance.
Fig 4 (A & B) : Nandhi
statue and American college, Landmarks in Madurai city
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4.1
History of the city It is narrated in legend that Madurai was originally a forest known as Kadambavanam.
One day, a farmer named Dhananjaya who was passing through the forest, saw Indra
(The king of the gods), worshipping a swayambhu (self-created Lingam) under kadamba
tree. Dhananjaya, the farmer immediately reported this to King Kulasekara Pandya.
Kulasekara Pandya cleared the forest and built a temple around the Lingam. A city was
soon planned with the temple as its centre. On the day the city was to be named, Lord
Shiva is said to have appeared and drops of nectar from his hair fell on the town. So,
the place was named Madurai - mathuram meaning "sweetness" in Tamil.
Madurai has a rich historical background in the sense that Lord Shiva himself performed
sixty-four wonders called "Thiruvilaiyadals".
As early as the 3rd century BC, Megasthenes visited Madurai. Later many people from
Rome and Greece visited Madurai and established trade with the Pandya kings.
Madurai flourished till 10th century AD when it was captured by Cholas the arch rivals
of the Pandyas.
The Cholas ruled Madurai from 920 AD till the beginning of the 13th century. In 1223
AD Pandyas regained their kingdom and once again become prosperous. Pandian
Kings patronised Tamil language in a great way. During their period, many master-
pieces were created. "Silapathikaram", the great epic in Tamil was written based on the
story of Kannagi who burnt Madurai as a result of the injustice caused to her husband
Kovalan. In April 1311, Malik Kafur, the general of Alauddin Khilji who was then the ruler
of Delhi, reached Madurai and raided and robbed the city for precious stones, jewels,
and other rare treasures. This led to the subsequent raids by other Muslim Sultans. In
1323, the Pandya kingdom including Madurai became a province of the Delhi Empire,
under the Tughlaks.
The 1371, the Vijayanagar dynasty of Hampi captured Madurai and Madurai became
part of the Vijayanagar empire. Kings of this dynasty were in habit of leaving the
captured land to governors called Nayaks. This was done for the efficient management
of their empire. The Nayaks paid fixed amount annually to the Vijayanagar Empire. After
the death of Krishna Deva Raya (King of Vijayanagar Empire) in 1530 AD, the Nayaks
became independent and ruled the territories under their control. Among Nayaks,
Thirumalai Nayak (1623-1659) was very popular, even now he is popular among people,
since, it was he who contributed to the creation of many magnificent structures in and
around Madurai. The Raja Gopuram of the Meenakshi Amman Temple, The Pudu
Mandapam and The Thirumalai Nayakar's Palace are living monuments to his artistic
fervor.
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Madurai started slipping into the hands of the British's East India Company. In 1781,
British appointed their representatives to look after Madurai. George Procter was the
first collector of Madurai.
Rulers of Madurai
Pandyas B.C. 400 – A.D.400
Kalabhras A.D 400 – 550
Early Pandyas A.D. 550 – 985
Chozhas A.D. 985 – 1100
Medeival Pandyas A.D.1100 – 1190
Later Pandyas A.D.1190 – 1334
Madurai Sultans A.D.1334 – 1372
Vijayanagar rulers A.D.1368 – 1529
Madurai Nayaks A.D.1529 – 1736
Arcot Nawab and Others A.D.1736 – 1801
British Rule A.D.1801 – 1947
Now after India's independence, Madurai is one of the major districts of Tamilnadu
State. In 1984, the Vast Madurai district was bifurcated into two districts namely Madurai
and
Dindugul Districts. Subsequently in 1997, Madurai district was bifurcated into two
districts namely Madurai and Theni Districts. In Madurai District, there are 10 State
Assembly constituencies and two parliament constituencies.
Madurai is surrounded by several mountains. The Madurai city has 3 hills as its city
boundary. Yanaimalai, Nagamalai, Pasumalai named after Elephant, Snake and Cow
respectively. It is famous for Jasmine Flowers. Jasmine flowers are transported to other
cities of India from Madurai.
4.2
Town planning Madurai
Madurai, initially “koodal” means confluence of two or more rivers. It was built by a
pandyan ruler “kulasekara pandyan”. In the North Vaigai river, in the West and south
there will be kiruthimal river, and in the East and west, two vaigai branches passes
around the city, so the city gained its name koodal.
Due to the presence of Vaigai in the north, the buildings and the streets were aligned
non parallel to the North-East (River flow) direction. So, the city perimeter was designed
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14º inclined towards the north direction. It was believed that the inclination favours the
prominent wind movement through the city. Madurai city planning found similar to Greek
and Roman urban techniques, but there were no huge structures, complexes or any
bold structures unlike Roman or Greek planning.
Each and every streets were aligned concentric to the temple complex forming array of
streets. The streets concentric to the temple complex formed the major streets viz.,
Chithirai Streets, Avani Moola Streets and Masi Streets. The next order of streets is
perpendicular to the above streets and lead to the temple entrances.
The developments within and beyond these streets are on an irregular pattern. A definite
hierarchy of street pattern was adopted with the width of the Streets decreasing as they
branched out, ending up in stone paved streets and lanes - the width of some being just
0.60 m. The entire city was enclosed within the fort walls and surrounded by a moat.
The settlement pattern of Madurai is planned according to the ancient system of town
planning which is based on caste and occupational hierarchies. The map shows the
present settelement pattern and its relevance with the ancient town planning system.
Ancient south Indian temple towns are designed by placing the temple complex at the
centre with concentric rectangle pattern of streets around. This can be seen in another
southern temple town srirangam also.
Fig 4.1: Map showing the zoning of the Madurai city.
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Before the extension of the Madurai city on 1168 AD, the total area of the Madurai city
inside the fort walls were found to be 0.4779 sq.kms. The west fort walls of 1.4km length,
north walls of 1.2 kms, east and south walls of distances 1.0 and 1.6 kms respectively.
Soon after the extension the fort walls and the moat was removed. The Fort walls were
present before the veli streets on all four directions before extraction.
Even during the extension the 14º inclination towards the north was maintained for both
buildings and the streets. After the fall of pandya kingdom at 1310 AD, Muslim empire
came to the power, soon then they destroyed many temples and residences. But they
built on the earlier foundation laid by the pandyan rulers, so the street inclination
continues to the next millienium. Near to the temple some buildings like Pudhu
mandapam, heritage buildings and few residences still seen to be inclined at 14º.
Fig 4.2: Plan of Madurai in 1757.
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The width of the streets were found to be the multiples of 14, smaller streets of 28 feet
wide and larger streets of 56 feet wide. The main entrance streets were found to be 86
feet wide.
This time of Nayak rule is one of the more resplendent in the history of the city. There
we a succession of reasonably strong and able rulers, and the period is marked by
relative prosperity. The physical structuring of the city that emerges has survived
surprisingly intact to this day. The first and perhaps most able of the line, Viswanatha
Nayak pulled down the old Pandyan ramparts and erected a considerably larger,
double-walled fortress. He is also credited in local history with having established the
four main streets, which run in expanding concentric squares around the sacred centre:
Adhi, Chitrai, Avani moola and Masi. In establishing the pattern, he is said to have acted
“according to the laws of the Silpa Sastras. Unfortunately there do not seem to be extant
records of the planning process; Tirumala Nayak, a later successor with a penchant for
grandiose schemes, might have played a part.
Two gopurams, large gateway-towers, are shown here between adhi añd Chitrai streets
By Tirumala’s ttme (early 17th century) these have been incorporated in a new temple
boundary wall, with north and south gopurams added. Adhi Street is then inside the
sacred precincts. Tirumala hinted at continued expansion in his Pudumandapam. ‘New
Hall’, between Chitrai and Avani Streets, and the beginnings of an enormous
Rayagopuras just outside Avani Street. But the implications in terms of a whole new
concentric temple court were never realized. He further emphasized the eastern axis in
the excavation of a sacred tank or Teppakulam (the largest of its kind in India), several
miles outside the city. His other major investment was an enormous palace in the
southeast.
Fig 4.3: Schematic sketch of Madurai city.
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Fig 4.4: Connection between Temple and the teppakulam.
4.3
Vastu in Town planning
The claims of the Puranic accounts described earlier and their association with the silpa-sastra are given clear definition in this new city of the Nayaks. The currency of these stories is evidenced by the appearance during Tirumala’s reign of a new Sanskrit version; the author may even have been a minister in Tirumala’s court. Siva has indeed found a home. The secular palace, by comparison, is definitely a subordinate element diagrammatically. The Telegu-speaking Nayaks, outsiders to the long association between Madurai and the Pandyans, seem to minimize their role as usurpers of power by giving schematic dominance to the Pandyan heritage embodied and abstracted in the deities Meenakshi and Sundareswarar. It is their palace, and their festival processions, which define a vastu-mandala; secular rule operates in this context.
As the Nayaks perhaps suspected, the sacred mandala has indeed proved to be more
basic to the city’s identity than the shifting nature of secular political fortunes. Nayak
rule eventually gave way to muslim dominance again, and by the end of the 18th century
the city was in British hands. But the physical form and its significance were little
affected. The accompanying map shows the city in mid-l8th century; the legacy from
Viswanatha is clearly visible.
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As British rule spread across the country and dictated a common allegiance, places
such as Madurai became important tore as political centres than as military outposts.
Around 1860, Collector Blackburn of Madurai had the walls torn down, and the moat
filled in. Small streets and building lots were laid out, and Veli Street, previously just a
lane outside the ramparts, became a broad new avenue. The new openness has to be
seen as a major change; part of the traditional definition of dwelling place had been the
idea of an encircling boundary with its gates. Beyond simple military relaxation, one’s
impression is of a growing sense of a tame, secularized countryside. There was less
need to delineate habitable space.
The internal organization in Madurai, however, maintained, and still maintains, a
practical integrity, its important energy radiating from the centre. A map done in 1868 of
the whole county still clearly projects the image of the city’ as an ordered square set in
the landscape. And in fact, new edges begin to appear; Veli Street is itself something of
a boundary, the last of the concentric paths. A railway line was built along the ‘western
edge of the city in 1875, and a branch line to the south in 1902. Their location is not
entirely fortuitous, one assumes; the main station is particularly consistent, marking the
termination of a western axis. Only to the east was continuous growth possible. This
had long been a partially developed ex-urban area, in earlier days a favourite retreat for
scholars and holy men. Tirumala’s Teppakulam here provides an axial link to the old
centre. In general the earlier conscious ordering remains dominant. The attached map
of the situation in 1914 indicates the level of continuity.
Fig 4.5: Plan of Madurai in 1914.
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4.4
Later Madurai
Population growth has been very rapid in the 20th century, and the pressure has led to
inevitable congestion and expansion. A major bridge across the Vaigai opened in 1889;
extensive development was taken place on the northern bank. More recent pressure
has opened up large areas to the ‘west, “across the tracks”. But in both cases, layout
has been diffuse and unstructured, neither reinforcing the old centre nor defining new
ones. In a way this looseness has maintained the significance of the central city, with
its strong imageability. It is this area that deserves a closer look.
This historical overview of the city’s structural development has focused on the larger
diagram, the shape of the city as it appears in maps and aerial views. In fact, this is not
the way one experiences the city; it is a three-dimensional landscape through which one
moves. To return to the framework of analysis suggested in Chapter I, the direct
involvement with a place at human scale is as necessary as a conceptual understanding
of its layout if one is to sense the spirit of a place. Paths, nodes, landmarks, districts
these are all three dimensional and personal events. Only in response to such
information can one create a meaningful diagram of their interrelationships, on paper or
in one‘s mind.
Madurai is a rich intricate environment. A planned city in a sense, it is nonetheless a
surveyor’s nightmare (a good sign of individual liberties and natural forces at work).
There are few straight streets of significant length anywhere in the central area; local
events and occurences have their own logic and disturb and distort any larger pattern.
To glass over these idiosyncracies is to miss the significance of how a vastu mandala
functions. Its purpose is to explain, to harmonize, to protect; only indirectly does it
constrain or dictate. In physical terms, this means a primary definition in terms of us
activities and interrelationships — to which the form responds.
A sensitivity to topographical features is suggested in the TiriviIayadal Puranam’s
description of Madurai’s early fortifications. Presumably in part a justification of the
contemporary Pandyan ramparts they are attributed to the movement of a giant snake.
Venkata ramana ayyar, in his interpretation, goes on to say:
“The walls of the fort were constructed as the natural topography of the land would
permit. With the river on one side, mechanical symmetry of the layout for the walls would
have to be purchased at too high a price. This plan thus admitted of several deflections
and zigzag shape. The city of Madurai which was thus encircled by walls which did not
answer to mathematical exactness was henceforth called Tirumu-dangal or the beautiful
city surrounded by zigzag walls”.
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His walls were hardly an exact square either, can be seen in 1757 map. Other distortions
happen internally, Tirumala Nayak’s palace even today is a significant interruption of
the city fabric. It used to be considerably larger, before Tirumala’s grandson carted a lot
of it to trichy; entrance was perhaps near the south east corner of the masi street. The
Huge establishment could exist between the masi Street and the old wall (now veli
street) without interrupting them only because they both deflect from the strict
rectilinearity. The large Perumal Temple creates its own small-scale street network: four
car streets surrounding the temple, and a major road along the east axis from the main
temple entrance.
Fig 4.6: Wide Perumal kovil street.
Much more intricate is the network of pathways within the larger divisions of the city.
These block interiors have many places where the narrow lanes open up and small
neighbourhood centres exist, much quieter than the bustle of the main commercial
arteries. Numerous wells define small activity centres. These residential enclaves in fact
retain an almost village like character.
Paul dettman, in a study of ‘cheris’ or subsistence level neighbourhoods in Madurai,
says of Indian cities, Village type housing enclaves are to be flourished in open space
between substantial residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Livestock,
everything front ducks to donkeys, are kept by these “urban villagers”, even in the
largest cities. Cows and goats can be seen grazing on whatever sprigs of grass they
can find. As a matter of fact, it is from these cattle that the cities obtain the bulk of their
milk supply and the “urban villagers” one of the main sources of their income. The “city”
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and the “village” are not separated front each other so as to form two distinct enclaves;
they are inextricably mixed together to form the hybrid Indian urban settlement.
Fig 4.7 : A Neighbourhood centre
in the residential area in the temple complex in 1920’s.
One way of seeing these domains scattered through the city is as a remnant of the
process of city building as age aggregation referred to earlier, which becomes imbedded
in the texts as a method of bining disparate groups, each retaining its local identity. In
Madurai, these are the areas most likely to retain caste distinctions.
A hybrid ‘rural-urban” style of Indian city life is riot just a matter of appearances. When
one goes below the surface and probes the underlying attitudes and mores of the
working class residents, he finds those of the villager. In the fundamental areas of family
and social life, village ways, based primarily upon caste practices and traditions,
continue to exercise a predominant influence.
The larger streets, the urban corridors of the city, have their own character. Their gentle
meandering softens the momentum of movement along then. This relaxation occurs
especially at the corners of the large concentric avenue. An example is the north-west
corner of masi Street, where an enormous tree creates a sheltered environment. In the
plan one can see how smaller paths of movement are affected by the shift in direction
at this point. Many of the other corners are places for special events the circle at
southeast Masi, the parks at southwest Avanimoola, and northeast Chitrai, and so on
26 | P a g e
Fig 4.8: Street corner having several cart parkings.
The temple complex itself is not confined within a rigid square. Tirumala’s Pudu-
mandapam spills out into the city fabric, and amidst the elaborate carvings are to be
found tailors, brass merchants, and booksellers. Even further out the base of the
unfinished Rayagopuram gently suggests the encroachment of sacred space. Secular
use, in turn, invades the enclosed temple compound. Numerous small shops exist
within, and during the hot hours of the day it is a cool, relaxing place to sleep. The
temple environment, like the city, is a wealth of beautiful and often surprising details
within the larger structure. The two central shrines with their surrounding courts, the
adjacent Golden Lily Tank, and the numerous mandapams and gopurams create a
rather overwhelming spatial array; the overall size of the place is not oppressive only
because at the small scale each of the pieces operates within its own logic. The relaxed
accomodation of a double sacred focus is perhaps the ultimate gesture of a general
liveliness.
Only over time does this variegated urban environment begin to reveal its larger
structure. There is no attempt to force the issue; major streets and axes are not
acknowledged with uniform facades or controlled vistas. In fact, the absence of concern
for visual perspective is a key element in one’s response to the place. There is nowhere
within the public realm that one gets an overall view of the city’s layout. Even smaller
elements are not defined in this way. The bends in the streets hide their extent; the
small streets radiating out from the gopurams twist and turn, preventing a distant view
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of temple entrances. Francoise Choay has remarked that the use of visual perspective
begins to introduce a new objectivity into urban design and a loss of experiential space;
at this point a transition from place to space occurs. With remarkable consistency,
Madurai unfolds its secrets only through moving rather than stationary encounter. It is
true experiential space in Choay’s terms.
Like mandalas as used in meditation, the city diagram is not itself an object of attention;
it is something to be imbedded in one’s consciousness, a vehicle for understanding.
If one approaches the city from outside, the tail gopurams dominate the landscape and
provide an initial sense of orientation. But the path to the centre is a slow one. The grain
of the city is circular; one has to work across the grain to move inward. The sense of
place is encountered at the outset; this is clearly an inhabited domain. For a permanent
resident, concentric circulation dominates; it moves through the secular zone of the city
while only indirectly acknowledging the sacred centre. Swami Sannidhi Street, a typical
radial axis, gets narrower and narrower as it moves toward the temple, encountering
one major concentric route after another. Each one reduces its momentum. Other routes
to the centre are even more radical juxtapositions, small lanes getting you across from
one broad street to another. The potential subordination of radial streets is a feature
perhaps unique to the planning tradition of India; so also the multiple use of concentric
avenues.
By itself, the simple concentric ordering would leave one with an uneasy sense of a
rotating field. But just as the mandalas of the texts are locked in place by specific deity
allocation, so Madurai exhibits the analogous distribution of trade groups, giving a
cross—grain identity to the pattern. South and east Chitrai Streets house many of the
cloth merchants, East Avanimoola Street the paper merchants, South Avani moola
Street the goldsmiths and jewellers, East Masi Street the grain merchants, and so on.
Even the automobile parts dealers congregate, on North Veli street. Each trade group
affects its environment, and this demarcation of territory stabilizes one’s sense of
orientation.
At the very centre, the enormous gateways of the temple and the architectural splendour
within confirm the hierarchy suggested in the secular zone. Even here, the layering
continues. Adhi Street, the outer court, is away from the fanfare of secular life, but still
an outdoor space through much of its length. Several more concentric courts, suggested
pathways for circumambulation, surround each deity. The intensity increases at each
layer; in the sanctum, sanctorum architectural ebullience gives way to the sights and
sounds of the puja itself.
To test the reality of the diagram, the vastu-mandala imbedded in the landscape of
Madurai, I asked some permanent residents to draw a quick map of the city. They drew
the temple first, with four gateways; then the eastern and western axes; and then the
concentric squares of the streets. The curves and bends of the streets are straightened,
28 | P a g e
the cardinal orientation is exact, the projection of two parallel eastern streets from the
shrines of meenakshi and Siva is rationalised in to a single axis. The original impetus of
the planning re-emerges intact.
Chapter 5
History of Roads From stoneways to highways
Thousands of years before urban planning, motor vehicles, or even the wheel, the first
roads appeared on the landscape. Our first roads were spontaneously formed by
humans walking the same paths over and over to get water and find food. As small
groups of people combined into villages, towns and cities, networks of walking paths
became more formal roads. Following the introduction of the wheel about 7,000 years
ago, the larger, heavier loads that could be transported showed the limitations of dirt
paths that turned into muddy bogs when it rained. The earliest stone paved roads have
been traced to about 4,000 B.C. in the Indian subcontinent and Mesopotamia.
To help support the movement of legions throughout their empire, the Romans
developed techniques to build durable roads using multiple layers of materials atop of
deep beds of crushed stone for water drainage. Some of those roads remain in use
more than 2,000 years later, and the fundamental techniques form the basis of today's
roads.
Fig 5: Old roads in North Britain.
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“Without doubt, the champion road builders of them all were the ancient Romans, who,
until modern times, built the world's straightest, best engineered, and most complex
network of roads in the world. At their height, the Roman Empire maintained 53,000
miles of roads, which covered all of England to the north, most of Western Europe,
radiated throughout the Iberian Peninsula, and encircled and crisscrossed the entire
Mediterranean area. Famous for their straightness, Roman roads were composed of a
graded soil foundation topped by four courses: a bedding of sand or mortar; rows of
large, flat stones; a thin layer of gravel mixed with lime; and a thin surface of flint-like
lava. Typically they were 3 to 5 feet thick and varied in width from 8 to 35 feet, although
the average width for the main roads was from 12 to 24 feet. Their design remained the
most sophisticated until the advent of modern road-building technology in the very late
18th and 19th centuries. Many of their original roads are still in use today, although they
have been resurfaced numerous times”.
5.1
Earlier Roads
From the earliest times, one of the strongest indicators of a society's level of
development has been its road system-or lack of one. Increasing populations and the
advent of towns and cities brought with it the need for communication and commerce
between those growing population centers. A road built in Egypt by the Pharaoh Cheops
around 2500 BC is believed to be the earliest paved road on record-a construction road
1,000 yards long and 60 feet wide that led to the site of the Great Pyramid. Since it was
used only for this one job and was never used for travel, Cheops's road was not truly a
road in the same sense that the later trade routes, royal highways, and impressively
paved Roman roads were.
The various trade routes, of course, developed where goods were transported from their
source to a market outlet and were often named after the goods which traveled upon
them. For example, the Amber Route traveled from Afghanistan through Persia and
Arabia to Egypt, and the Silk Route stretched 8,000 miles from China, across Asia, and
then through Spain to the Atlantic Ocean. However, carrying bulky goods with slow
animals over rough, unpaved roads was a time consuming and expensive proposition.
As a general rule, the price of the goods doubled for every 100 miles they had to travel.
Modern road-construction techniques can be traced to a process developed by Scottish
engineer John McAdam in the early 19th century. McAdam topped multi-layer roadbeds
with a soil and crushed stone aggregate that was then packed down with heavy rollers
to lock it all together. Contemporary asphalt roads capable of supporting the vehicles
that emerged in the 20th century built upon McAdams' methods by adding tar as a
binder.
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The actual process of road building has changed dramatically over the past century,
going from large gangs of workers with picks and shovels to enormous specialized
machines. Rebuilding existing roads starts with peeling up existing pavement, grinding
it and dumping it straight into trucks for reuse later as aggregate for new roads. After
grading the surface, pavers come in and lay down fresh, continuous sheets of asphalt
followed directly by the rollers.
With much of the 20th century punctuated by hot and cold wars, the need to move the
military just as the Romans did led to the development of the modern superhighway,
including the German Autobahn and American interstate system. Military requirements
for long, unobstructed stretches that could be used as emergency runways for aircraft
paid a dividend for civilian drivers who could now cross countries at high speeds in
relative safety. It is believed that the oldest mode of travel was on the footpaths later
on, with the development of bullock carts and other simple animal drawn vehicles, roads
were also developed. These early roads were constructed as kutcha roads, consisting
of ordinary earth. The kutcha roads were soon deteriorated under heavy bullock cart
traffic, thus metalled roads came into existence. The first indication of these roads in
pre-historic period has been revealed by the excavations at Mohenjodaro and harappa
(pakistan). It is believed that these towns were constructed 3500 years B.C. Earth and
paved street pavements have been found in both of these unearthed towns.
The history of India does not reveal much about the different construction material used
during different periods. However, the remains of the road in Rajgir (Patna District),
constructed in 6th century B.C. i.e. during Aryan period and some archeological records
show that the materials commonly used at that time for road construction were stones,
mostly in the undressed form. This material was used only for metalling the major roads
whereas all other roads were constructed as ordinary earth roads. In towns, the road
pavements used to be of undressed stone slabs.
Fig 5.1: Western methods of laying roads.
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5.2
Indian road history
Indian civilization, being one of the oldest in the world (4000 to 3000 BC), witnessed the
growth and development of roads along with her own development. Thus, while tracing
out tracing out the history of development of roads in India, one is to study it along with
the development in the political, economic and cultural life of this country.
5.2.1
Pre-historic period
The history of roads is as old as the history of man on earth. The pre-historic men traced
out a narrow way for going out for hunting the food. The narrow way was as footpath or
pathway. The pathway is considered as the first road mark laid on the surface of earth.
The utility and necessity of pathway gradually developed with the introduction of
wheeled carts. The pathway was widened into a roadway which was the beginning of
road as a means of communication and transport.
5.2.2
Roads under early Indian rulers
Ancient history of India reveals that long ago; Indians knew the science of road
construction. The excavations at Mohenjodaro and Harappa (Pakistan) have
established that even 3500 years BC, there was a well-designed network of roads, and
streets were paved at that time.
5.2.2.1
Aryan period
During the Aryan period, there are references in Rig Veda (Part 1, Para 5) about
'Mahapaths' as a means of communication. About 600 years B.C., a pucca road (6.1 m
to 7.3 m wide) was built in Rajgir (ancient Rajagriha) of Patna district by king Bimbisara.
This road was made of stones and is still in existence.
5.2.2.2
Mauryan period
During this period, roads were developed on technical basis specifications were laid
down for width of roads, given to the surface of roads and the convexity of road surface
was compared to the back of a tortoise.
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Artha Shastra, the well- known treatise on administration, gives a good deal of
information regarding roads along with specifications adopted during Mauryan period.
The book of Artha Shastra was written in about 300 years B.C by Kautilya, the first prime
minister of Emperor Chandragopta Maurya.
Chandragopta Maurya(322-298 B.C.) took keen interest in the maintenance and
development of roads. He had a separate department of communications to look after
the public roads. He got constructed the GT Road connecting North-West frontier with
capital Patliputra, the modern Patna. He also got fixed some sign post in the form of
pillars and mile stones along the road side at regular intervals.
Emperor Ashoka took special interest in the improvement of roads and provided
facilities to the travelers. Such facilities were in the form of plantation of trees, digging
walls and constructing rest houses at about 4.8 to 6.4 kms distance along the roads.
The famous Chinese traveler Fahien had spoken very highly of the roads of that time in
the record of his travel.
Fig 5.2: Ancient streets –
stone paths in old England, harappan road, mountain stone ways respectively.
5.2.2.3
Roads during the Mughal period
The roads were very greatly improved in India during the Mughal period. Chahar Gulshan, which was written in eighteenth century, gives an information regarding 24 important roads which formed the network of roads in India during the Mughal period.
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The road system in those days was considered as one of the best road systems in the world.
The road from Delhi to Daultabad was constructed by Mohamad Tughlag. Sher Shah
Suri got constructed the longest road i.e. the road from Punjab to Bengal. The present
Grand Trunk Road forms the greater part of the Old Shershahi road, also called
Badshahi sarak. The road from Agra to Allahabad and that from Ujjain to Bijapur were
also got constructed by Muslim Emperor. Many of roads, constructed during Mughal
period exist even today.
5.2.2.4
Roads during the British rule
The economic and political shifts caused much damage in the maintenance of road
transportation. Thus, with the fall Mughal Empire, the condition of roads became
deteriorated.
At the beginning of the British period, a number of old Mughal roads, connecting
important military and business centers were metal led and some new roads were
constructed by Military boards during the time of Lord William Bentinck. But the
administration of roads under military boards was not a satisfactory arrangement. It was
only during the administration of Lord Dalhousie that the central public works
department was established to look after the construction and maintenance of roads.
Later, such departments were created in other provinces also.
Fig 5.3: British streets in India – Chennai, Amritsar and Calcutta
respectively.
Lord Mayo and Lord Rippon contributed a lot in the development of roads because the
affairs of construction and maintenance of roads came. Later, such departments were
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created in other provinces also. Lord Mayo and Lord Rippon contributed a lot in the
development of roads because the affairs of construction and maintenance of roads
came directly under the control of Local bodies. With the development of Railways in
India, the road development received a serious setback. The work of road construction
and maintenance was given a secondary importance and thus the roads gradually lost
the interest of the government.
Major roads, except those of military importance, mainly centered on the feeder roads
to railways. Thus, the outlook on road development was completely changed and they
were considered to be only of local importance. According to Government of India Act
of 1919, the affairs of all the roads, except those of military importance and certain other
roads of national importance were transferred from the central government to the
provincial governments. The provincial governments, in their turn, took over the direct
responsibility of construction and maintenance of roads of provincial importance and
placed the greater part of road mileage in the charge of local bodies.
After World War-1, motor transport came to the fore-front which created revolution in
India's transportation system. Under the continued effect of high speed motor transport,
the existing roads soon get deteriorated. The local bodies, with their limited financial
and meagre technical resources, could not deal with the situation properly and with the
increased motor traffic, the condition of roads went from bad to worse. Then the central
government took the following steps towards the development of roads:
Appointment of Jayakar committee
In 1972, the central government appointed the Jayakar committee under the
chairmanship of DR. M.R. Jayakar to report on the condition of the existing roads and
to suggest ways and means for their future development. In 1928, the Jayakar
committee recommended that since the provincial governments and the local bodies
were unable to look after all the roads and therefore, the central government should
look after all the important roads of national importance.
Creation of central road fund
On recommendation of the Jayakar committee, the central road fund was enforced on
first march, 1929. The petrol tax surcharge at the rate of two annas per gallon (2.64
paise per liters) of the petrol consumed by motor traffic was imposed to build the road
development fund. Out of annual revenue, thus collected, 20% was to be retained by
the central government for meeting expenses on the on the administration purpose,
research and the development of roads under its charge. The balance 80% of the
central road fund was to be distributed among the provinces, according to their petrol
consumption, for maintenance and construction of roads.
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Indian roads congress
In 1934, a semi-official technical body known as Indian Roads Congress (IRC) was
established by the central government as per recommendation of the Jayakar
committee. This body was formed of national importance for controlling standardization,
specifications and recommendations regarding design and construction of roads and
bridges. But the economic depression during that time delayed the road development
programmes.
After World War II, there was a revolution in respect of automobiles using the roads in
our country. The road development at that time could not keep pace with the rapid
increase in road vehicles and therefore, the existing roads started deteriorating fast.
This necessitated proper highway planning by the authorities.
Nagpur plan
In 1934, a conference of the chief engineers of central and state government was
convened by the central government at Nagpur. It is a landmark in the history of road
development in India since it was the first attempt to prepare road development
programme in a planned manner. That conference finalized a twenty year road
development plan (1943-1963) popularly known as the Nagpur Plan.
According to that plan, all roads were classified into four broad categories namely
National Highways, State Highways, District Roads and Village Roads. It was also
recommended that the central government should assume complete financial liability
for construction and maintenance of roads classified as National Highways and the
construction of roads of national importance was made the responsibility of the central
government.
5.2.3
Roads during the post-independence period
After independence, the government of India started taking much interest towards the
development of roads in the country. The Nagpur plan targets were mostly achieved by
1960 through the first and second five year (1951-56 and 1956-61).
The various steps taken by the Government of India towards the development of roads
in the country after independence are described here:
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Central road research institute
In 1950, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) was started at New Delhi. This
institute is considered as one of the National laboratories of the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research in India. This institute is mainly engaged in applied research and
offers technical advice to state governments on various problems concerning to roads.
National highway Act
In 1956, the National Highway Act was passed. According to this act, the responsibility
of development and maintenance of National Highways was given provisionally to the
central government.
Road development plan (1961-81)
In 1958, the next Twenty Years Road Development Plan (1961-81) was finalized at the
meeting of Chief engineers of states. This is popularly known as the Chief Engineer's
Plan. In this plan, due consideration was given to the future developments on various
fields of our country.
According to this Road Development Plan, the total length was almost double to that of
Nagpur Plan target. This plan aimed at bringing any place in a well-developed
agricultural area within 6.44 k from a metalled road 2.41 km from any other category of
road.
We can hope that better organizational arrangements and through intensive future
planning's, India will not only make up the deficiency in roads but she will lead many
other countries in this respect in near future.
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Chapter 6
Madurai Streets
In the past Among the ancient cities of India, Madurai has a unique place with its literary
effloresence, Puranic glories and continuous long history. Known as the 'Athens of the
South', this city has several other names such as Koodal, Naanmadakkudal and Alavai,
Madurai had trade contacts with the cities situated on the banks of river Ganges as well
as Greece and Rome. Foreign traders and spiritualists affiliated to different religions
had associated with Madurai from time immemorial. Even today, Madurai keeps its
glorious past, traditional temple festivals and political importance intact.
The Pandya rulers patronised the Tamil Sangam and helpfully development of the
language and literature. They ruled the country, with its capital at Madurai, since 3rd
century B.C. Subsequent to the Sangam age, this place was ruled by the Kalabhras,
Early Pandyas, Chozhas, Later Pandyas, Madurai Sultans, Vijayanagar emperors,
Madurai Nayaks, Nawabs of Arcot and the British. There are references to Madurai in
the epigraphical records of the 2nd century B.C. Its glorious past is verymuch mentioned
in the accounts of foreigners who visited this place. Its layout and splendours are given
in a picturesque description in literary works such as Madurai Kanchi, Nedunalvadai,
Silappathikaram and Thiruvilayadal Puranam.
The present Madurai was established by the Pandya rulers and expanded during the
Nayak rule. The ancient Madurai of the Pandyas was located within the four Masi
streets. The city area between the Masi streets and Veli (outer) streets was expanded
encircled by a fort with seventy two bastions and four gateways.
There are traces of the reminiscent of the ancient city. For example, there is a
fortification called Melavasal, near Periyar Bus stand. In the centre of the ancient city,
in between the Thirumalai Nayak Palace and the Meenakshi Sundaresvara temple,
there are certain traces of ancient and historically significant buildings and other places.
Madurai streets are as old as the meenakshi temple, and planned according to the
temple’s orientation and the predominant wind direction. As said earlier the width of the
streets are determined in accordance with the temple’s rituals and festivals. The widths
were found to be the multiples of 14. The streets were laid on a concentric square
pattern.
There were several heritage buildings was built by several rulers during their reign in
the fortified city. The fort wall situated before the veli streets. The streets concentric to
the temple complex formed the major streets viz., Chithirai Streets, Avani Moola Streets
and Masi Streets. The next order of streets is perpendicular to the above streets and
lead to the temple entrances.
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The developments within and beyond these streets are on an irregular pattern. A definite
hierarchy of street pattern was adopted with the width of the Streets decreasing as they
branched out, ending up in stone paved streets and lanes - the width of some being just
0.60 m. The entire city was enclosed within the fort walls and surrounded by a moat.
The fort walls have been razed down and the moat filled up to form the present day Veli
Streets.
In Madurai, Meenakshi Amman Temple is at the center, while Royal Palaces, Brahmins
and Priests at the first concentric rectangle. Traders, Kishatriyas and Vaishnavaites on
the second rectangle. The lower caste Sudras and immigrants zorashtrains in the third
rectangle.
Fig 6: Plan of Madurai in 1950’s.
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Heritage buildings were found inside the fort walls include nayak’s palace, koodal-alagar
temple, nagara mandapam, etc.
6.1
Heritage Structures
Meenakshi-Sundaresvara Temple: This ancient Siva temple has a thousand and five
hundred year old tradition and history. A song from Purananuru of the Sangam age
refers to the existence of a Siva temple here. Another Sangam work Paripadal
compares the city layout as the lotus bud at the centre and the petals around it. It also
mentions that the temple was the nucleus of the city and streets were laid around it.
This temple was sung by the Thevaram trio during the seventh and eighth century A.D.
and established and expanded during the early Pandya, Chozha, later Pandya,
Vijayanagar and Nayak rulers. Most of its old structures were removed by the Nayak
rulers who rebuilt the temple with the present structures. Of the Gopuras of this temple,
the eastern one was erected by Sundara Pandya. The Western Gopura is the work of
the fourteenth century A.D. by Parakrama Pandya. Other Gopuras are probably the
works of the Nayak rulers. The Thousand Pillared Hall of this temple constructed by the
Nayaks is a museum by itself with exuberant sculptural carvings. There are about sixty
and more inscriptions belonging to the later Pandya and Nayak period. Madurai is
considered as the city of festivals in view of the grand celebration of Chitra festival, Car
festival and the procession of the images of the God and Goddess on the streets of the
city.
Fig 6.1: Streets of Madurai in
1920’s.
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Nagara Mandapa, also called Acharayan Mandapa, constructed during the reign
of Rani Mangammal (A.D.1689-1706), is situated opposite to Meenakshi Shrine. On a
pillar to the east of this mandapa there are sculptures of Rani Mangammal and her
grandson Muthu Vijayaranga Chokkanatha Nayak facing the temple. The musical
instrument Nagara is played two times, ie., Morning and evening, every day from the
top of this mandapa.
Fig 6.2: Pictures of nagara mandapa
built by mangmmal.
Pudhu mandapam: It was constructed by Thirumalai Nayak (1626-33) for the
purpose of celebration of Vasanthotsav (Spring Festival) of the Madurai temple. It
measures about 110 metre x 35 metre. It is a treasure house of sculptures. It is a
tradition to celebrate the Vasanthotsav by filling up water in the pit of this mandapa. The
inner pillars of this mandapa dorn the life size statues of Thirumalai Nayak and his
predecessors. At western entrance of this mandapa is an elegant statue of Thirumalai
Nayak seated on a horse back. The outer pillars adorn the sculptures of
Ravananugrahamurti, Gajasamharamurti, Ekapadamurti, Kali, Urdhvatandava, celestial
marriage of Siva and Meenakshi and sculptures depicting the stories of Thiruvilayadal
Purana such as Tadathagaippiratti (Goddess with three breasts) Siva breast feeding the
young ones of the pigs and tigers, feeding of sugarcane to stone elephant, blessing the
black sparrow etc. This mandapa exemplifies the sculptural art tradition of the Nayak
period.
Raya gopuram: At the Western corner of the Elukadal street there is an unfinished
Gopura. It measures about 58 metre length and 39 metre breadth. This massive
structure was commenced in A.D.1654 by Thirumalai Nayak in order to enhance the
beauty of Meenakshi Chokkar temple. But it was stopped with the foundation
portionalone. Known as Raya Gopura, it has the sculptural representations of
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Thirumalai Nayak and his younger brother Muthiyalu Nayak in its western lower storey.
This gopura exhibits the architectural excellence of the Nayak period. If completed this
would be one of the largest Gopuras in Tamil nadu.
Fig 6.3: Pictures of Pudhu-Mandapam and Its Interior
Detail.
Fig 6.4: Pictures of Raya Gopuram and its
carving.
Elukadal Street: There is an ancient street, running in front of the Chokkanatha
shrine, called Elukadal Street (confluence of Seven Seas). It was, in this street, that
many essential goods were traded. There was a large tank on the north of this street.
Now it is dismantled and in its place a multi-storeyed building is erected to house the
shops. A legendary story says that Kanchanamala, the mother of Goddess Meenakshi
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wished to take sacred bath in seven seas. When Lord Siva learnt this He miraculously
brought water from seven seas to Madurai and formed a tank here to house the water,
to help his mother-in-law, who had pleased and took bath in that tank. Hence the name
Elukadal Street.
Even to-day, one can see a Siva temple, on the western band of the tank, believed to
have been worshipped by Kanchanamala along with her husband Malayathuvasan. A
stone slab inscription erected by the side of the tank mentions that one SaluvaNayaka,
an officer of the VIjayanagara ruler Krishnadevaraya, in A.D.1516, renovated and
reconstructed this tank and named it as ‘Saptasakaram’ (Elukadal).
There is a Madai Thotti (sluice) located in between the Raya Gopura and Pudumandapa
to take water to many places. On the four sides of it are the drain pipes which took water
to Elukadal, Pudumandapam and the temple. Now a stucco Nandhi image is place on
it.
Fig 6.5: Pictures of Elukadal street.
Naikar mahal: King Thirumalai Nayak (A.D.1620-1659) erected thispalace around
A.D.1636. There exists today only two main portions of it: Swargavilas and
Rangavilas,enclosed by a high wall called Parimathil. Most ofthe other structures of this
Palace like that staples of elephants and horses, garden, officers' residences,
playground, the temple of the Goddess Rajarajeswari and other parts of the original
palace are not found today. The northern part of the Palace, existed by the side of the
Naubat-Khana street. The king Thirumalai Nayak resided in the Swargavilas, which still
exists. The remaining existing parts of the Palace are a large courtyard, darbhar hall,
pooja room, natakasala and bed chamber. The upper portion of the Palace is decorated
with a number of beautiful domes supported by wonderful short but heavy columns.
Attractive arches, stucco figures and stucco works are some of the artistic splendours
of this Palace. It was constructed by lime, bricks, wood, and stone, showing curious
workmanship and great beauty. The Palace is the best example of Indo-Islamic
architecture.
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Fig 6.6: Pictures of Tirumalai nayak
mahal.
6.2
User Index
The main streets includes masi streets, avani moola streets, veli street and chithirai
street taken in to the account. At first, when the city’s been built there is no veli streets
present, instead there were fort walls and a moat. Chithirai streets were usually found
be active during the daytime with retail shops, pedestrians, visitors and temple workers.
The free spaces in the temples were occupied by homeless and most of the time acts
as a social gathering place. Adhi streets, present inside the temple were
accommodated by few temple shops and homeless peoples.
The Avani moola streets were partially filled by residents, jewellery shops, and other
trading shops. These streets were used by local peoples, trade merchants and the buyer
from various regions. These streets of width 14 feet and these were the second
concentric square from the temple.
Masi streets are the main streets tend to be the widest street inside the fort because
of the chariot access during festival days. The roads were never been extended or
diminished even after the invention of large vehicles. Masi streets are purely
commercial, that attract various merchants, traders and buyers from various part of the
world. These streets of width 42 feet. All festival rituals do happen in these streets. So
it’s an active of all streets.
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Chithirai streets, the smallest square yet the most busiest street, because of the
temple, it has a width of 28 feet. It is named after a tamil month “chithirai”.
From the pandyan rule, the Madurai dynasty keep on extending, so as the user traffic.
Fig 6.7: Madurai map – Pandiyan Rule.
During the pandyan reign, the city never extended beyond the river, but the trade level
is at peak. After the due increase in city population, some residents were formed outside
the city walls on the north.
During Vijayanagara empire, the city been developed somewhat outside the city walls,
so the user traffic somehow increased even outside city limits. The following picture
shows the development of settlements outside the temple complex.
After vijayanagaraempire, nayaks came to the power and built numerous structures that
were found to be the iconic structures of Madurai. Such masterpieces creates the city
as a architectural kingdom.
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After nayaks rule, a short term reign of muslim dynasty had demolished many temples
and increased trade routes thus the user traffic increased to its peak at that time and
they took many resources from the heritage city.
Fig 6.8: Madurai map – Vijayanagar Rule.
And during the colonial period, British developed the city in to a bigger one in the south.
During their reign the vehicles been introduced, so the traffic in the city rose up to a
higher level. They built roads, junctions, railways and several government buildings. So
the temple town evolved to a newer level, that the locals haven’t seen before.
The present situation shows that the city has been developed with numerous vehicles
and high density population, that increases the user traffic of the city. Sparsely
distributed city as shown in the above figure.
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Fig 6.9: Madurai map – Colonial Rule.
Fig 6.10: Madurai map – Present Situation..
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Chapter 7
Madurai streets
Present
After the british rule, Madurai’s population was increased tremendously. So, the user
traffic also increases. The city has been extended on both sides of the river. Now it’s
the third largest city in tamil nadu. Madurai is also the District Headquarters of Madurai
District. It is located in 9°55’ North longitude and 78°7’ East longitude. The Population
of Madurai rose gradually and in 1971 the population was 5,49,100. Thereafter there
was a hidden increase in 1981 and the population was 8,20,891 i.e., 49.49 % growth
rate. In the year 1970 Madurai Municipality was upgraded as Madurai Corporation.
Now the present area of the Madurai Corporation is 147.977 sq.km. In 2011, Madurai
had population of 3,038,252 of which male and female were 1,526,475 and 1,511,777
respectively. In 2001 census, Madurai had a population of 2,578,201 of which males
were 1,303,363 and remaining 1,274,838 were females. Madurai District population
constituted 4.21 percent of total Maharashtra population.
The major streets like adhi, chithirai, avani moola, masi and veli streets were found to
be highly populated with locals and traders. Madurai became the commercial
destination for all the surrounding districts.
7.1
Heritage Buildings As said earlier in the last chapter, buildings like Nayak mahal, Meenakshi temple, Pudhu mandapam, Nagar mandapam, Raya gopuram were still present and maintained in a great form. Several heritage buildings are seen even today. Many buildings in the temple complex seem to be demolished and built newly.
Few old residences were still present in the chithirai streets, many buildings that were built during colonial period are in a weak condition.
The Pictures of Pudhu mandapam shows that the structure beingused for various commercial purposes today mainly book shops. Likewise, the temple streets have several retail shops that makes the temple and the surrounding more interesting.
A view of the Chithirai street clearly shows that the street been used for commercial purposes. The main thing in the above picture is the façade of each buildings were used for commercial purposes while the other spaces and floors been used for residential purposes. Street width and orientation have been maintained since earlier times.
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Fig 7: Views of a Heritage building in Chitirai Street.
Fig 7.1: Views of Some shops in Pudhu Manadapam.
The Beauty of the Pudhu mandapam has been depleting due to these shops and poor maintainance. Now, the Pudhu mandapam been acting as the book complex for the Madurai city, where we can buy all kinds of books and educational stationaries.
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Fig 7.2: Views of Some shops in the Chitirai street.
Fig 7.3: Views of Some Old bildings in the Chitirai street.
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From the current situation of the heritage buildings, it’s clear that the public buildings like the temple, nayak palace were maintained in a good deal, but the nagar mandapam, pudhu mandapam, and other old residences were poorly maintained and occupied by retail shops, so these monuments loose its shape and greatness.
Fig 7.4: Map showing Public buildings.
- Heritage buildings, old buildings, temples.
The picture shows the present location of temples, that includes churches and mosques
and old buildings, that was built on 1950’s and the heritage buildings includes nayak
mahal, pudhu mandapam, etc.
These structures are the last remains of the Madurai city and it tells us the spontaneous
evolution of temple city over the past century.
Last century buildings were hardly seen on this city except few heritage buildings, but
the fact is that, the streets were still maintaining its original character since pandyan
times.
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7.2 Main streets
Main streets were shown on the
picture in the temple complex.
The outer ring (black) be the veli
streets, the smallest ring be the
chithirai streets, the blue ring so
called masi streets, and the red
one be the avani moola streets.
Veli streets.
Masi streets.
Avani moola streets.
Chithirai streets.
Fig 7.5: Map showing Main
streets.
Veli streets, streets that have more landmarks, including periyar bus stand, railway
junction, bazzars, theatres, shops, etc. So the streets tend to be noisier and congested
during day time with vehicles and pedestrians. West veli street is one of the hyperactive
streets in the city. These four streets were the longest streets in the temple complex.
Masi streets, majorly commercial streets. These streets have been used as a
commercial space even during the earlier stages of these streets. The traffic level of
these streets were high, due to the presence of commercial spaces, the streets were
busy with loading and unloading goods during early morning. Merchants, traders,
buyers were using these streets commonly. All types of trading companies were present
and it’s actually a multi-purpose streets, these streets were zoned accordingly. During
festival days, these wide streets were used as a chariot path. So it needs to hold
enormous population, that’s why masi streets were designed as the widest streets.
Avani moola street, these streets were partially commercial, partially residential. Each
and every streets do have one or more temples. More than 70% of the streets were
covered by commercial shops, retail shops, eateries, etc. Moderate vehicle traffic and
high pedestrian traffic.
Chithirai streets, high pedestrian traffic. Since it is placed close to the temple. Comprises
of retail temple shops, lodges etc.
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Secondary streets
Secondary streets like Nethaji street, Tower streets, Mahal streets were congested and
the modern developed streets that were busy during the day. The above mentioned
main streets lies parallel to the temple perimeter, but Nethaji street lies perpendicular to
the temple perimeter, yet the important street.
7.3
Land use
Madurai was developed greatly over the years, thus increase in the land use. Presently,
98% of the temple complex were occupied by residents, commercials, temples, etc. The
Remaining spaces includes parking spaces, demolished spaces, etc.
Fig 7.6: Map showing the existing Land use map of Madurai.
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Public and semi-Pubic spaces. Residential spaces.
Commercial Spaces. Educational spaces.
From the above map it is clear that the street’s perimeter has
covered by commercial spaces (blue) and the residential
spaces (yellow) covers the centre part of the complex.
Each and every street follows the same principle in the temple
complex. Secondary streets that lies inside each sector were
the street used to connect residential spaces. There were semi-
public or public spaces situated in the complex includes
government buildings, bus stations, heritage buildings, etc.
Commercial and Residential shares 60:40 spaces respectively
in the temple complex, residential spaces were spaced by the
commercial spaces.
Fig 7.7: Land use map.
7.4
Past and Present
Streets are the primary source of movement in a settlement. There wasn’t much
difference in function and zoning, that’s how it’s built. Every street has a significant
purpose and mainly commercial idea in both past and the present. At first, the
residences were segregated according to the caste system, but in the recent decades
it’s been changed and the residences were filled by different peoples of different castes,
except the Brahmin people’s residence. The commercial spaces remains the same
since the earlier times, may be the type of the commercial been evolved, but the type
of the space remains constant.
The spaces in the temple complex got updated to newer materials and newer form, but
the purpose of the spaces remains same overall. Several retail shops were once a street
shops, yet the function remains constant.
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Fig 7.8: Pictures showing the old and
new temple streets.
Chapter 8
Conclusion At the outset I indicated that Madurai was entering a phase of new indeterminancy. It is
not clear whether the momentum generated by current growth can be channeled into
meaningful physical forms. But meaning in architecture, though elusive, is an important
issue. It allows shared associations with a place, a sense of community. It arises, I would
argue, when an individual is able to recognize in the built environment concepts which
it embodies. To recognize them, he or she must share them in some way, and it is the
interaction itself which constitutes the field of meaning. In other words, meaning is
intrinsic to neither the subject nor the object in isolation. In applying this framework of
analysis to a city, one would define meaning in a city as a function of the physical
embodiment of certain concepts interacting with one’ s understanding of, and pre
occupation with, those concepts. In Madurai this interaction seems to me potentially
much richer and more consistent than in most urban centres.
However, one of the key factors in dealing with a collective enterprise in the environment
is the nature of the shared concepts. At so level there exist a set of assumptions in
terms of which things are explained and justified. It is only in terms of these assumptions
that behaviour can be understood as proceeding on rational grounds. As I have
suggested, one of the assumptions of the Indian city planner was of the reality of a
sacred landscape, the whole country as “a field of more than human activity”. To enable
people to successfully inhabit such a landscape, the application of the principles
embodied in the vastu-mandala is a rational move. It uses available knowledge to
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harmonize and control, a process which characterizes much of the human enterprise
and which I understand as secularization. The task of orchestrating this process is
invested in the architect and the larger priesthood; their actions are a basis for
meaningful encounters with a place.
Today we tend to look to a new priesthood for the elucidation of useful knowledge. The
assumptions of today’s ‘scientific’ city planner make the earlier assumptions seem
irrational. With the assertion of the ultimate primacy in the natural world of a self-
contained cause and effect, a neutral grid replaces the divinely-infused mandala,
secular space pushes out of old city wails and spreads to caver the whole earth. The
old forms, however, still strike a responsive chord; they have addressed directly the act
of dwelling. If there is going to be a modern solution which continues to give meaning
to this act, it will have to create its own understanding of vastu, its own vastu-mandala.
These diagram will have to continue to express collective assumptions about inhabiting
a landscape that is still, after all, very much alive. Since assumptions are matters of
faith, the drawing of maç1alas remains a religious enterprise. There needs to be a
common, or at least dominant, faith for a collective pattern to emerge.
whatever the inputs, the mandala itself is not an end-point. It come to life only in
response to a particular place and time. It is this process, of imbedding such diagrams
in the built landscape, that the example of Madurai serves to illuminate.
Madurai city’s function inside the temple complex will never change, may be it will
evolve. But the purpose of the spaces remains constant.
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Bibliography
Julian s. smith, Madurai, India: Architecture of the city. USA by Julian smith (1967).
Prabhakaran karunagaran, Research on Madurai Planning, blogspot.
Madurai Municipality website.
Devakunjari, Madurai through the ages. Society for archaeological, historical and epigraphical
research , Madras 1960.
Indian Architecture according to the manasara silpa-sastra. Allahabad, oxford printing press,
1929.
Ancient system of Town planning in India by Lakhsmanan.
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who saw
me through this book; to all those who provided support, talked
things over, read, wrote, offered comments, allowed me to quote
their remarks and assisted in the editing, proofreading and design.
I would like to thank Prabhakaran karunagaran for guiding me
through my dissertation, and I want to thank his friend P.R.S.Siva
kumar for sharing his valuable thoughts and comments over my
dissertation. Above all I want to thank my Parents and Friends,
who supported and encouraged me in spite of all the time it took
me away from them. It was a long and difficult journey for them.
I would like to thank Ar.Thushara, Ar.Chinnadurai for helping me
in the process of selection and editing. Thanks to T.Vijay anand
my Friend who encouraged me lot throughout the dissertation.
I would like to show my gratitude to my college director Ar. Suresh
bhaskar for his support throughout.
Last and not least: I beg forgiveness of all those who have been
with me over the course of the years and whose names I have
failed to mention."
