India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c14.16

c14.16

The general soundness of the collated text can be demonstrated by the fact that the number 500 is just what has been mentioned by the Greek writers as the number of cities between the Jhelum and the Beas (*ante*, p. 73), or the Vāhīka region of Pāṇini. A city is defined as a town with a population of 10,000 and over. In the limited area between the upper courses of the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Ravi there were as many as thirty-seven cities, with a minimum population of 5,000 inhabitants, while many contained upwards of 10,000. Megasthenes wrote about the cities of Mauryan India that their 'number is so great that it cannot be stated with precision' (M'Crindle, *Megasthenes and Arrian*, p. 209). The significance of these figures may be better understood if we remember that in the undivided India of 1941 there were only 57 cities, the number increasing to 75 in 1951. On the other hand in France 455 towns, besides Paris, have more than 9,000 inhabitants.