Town Planning in Ancient India c9.19

c9.19

and a half.¹ In that case, while the country roads and village roads of the Devī Purāṇa are vastly wide, being 120 and 80 cubits in breadth respectively, their widths as well as the widths of the royal roads and the branch roads of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa are respectively 525, 350, 175, and 70 cubits which is inconceivable and incredible. Whatever it may be, a street 40 cubits wide will be as broad as the Central Avenue or the Harrison Road, the two widest streets of Calcutta. It should be observed that the streets have widened according to the chronological order of the authorities quoted above, which demonstrates the growth of civic life and consequently, of volume of traffic with the advance of time.