Tribes in Ancient India c11.20

c11.20

The Milinda Pañho gives a splendid description of the Madra capital: ‘There is a great centre of trade called Sāgala, the famous city of yore in the country of the Yonakas. Sāgala is situated in a delightful country, well-watered and hilly, abounding in parks and gardens, groves, lakes and tanks, a paradise of rivers and mountains and woods. Wise architects have laid it out. Brave is its defence, with many strong towers and ramparts, with superb gates and entrance archways, and with the royal citadel in its midst, white-walled and deeply moated. Well laid out are its streets, squares, cross-roads and market places. Its shops are filled with various costly merchandise. It is richly adorned with hundreds of alms-halls of various kinds and splendid with hundreds of thousands of magnificent mansions . . .' The passage goes on to describe the traffic of elephants, horses, carriages and pedestrians; the welcome given to teachers of all creeds, and the rich produce, precious metals, and delicacies which are to be found in the city. It is described as rivalling Uttara-Kuru in wealth and Āḷakamandā, the city of the Gods, in glory (*Milinda Pañho*, pp. 1 and 2, and Trsl. *S.B.E.*, Vol. 35, pt. I, pp. 1–3).