The Mauryan Polity c10.s1.t3.1

c10.s1.t3.1

We have both literary and epigraphical evidence, as we shall see subsequently, to show that the government of the provinces was an accomplished fact under Aśoka. That the wealthy city of Taxila⁵ continued to be the capital of the uttarapatha or the northern province is evident from the *Divyāvadāna*. We hear of a similar rising of the citizens under Aśoka when he sent his son Kunāla as governor.¹ Viewed from the present geographical situation, Taxila was the ancient Headquarters of the North-Western Province which probably included the Punjab, Sind, the country beyond the Indus, and Kāṣmir. Besides this, there were certainly three more provinces whose respective capitals were Ujjaini (modern Ujjain in the Gwālior state), Tosāli and Suvarṇagiri. The latter was probably the headquarters of the southern provinces beyond the Nerbudda river.² The jurisdiction of the governor of Tosāli extended to the eastern provinces including the Kaliṅga country. Ujjain was the capital of the western provinces which included Mālva, Gujarat, and Kathiawar.³ According to an inscription of Rudradāman, Girnār continued to be the capital of one of the provinces of Aśoka, under whom the governor was the Yavana chief Tuṣaspha.⁴ Other cities which were seats of government