The Rashtrakutas and their Times c22.36

c22.36

We have no contemporary records which throw light upon the condition of the roads. The author of the Periplus complains (31) that goods from Paithan, Tagara and other places in the Deccan had to be brought to Bharoch in waggons through great tracts without roads, and the picture drawn by Tavernier about the state of affairs in the 17th century is no more flattering. (32) About the Deccan he says that wheeled carriages do not travel there, the roads being too much interrupted by high mountains, tanks, and rivers. These reasons assigned by Tavernier would show that the roads were bad mainly in the ghats and hilly areas. The military necessities of the empire must have compelled the Rāṣṭrakūṭas to keep the roads in a fairly good condition. It is not very likely that in our period, even the roads over the ghats and hills were as bad as they were in the times of the Greek and French traveller.