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Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s38: 27. Pāṭaliputra

Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s38

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27. Pāṭaliputra

c9.s38.1

India was a land of many towns, and Megasthenes was aware of the difference in administrative organisation between town and country. Cities situated on the banks of rivers or on the sea coast were built of wood as they were liable to frequent damage from rain and flood, while those standing on commanding situations or lofty eminences were built of brick and mud. Pāṭaliputra at the confluence of the Ganges and the Son was the largest Indian city¹. The palace of Chandragupta, ‘the greatest of all the kings of the country’, far surpassed those of Susa an Ekbatana in its splendour and magnificence. In its parks were kept tame peacocks and pheasants. There were shady groves and meadows planted with trees the branches of which were cunningly interwoven by the art of the horticulturist. And the trees were kept ever green and never seemed to grow old or shed their leaves. Some were native to the soil, others brought from other lands with great care for their beauty, but the olive was not among them. Birds were there, not confined, but coming of their own accord and making their nests and forming lairs on the branches of the trees. Parrots were native to the land and were maintained in large numbers, as they were valued for their capacity to imitate human speech; they often hovered in groups round about the king. In the palace grounds there were artificial ponds of great beauty filled with fish of enormous size but quite tame. No one had permission to catch them; but the king’s sons, when they were children, learned to fish and to swim at the same time in these tranquil ponds, learning also how to sail their boats².

c9.s38.2

¹ Meg. Frag. XXV (pp. 66-7)=Strabo, XV, 1, 35-6 (pp. 42-4) : Frag, XXVI (pp. 68-9)=Arrian Indika, X (pp. 204-6). Also Pliny at Meg. p. 139. Details reproduced in Chapter on Chandragupta.

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² Aelian, XIII, Ch. 18 (Anc. Ind. in Class. Lit., pp. 141-2). Curtius, viii, 9 on the King and the palace may be cited here for comparison: ‘The luxury of their kings, or as they call it, their magnificence, is carried to a vicious excess without a parallel in the world. When the king condescends to show himself in public his attendants carry in their hands silver censers, and perfume with incense all the road by which it is his pleasure to be conveyed. He lolls in a golden palanquin, garnished with pearls, which dangle all round it, and he is robed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold. Behind his palanquin follow men-at-arms and his body-guards, of whom some carry boughs of trees, on which birds are perched trained to interrupt business with their cries. The palace is adorned with gilded pillars clasped all round by a vine embossed in gold, while silver images of those birds which most charm the eye diversify the workmanship. The palace is open to all comers even when the king is having his hair combed and dressed. It is then that he gives audience to ambassadors, and administers justice to his subjects. His slippers being after this taken off, his feet are rubbed with scented ointments. His principal exercise is hunting; amid the vows and songs of his courtesans he shoots the

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