In the previous lecture we have looked at the different types of cities as described in the Pali and Sanskrit literary sources. In this lecture we will look at the growth of cities during the medieval period. The decline of urban centres began during the Gupta Period (fifth century CE) and continued in North India as the larger empires disintegrated into unstable dynastic regimes.

In South India between 800 and 1300 CE urbanization received a strong stimulus where the rise of cities was connected with the rise and decline of dynasties. The remarkable feature of the period was the rise of brahamanical Hinduism. This was reflected in the morphology of the cities where the focal point of the city was the temple. The concentric squares of streets were arranged around the temple. The inner squares were occupied by the upper castes while the lower castes lived in the periphery of the city. The streets leading out of the four gates of the temple were the places of commercial activity. They also linked the inner city to the periphery and the hinterland beyond.