ABSTRACT
Any reconstruction of urban space in the hymns of the Rgveda cannot be meaningful without a comprehensive reappraisal of large mass of information relating to fortified settlements which are variously identified by terms like pur, durga, vrtra and vrjana. The defensive nature of fortified settlements is fairly well underlined by the terms drlha, drmhitani, drmhita all of which means strongly built. The descriptions of walled settlements appearing in the Rgveda bear characteristic similarity to walled habitations and citadels found throughout the Greater Indus Valley and belonging to different stages of Harappan urbanization. The centrality of a fortified settlement, the nucleus of a politically administered territory in the hegemonic conflicts of the Harappan Middle Bronze Age can hardly be over emphasized. Any careful investigator would notice that the forts or citadels occupied a pride of place in the narrative of Rgveda poets who frequently associate these structures with most important Vedic gods.
