Ancient Indian Highways - Uttarapatha

In ancient times Indian sub-continent had couple of highways which facilitated trading, exchange of goods and ideas. Two such highways were called as Uttarapatha and Dakshinapatha. Uttarapatha connected shores of Bay of Bengal to the plains of northern India and to the mountains of Afghanistan. Dakshinapatha connected Shravasti and Varanasi to south via Prayagraj, Vidisha, Ujjain to Paithan or Pratishthan in Maharasthra. 

In this write-up is about Uttarapatha and Dakshinaptha shall be taken up in next part later on.

2. The name Uttarapatha is derived from Sanskrit words Uttara meaning north and Patha meaning way / road and is variously written as: उत्तर पथ, उत्तरापथ: and उत्तरापथा. This Uttarapatha connected eastern coastal town Tamluk, West Bengal to Varanasi to Hastinapur to Sanghol to Takshshila. From there it had links to Chinese Silk Route. In between Tamluk and Taxila, there were many shorter link roads from Uttarapatha highway to nearby towns in hinterland which helped in trading and exchange of goods. 

'Pathas' have been mentioned in Atharva Veda in Chapter XXI - Prithvi Sukta or Hymn to Goddess Earth Verse 47. It says - Thy many pathas upon which many people go, thy tracks for chariots and wagons to advance, upon which both good and evil men proceed, this road free from enemies, free from thieves, may we gain: with what is auspicious ( on thee ) be gracious to us!

3. Uttarapatha has also been referred to as northern region or northern area in many Puranas and Buddhist texts. Boundaries of this region however, are not clearly defined. Broadly the Uttarapatha region comprised of area between Himalayas in north including Punjab, north-west of Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan. Historically the Uttarapatha began in about 6th or 5th century BCE and continues even today with variations here and there due to geopolitics and change in regimes. This region Uttarapatha as per Buddhist texts included Gandhara and Komboja Janapadas which were two of the sixteen Janapadas mentioned in Buddhist literature. Names of towns like Taxila, Kashmir, Peshawar and Sagal ( present day Sialkot ) gets frequent mention.  

India during times of Buddha. Map taken from the Samyukta Nikaya by Bhikhu Dharmrakshit and Bhikhu Jagdish Kashyap in Hindi published in 1954. Uttarapatha during 6th to 4th century BCE, ran from Rajguha ( modern Rajgir in Bihar ) to Sravasti to Hastinapur and to Takshshila.  

4. Ancient India:  The Uttarapatha connected Balkh in Afghanistan to Tamraliptika ( present day Tamluk in West Bengal ) during 4th to 2nd century BCE, This was the period when Maurya dynasty ruled. This highway has many Buddhist archaeological remains like stupa, chaitya, viharas, rock edicts and pillars of Emperor Ashoka. Presence of coins and earthenware also indicates the trading route. The Seventh Ashokan Pillar (The Delhi-Topra Pillar now in the fortress known as Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi ), refers to royal road lined with fruit trees, wells, rest houses at regular intervals. The Uttarapatha also connected Takshshila university to Mauryan capital Pataliputra with further links to Nalanda and Vikramshila universities. 

Till 5th century CE this route was in frequent use by horse traders of central Asia and was also called as the Route of Horse Traders. In the Buddhist literature 'Jataka Tales' translated from Pali by Robert Chalmers and published in 1895, there is a reference regarding Uttarapatha in 'Jataka 5 - Tandulanali-jataka' as under: 'Once on a time Brahmdatta was reigning in Kasi..... At that time there arrived horse-trader from Uttarapatha with 500 horses'. 

Greek diplomat Megasthenes is said to have stayed in Mauryan court for about 15 years. He was an ambassador of Indo-Greek king Seleucus Nicator. His exact dates of stay are not known but are presumed to be during the reign of Seleucus Nicator which is 305- 281 BCE. He has told in his book 'Indica' about an army of people supervising, securing Uttaraptha and collecting taxes on this road from Patliputra to Purushpura (now Peshawar). 

Another interesting fact of cultural and religious exchange is presence of ambassador Heliodorus in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, deputed by Indo-Greek king Antialcidas Nikephoros approximate reign 115 - 95 BCE. Heliodorus became a Vaishnavite and constructed a Vishnu temple in Vidisha. This temple is no more but a stone pillar - Garuda Dhwaja, with inscriptions survives. 

6.5 meter high stone pillar Garud Dhwaja erected by Greek Ambassador Heliodoros in Vidisha, M.P. Said to have been constructed in 113 BCE

Chinese travellers Fa Hian and Hiuen Tsang also used almost the same route to visit Nalanda university in search of Buddhist literature and in particular the Vinaya Pitaka. 

International merchants Tapassu and Bhalliya ( spelt differently in various texts as Trapussa and Bahalika, Taphussa and Bhallika ) travelled frequently on Uttarapatha. While travelling they met Lord Buddha ( 563-483 BCE ) who was on his way to Rajgir. Merchant brothers offered food to Buddha and they had a talk. Merchants were impressed and requested Buddha to give them something by which they could remember and honour him in his absence. Buddha scraped his head and gave them eight strands of his hair. They made a golden casket later and put the hair as relic in the casket. Sri Lankan chronicles describe that this relic was placed in stupa on top of mountain called Girihandu Seya. The Burmese tradition mentions that merchant brothers travelled to Burma and enshrined the casket in Shwedagon Pagoda. 

Another reference to Uttarapatha is found in the book 'Blue Annals' ( deb-thor sngon po ) translated by George N. Roerich from Tibetan and published in 1949. There it is mentioned that: 'About that time, a king from the country of Uttarapatha named Kaniska visited Kasmir to meet Simha. Arya Simha preached to him Doctrine( of Buddha ).' 

Uttarapatha is mentioned in chapter XIX of Skanda Purana also. Extract from translation by G.V.Tagare published in 1950 is as follows: 'At the outset in the Svayambhuva Manavantara in the fourth Tretayuga the sages proceeding towards Uttarapatha gathered together.'

An eminent Buddhist monk and teacher Maha Kapphina Thera ( Maha Kappina / Maha Kopphino ) is mentioned as hailing from Uttarapatha.

Emperor Ashoka had sent nine groups of Buddhist monks to various parts of the world which included (i) a group headed by Majjhantika to Kashmir and Kandahar, (ii) a group led by Maharakhita to Land of Yonas ( the Greeks ) and (iii) a group led by Majjhima to Himalayan areas. These groups travelled by Uttarapatha.

5. Medieval India: The Uttarapatha route and the region in general, became prosperous because of increased trading and attracted invaders as well. After the reign of king Harshvardhana ( 606 - 647 CE ) northern India was split in many smaller kingdoms occasionally fighting with each other thereby weakening themselves. Invaders took advantage of the situation and used Uttarapatha route to win over the northern parts of India. 

During the reign of Sur dynasty ( 1540-1556 CE ) Uttarapatha became Sadak-e-Sher Shah or Rah-e-Shah. Sher Shah Suri is credited with reconstructing this highway.  Initially he connected his hometown Sasaram in Bihar to his capital Agra which was later extended at both ends to Kabul in the west and to Sonargaon in Bangladesh in the east. He made sarais, water bodies and kos minars along the route and planted trees. This served as important symbol of sovereignty but this also had positive impact on trade and exchange of goods along the Sadak. 

The milestone called Kos Minar on Grand Trunk Road near Ambala

During 1555 to 1707 CE, the Mughals refurbished the route. Mughals enhanced the use of this road as a tool of administration also. Akbar ( 1556 -1605 CE ) and Jahangir ( 1605-1627 CE ) allowed landlords to construct and run sarais and to settle people close to sarais. 

5. British Raj: As the Mughals slowly weakened and went down the British East India Company stepped in. In order to improve administration and communication British administrators thought of making trunk roads or cross country roads to connect ports to major cities. In 1830 East India Company started making metalled roads for commercial and administrative purposes. A section of Grand Trunk Road between Ambala to Karnal was opened in 1856. This road helped East India Company to rush troops to Delhi against the 'mutineers' in 1857 thereby securing their foothold. Eventually the Badshahi Sadak became Grand Trunk Road connecting Kolkata to Kabul via Delhi. 

Interesting to note that Rudyard Kipling mentions this road as 'a river from which I am withdrawn like a log after flood. And truly the Grand Trunk Road is a wonderful spectacle. It runs straight bearing without crowding India's traffic for fifteen hundred miles - such a river of life as nowhere else exists in the world.'

6. Modern India: From ancient Uttarapatha to Sadak-e-Shah to Badshahi-Sadak to Grand Trunk Road we have come to modern National Highways. As at present a combination of following 3 National highways connects east coast to western border like ancient Uttarapatha did:

 NH 19: Dankuni ( West Bengal ) > Dhanbad >Varanasi > Kanpur > New Delhi,

 NH 44: New Delhi > Sonipat > Ambala > Jalandhar and

  NH 03: Jalandhar > Amritsar > Attari. 

  

Map from Swarajya magazine showing Uttarapatha from Rajgir to Taxila and Dakshinapatha from Shravasti to Ujjain to Pratishthan ( modern Paithan, Maharshtra ).