The ruins of the ancient Buddhist university at Nalanda

There are no examples of urban architecture in eastern India immediately before the colonial settlers came in.

Unlike the north, where we have Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi), Fatehpur Sikri, Gwalior or Orcha, or the west, where we have Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Chittor, Udaipur or Bundi and Mysore, Hampi or Trichi in the south, the east remains a poor cousin when it comes to largescale urban settlements of distinct character.

But eastern India had some of the greatest towns and cities in India during the ancient and early medieval times. Unfortunately, all of them are in ruins and have been destroyed due to centuries of neglect.

Eastern Uttar Pradesh and north Bihar have a large number of ancient sites that used to be thriving townships of art, culture and trade before 1200 AD, when the Muslim invasion reached the eastern part of the country.

Cities like Magadh, Vaishali, Nalanda, Pataliputra and Mithila have been mentioned in the writings of many travellers, including Fa-Hien and Hiuen Tsang.

All of these are in ruins or have only been partially excavated. In the absence of proper research and documentation of our ancient towns, we have no idea of our own tradition of city planning and urban design.

Take the case of Pataliputra. Built by the great king Ashoka, the main buildings of the city were constructed with chunar stone so that they remained strong for a long time. Timber was used extensively for buildings and all other constructions before his period.

In fact, the palace built by his grandfather Chandragupta Maurya was built with timber. When Ashoka switched to stone as building material, he must have brought the tribals to help him in the construction, giving rise to popular stories that yakshas (demons) came to build for him.

Both Fa-Hien and Hiuen Tsang had seen several stone structures built by Ashoka in Pataliputra. These structures were intact when Fa-Hien stayed in the city for three years to learn Sanskrit during 399 and 415 AD. But Hiuen Tsang (635 AD) mentioned that most of the structures, barring two or three, were in ruins.

Excavations by renowned archaeologists such as L.A. Waddel, D.B. Spooner, M. Ghosh and A.S. Altekar have brought to light the remains of some of the stone structures but most of them still lie buried 10-20 feet below the ground.

The palace

The most magnificent building built by Ashoka was the royal palace which, according to Fa-Hien, was situated in the middle of the city.

At present, it is difficult to locate the actual site of the palace. Archaeologists should try to identify the site from the description provided in the works of Fa-Hien and Hiuen Tsang and excavate as much as possible to expose the urban design of the ancient Indians.

Bhikshu Parvata

Fa-Hien has written about a stone building made to look like a mountain cave built by Ashoka for his cousin, a monk who lived in a cave near Rajgir.

Waddel located the Bhikshu Parvata near Patna College in 1895. It is now hidden under a mound of earth forming a hillock.

Upagupta’s houses

Upagupta was a Buddhist scholar who inspired Ashoka to embrace Buddhism. The Maurya emperor had built several stone-dwellings for Upagupta, the remains of which are found in a village called Baripahari.

Extensive excavations are required to literally unearth the style of architecture that prevailed in those times.

The stupa

Fa-Hien mentions that Ashoka had built 84,000 stupas throughout his empire.

The first of these stupas was built south of Pataliputra. It was approximately 100 ft in diameter.

A road built in 1895 cuts across the mound of bricks, completely destroying the shape of the stupa. Unless something is done immediately, the ancient bricks will be removed by villagers.

Assembly hall

Hiuen Tsang mentions a large assembly hall called Kukkutarama Vihar located south-east of the old city of Pataliputra.

Designed for more than a thousand monks, it was built by Kukkuta, a banker from Kaushambi. It had a hall with 80 massive pillars supporting the roof. This was probably the earliest stone structure built by architects who did not have sufficient experience of erecting such buildings at that time. It would be interesting to learn about their method of construction today.

An extensive study and research supported by excavation is required immediately before the few remaining ruins are completely destroyed. The state of these structures also proves that in India, we need a master plan for heritage sites.

The master plan should earmark areas where existing villages, temples and mosques have to be relocated to save the sites and create a green belt where no new construction should be allowed.

The author is an architect and urban designer