The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s3.1

v1.c19.s3.1

Although Bengal was primarily a land of villages, towns or urban settlements were by no means rare. Reference has already been made to a large number of these towns as known from epigraphic and literary evidence.¹ The factors which contributed to the growth of these towns were various. It is possible, for instance, to trace the growth of Puṇḍravardhana to three principal causes: first, it was a place of pilgrimage; secondly, it was the seat of a court or the capital of a province; and finally, it was advantageously situated along the main trade-route of North Bengal. Tāmralipti, again, seems to have owed its long-continued prosperity to its strategical location in relation to the contemporary routes of trade,² and the accessibility of a productive hinterland. It is not impossible that a few towns might have been primarily brought into being by administrative or political reasons; but contemporary evidence proves that they were often emporiums of trade besides being political centres. Further, an analysis of the sites and positions occupied by the ancient towns of Bengal shows that they were of such a geographical character that they could be utilised as ‘nodes’ or ‘centres of routes’ by land or by water.