India is the world’s seventh largest country and home to a diverse population spread across 28 states and 8 union territories. Our country is so diverse, with traditions, language, attire and food changing every 50 kms or so, that the main motto of our country has been ‘Unity in Diversity‘. In spite of this mind boggling diversity, there has always been an underlying sense of cultural oneness that has kept the country united. How could such a diverse country have a common cultural blueprint under the covers? What helped spread ideas and thoughts from one end of the country to the other? This blog dwells upon ancient India’s cultural super highways.
India’s Road System
With the world’s second largest road network, roads in India cover every nook and corner of the country. The National Highway (NH) road system, by itself, runs over 150,000 kms and are vital to the economic, social and cultural integrity of the country. While the NH system itself is a post-independent product, many of the roads have been in existence from time immemorial. In fact, there are two such roads that have been the arteries through which ideas and trade (and invasions) have spread – the Uttarapatha and the Dakshinapatha.
Uttarapatha & Dakshinapatha
Uttarapatha was the historical east-west super highway of India. Spanning from Gandhara (present day Kandahar, Afghanistan) in the farthest North West, this highway went all the way through Takshashila, Lahore, Amritsar, Delhi, Kannauj, Prayag, Varanasi, Nalanda, Pataliputra and ended at the port of Tamralipta on the Gangetic delta in the Bay of Bengal.
Dakshinapatha was the historical north-south super highway. Starting from Shravasti, in the Himalayan foothills, the Dakshinapatha wound its way through Varanasi, Prayag, Chitrakoot, Ujjain and ended at Pratishthana (present day Paithan), with further connecting roads to the Tamil country of the Cholas, Cheras and the Pandyas.
He who controlled Uttarapatha would be the master of immense wealth, power and prestige.
Let’s dive in and understand how each of these roads were significant, how they are related to our cultural evolution and in what form they exist in the 21st century.
Uttarapatha
Geographical boundaries
The Uttarapatha formed an arterial link connecting the high mountain passes of the North West Himalayas to the trading ports at the mouth of the Ganga in the Bay of Bengal. At its height, the Uttarapatha would have covered more than 2,000 kms and was the longest road in the Asian continent.
Through the Himalayan section of the road, called the Himavatpatha, trade progressed from the fertile Gangetic plain onto Central Asia and further to present day Turkey and Central Europe. An eastern branch from the Himavatpatha connected to the Silk route, leading back into present day China and helped spread Buddhism in that country.
At the eastern most end point, from the port of Tamralipta, trade flourished with the far East countries of Kambuja Desha (present day Cambodia), Suvarnabhumi (present day Myanmar/Thailand) and Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). Uttarapatha was truly an inter-continental super highway connecting East and South Asia with Central Asia and beyond to Central Europe.
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| He who controlled Uttarapatha would be the master of immense wealth, power and prestige. In the 4th century BCE, an Indian prince & his world-wise mentor, who understood the importance of the Uttarapatha, were to arrive on the scene and in their desire to secure the road, end up creating the largest empire this county has ever seen. |
Earliest history of the Uttarapatha – Saraswati-Indus Civilization
India’s recorded civilizational history – archaeologically speaking – starts from the Saraswati Indus civilization (SIC). Spread across present-day Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and sites around eastern Pakistan, the SIC was the largest and perhaps the most culturally advanced civilization of its time. We have seen in our earlier blogs (The Myth of Aryan Invasion & Saraswati Illuminates the Way) about how the SIC flourished around the banks of the now-extinct Saraswati river.
Once the Saraswati river dried out, majority of the SIC people moved eastwards and reached the Ganga-Yamuna plains. It was not that this region was unknown to them earlier: the collapse of the Saraswati river system triggered a full fledged easterly migration. This migration pushed all the way through the course of the Ganga and reached the Bay of Bengal where the river drains to the ocean. There are tell-tale archaeological evidences of SIC influences at the sites of Chandraketugarh, near Kolkata, that point to the arrival and settling down of the SIC people.
In any case, the SIC people had now spread throughout Northern India. And this highway that they traversed formed the heart of the Uttarapatha. In addition to this skeletal road, feeder roads were established that connected the Uttarapatha to ports off the coast of Gujarat and Karachi. This facilitated trade along the Arabian Sea and further inwards into Mesopotamia.
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| The Mesopotamians knew the SIC as Meluha. Meluhan seals were first discovered at Mesopotamia, before the archaeological digs at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The Meluhan merchants would have taken a sea route via the Makran coast (Baluchistan and Iran) to Oman and onwards via the Persian Gulf before arriving at Mesopotamia. |
Mauryan road to power
A road that was used for travelling and trade could, of course, be used by an invading army as well. The Uttarapatha was soon to see the arrival of the first ‘foreign’ power at its doorsteps in the form of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Alexander’s war with Porus, the reluctance of his troops to fight with the mighty Nanda army and his subsequent return back to Macedonia are all well known.
While Alexander was on his way back home, a far more interesting plot was brewing nearby – at the university of Takshashila, a young Chandragupta Maurya was being trained by Chanakya to take on the Nandas of Magadha. The Uttarapatha was the Mauryan road to power and in 321 BCE, Chandragupta established the Mauryan empire and ruled from Pataliputra (present day Patna).
Securing the Uttarapatha
Trade was at the heart of the Mauryan power. And the most vital trade route of the country was the Uttarapatha. Chandragupta and Chanakya acutely understood the importance of controlling and protecting this route. Moving swiftly westwards – to the old region of the SIC civilization – the Mauryan army routed the remnants of Alexander’s forces who were stationed around the Indus river. Chandragupta would continue the northward push and after defeating Seleucus, Gandhara fell to the Mauryans.
From the Hindukush mountains in present day Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal, one military and political power now controlled the entire Uttarapatha.
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| Tamralipta was only nominally under Chandragupta, it was in reality a part of the Kalinga kingdom. Historians believe that Kalinga was a vassal state to Chandragupta and enjoyed peaceful relationship with the Mauryan empire. When Ashoka’s father Bindusara passed away, Kalinga is believed to have supported Bindusara’s eldest son to succeed him. This infuriated the younger son Ashoka who killed his brother and became the ruler. This incident and a desire for the wealth of Kalinga (gained through trade from Tamralipta) are supposed to be the reason for Ashoka’s attack on Kalinga. |
Mauryan administration
Megasthenes, the Greek diplomat in Chandragupta’s court, traveled on the ‘Royal Road’ from Gandhara to Pataliputra. He lists how the road was built in 8 sections:
- Purushapur (present day Peshawar) to Takshashila
- Takshashila across Indus to the Jhelum
- Jhelum to across the Beas
- Beas to Yamuna, via Sutlej and Hastinapura to the Ganga
- Ganga to Kanyakubja (present day Kannauj)
- Kanyakubja to Prayag
- Prayag to Pataliputra (present day Patna)
- Pataliputra to Tamralipta (present day Tamluk in Midnapore district, West Bengal)
In his book, “The Grand Trunk Road In the Punjab“, K M Sarkar describes how the Mauryan ‘Board of Works‘ was responsible for the road. At every mile along the road, markers were put to indicate the by-roads and the distances of different towns.
With every major city in the empire covered, the Mauryan army could easily march to the farthest corner of the kingdom. Trade flourished and Mauryan military might was at its peak. The Uttarapatha was the blueprint that Chanakya had devised for unifying the various Mahajanapadas under a single central power. And with the Uttarapatha at its heart, Chandragupta and Chanakya had built the largest empire India had ever seen.
Highway for invaders
Over time the Mauryan influence would wane and other military powers would come to dominate the Uttarapatha. Some of these were home grown, such as the Shungas and the mighty Guptas, but the Uttarapatha offered foreign invaders a well laid out pathway to storm into the country.
The Greeks, known as Yavanas in ancient Indian literature, the Sakas and the Kushans all invaded India through the Uttaraptha. Kanishka, the most famous of the Kushan ruler, controlled Gandhara and had an empire that stretched down to the Gangetic plains. Kanishka was extremely tolerant of many religions and was personally interested in Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. Having converted to Buddhism, he was the biggest champion of Mahayana Buddhism and helped spread the religion into Tibet/China.
Islamic invaders – be it the Arabs or the later day tribes of Central Asia – also found the Uttarapatha an easy route to take into the Indian heartland. Whether it was the Ghaznivid , Ghori, Timurid, Persian or Durrani tribes, the Uttarapatha was destined to be littered with dead bodies and scarred with (in)famous battles.
Uttarapatha to Grand Trunk Road
Improvements to the road was done by Sher Shah Suri (in the 16th century), notably planting trees and digging wells and constructing rest houses at frequent intervals. Akbar and Jehangir improved the section between Delhi and Agra and had more trees and guest houses built. Later, in the 19th century, after the conquest of Punjab, the British would rebuilt the road and rename it as the ‘Grand Trunk Road‘.
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| Ask anybody today and the word ‘Grand Trunk Road’ would ring a bell. The road would be attributed to Sher Shah Suri or the British. Our textbooks and journals have conveniently forgotten to mention the real roots of the road and how Chandragupta Maurya should really be credited with creating this road network. |
Trade and Cultural super highway
Horses from Central Asia and Arabia, Silk from the Silk Road and precious stones (such as Lapis Lazuli) found its way down Uttarapatha to the Gangetic plain. Likewise, Indian spices, pearls from the East coast and Gangetic muslin moved West. Tamralipta acted as the main port transporting these material to the Far East as well as to Ceylon.
With trade spread Buddhism. Many of the leading merchants of the time were Buddhists and they carried their religion with them. In particular, Buddhism spread to present day Afghanistan and from there, via the Silk route, entered China. Till the advent of the Timurid invaders, Buddhism would hold its sway over the North West Himalayas.
On the cultural front, the Gandhara school of art – patronized by Kanishka – found roots and spread throughout the Gangetic plain. Combined with the Mathura school of art, they dominated Indian art and cultural landscape for centuries.
Uttarapatha in the 21st century
Prior to 2010, National Highways NH-1 and NH-2 combined to make up the Uttarapatha. NH-1 ran from Attari at the India-Pakistan border to Delhi, while NH-2 ran from Delhi to Kolkata. In many places, especially in Haryana and Punjab, the road was simply known as the Grand Trunk Road. Today there is no one single highway that covers the entire stretch, but NH 44 and NH 19 covers most part of the Uttarapatha.
Dakshinapatha
Geographical boundaries
As the name indicates, Dakshinapatha was the North-South super highway of the past. Starting at Shravasti in the Himalayan foothills, Dakshinapatha wound its way down south via Varanasi, Prayag, Chitrakoot, Vidisha and Ujjain before terminating at Pratishthana in the Deccan. Feeder roads were developed that connected Pratishthana with the famous trading port of Nala Sopara on the Arabian Sea as well as to Bharuch and further West to Dwaraka. From Pratishthana roads connected further south to the Chera, Chola and Pandyan kingdoms in Tamil country.
Where the roads met
The Dakshinapatha and the Uttarapatha met around Prayag-Varanasi. This was not merely the intersection of two arterial roads – Prayag/Varanasi sat at the confluence of the very best of the civilizational and cultural traits that defines our country. In many ways, we can trace back the special reverence reserved to Varanasi in our culture due to its unique location at the crossroads of cultural exchange between the East/West and North/South.
Religious Expressway
It is often said that the Mahabharata played out along the Uttarapatha, while the Ramayana played out along the Dakshinapatha.
Socio-cultural and religious upheavals that were taking place north of the Vindhyas traveled down South via the Dakshinapatha. Much like the Uttarapatha, the Dakshinapatha also has a Saraswati-Indus civilization connection. As the SIC was declining, Sage Agastya travelled with a band of followers from Dwaraka and settled down in the Tamil country. Agastya is believed to have helped codify Tamil language and the many similarities between the inscriptions in the SIC seals and Brahmi Tamil point towards this. And the route Agastya and his followers would have taken from Dwaraka? The Dakshinapatha.
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| It is often said that the Mahabharata played out along the Uttarapatha, while the Ramayana played out along the Dakshinapatha. The sages who wrote our epics surely had a clear sense of the geographical extent of the country and made sure all the towns along these roads had some role to play in the epics. |
There’s another mythological story that has a Dakshinapatha connection – the Ramayana. When Lord Ram was sent to vanvas, he along with Sita and Lakshman spent nearly a dozen years at Chitrakoot. Following Sita’s kidnapping by Ravana, Lord Ram would have made his way through the Dakshinapatha down to the South touching Kishkinta (near present day Hampi, Karnataka) before reaching Rameswaram on the Eastern coast. Once again references to Lord Ram and the Ramayana all along the important towns of the Dakshinapatha stand testimony to this journey.
Spread of Jainism and Buddhism
The Dakshinapatha was instrumental in spreading Jainism and Buddhism into the heart of the Indian subcontinent. As noted earlier, traders and merchants were the flag bearers of these new beliefs and the Dakshinapatha, much like the Uttarapatha, were primarily trading routes. Merchants carried their beliefs with them, and generously contributed towards constructing Buddhist Viharas and Chaityas as well as Jain temples. It can be presumed that these Viharas and temples would have doubled-up as a place where the merchants themselves could stay during their travel in the company of religious men. Prominent Viharas and Chaityas are those found at Ajanta, Ellora and Nashik – all close to Pratishthana.
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| When Chandragupta Maurya renounced his throne in favor of his son Bindusara, he traveled with the Jain monk Bhadrabahu and reached present day Shravanabelagola in Karnataka around 295 BCE. As the crow flies, Shravanabelagola is more than 2,000 km from the Mauryan capital of Pataliputra. Shravanabelagola should have already been an important place for Jainism that prompted Bhadrabahu and his disciple to travel this far. |
Some of the prominent Buddhist religious places are along the Dakshinapatha. The deer park at Sarnath (outside Varanasi) where Lord Buddha gave his first sermon was on the Dakshinapatha. And so was Shravasti, where Lord Buddha spent most of his life after enlightenment. Just as today’s knowledge industries are setup at locations where skilled labor is easily available, we can assume that Lord Buddha’s selection of these sites was based on the ease with which his ideas could be propagated along the cultural super highways of India.
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| A Buddhist Vihara is a place of stay for monks. A Chaitya is a prayer hall and had a Stupa at one end. A Stupa is a monument housing a sacred relic of a Buddhist monk, sometimes of Lord Buddha himself. |
Kanchipuram to Takshashila
Dakshinapatha was, of course, not a one way road – just as people moved from North to South, there were prominent personalities who traveled North. Tholkappiyar who wrote Tholkappiyam, the original Tamil grammar treatise, is said to have traveled from Kanchipuram via the highway system to meet Panini at Takshashila. We can very well imagine this travel taking him through the Dakshinapatha all the way to Prayag-Varanasi, from where he would have taken the Uttarapatha and traveled west to Takshashila. This would have been one adventurous journey from the South-East end to the North-West corner of the land!
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| Once again, notice the cultural unison that India always had. Panini’s fame in Takshashila reached Tholkappiyar in the Tamil country and even though there may have been many small kingdoms and rulers in between, the common civilizational identity of India ensured that this travel was possible. Unlike what the textbooks may want us to believe, it wasn’t the British administrative system that unified India: as a culture and as a society we have always been one. |
Bhakti Movement
Starting with the Nayanars and Alvars in the 6th century CE and Basava and Madhavacharya in the 12th century CE, the Bhakti movement had its origin in the south of the country. As the hordes of invaders stepped in through the Uttarapatha, the appeal of the movement took hold in the North as well – with Sankardev in Assam, Kabir and Tulasi Das in the Gangetic plains and Guru Nanak in the Punjab being the leading light of the movement along the Uttarapatha. In many ways, the Bhakti movement was India’s cultural response to the savagery and brutality of the invaders. Once again, the cultural super highways of India helped spread the movement to each nook and corner of the country.
Satavahanas
If there was one dynasty that came to be known as the ‘Masters of the Dakshinapatha‘, that was the Satavahanas (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE). The Satavahanas, also referred to as the ‘Andhras’, controlled the Godavari river area and ruled from Pratishthana. With access to the sea port at Nala Sopara and Bharuch, the Satavanahas controlled foreign sea trade with the Romans.
Goods unloaded at these ports were brought over to Pratishthanafrom where it traveled up the Dakshinapatha to Prayag and then over the Uttarapatha. Likewise spices and pearl from the Tamil country reached Pratishthana and moved via the feeder roads to the sea ports for onward trade with Rome.
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| The most famous of the Satavahanas was Gautamiputra Satakarni. His military deeds and promotion of art/architecture have been much talked about, but an equally interesting aspect is his name itself. ‘Gautamiputra’ means ‘Son of Gautami’ – the most powerful of the Satavahana rulers, the man who controlled all trade between India and Rome, was named after his mother. We can very well assume the position women were held in those days for a king to be named thus. |
Dakshinapatha in the 21st century
Prior to 2010, NH-7 connecting Varanasi to Kanyakumari used to be India’s premier arterial North-South road. Parts of this road was aligned with the Dakshinapatha of the past. NH-44 currently is the primary North-South road and runs from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; this road is also aligned away from the Dakshinapatha.
Further Reading
Swarajya Magazine had an interesting article on the Uttarapatha and Dakshinapatha. Very informative and a highly recommended read.
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| The presiding deity of the Uttarapatha was ‘Manibhadra’. Manibhadra was a Yaksha who was supposed to protect the merchants in their travel. Today you will see the statue of the Yaksha outside the Reserve Bank of India building in Delhi. The presiding deity of the Dakshaniapatha was ‘Manimekalai’. Manimekalai is also the name of the Sangam age Tamil epic, where the heroine Manimekalai embraces Buddhism. |
The history of the Grant Trunk Road in Punjab is vividly described in K M Sarkar’s book. This book recalls Megasthenes account of the Uttarapatha and the effort that the Mauryans put in to keep the road functional.
There are a few videos on YouTube about the Uttarapatha, check this one out:
And another one on the Dakshinapatha:
Hello friends!
Sharing an interesting list of blogs related to Indian history – https://blog.feedspot.com/indian_history_blogs/. Many of the blogs listed here are very informative and detailed. Please do check if you’d like to read about other interesting articles on Indian history and historical places.
“Let’s Discover India” is also listed there (#11) and I must admit we are in elite company 🙂
– Gopa @ Let’s Discover India
Congratulations on having your blog get into the list Gopa! Your hard work has definitely payed off 😄
Thank you!