Urban center, Urban centre: 1 definition

Introduction:

Urban center means something in the history of ancient India. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

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India history and geography

Source: Google Books: Medieval Orissa: A Socio-economic Study

Urban centers in ancient India (Medieval Orissa) generally represent a socio-economic organization different from that of rural settlements; but the records, apart from providing a few names, do not furnish any details at all regarding the urban centres that existed in this period. Such centres as Puri, Bhubaneswar, Mukhalingam, Patna, Suvarnapura and the newly established Kataka Varanasi may be supposed to have had a predominantly agricultural population. Such centres as Bhubaneswar might also have been purely religious centres. [...] The Ganga records, however, refer to one type of settlement as nagari which is literal translation of urban centres. Furthermore, a close examination of information available from the epigraphic evidences denote that the difference between them and villages was one of degree and not of kind. [...]

The context in which the township (or Urban centres—nagari) is assigned—the reference is to the grant of 20 vatis of cornland and 10 vatis of homestead land in Jayanagara-gramna—suggest that nagaris in such cases were perhaps extended villages, formed out of a cluster of several contiguous villages and thus assuming physical and consequently, economic dimensions much larger than those of an ordinary village settlement.

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The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as mythology, zoology, royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

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