Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c11.49

c11.49

Grades of Towns. The towns covered a wide range from the smallest called *Saṅgrahaṇa* as the centre of a circle of 10 villages, the county towns called *Kārvaṭaka* and *Droṇamukha* serving a group of 200 or 400 villages, the provincial town, *Sthānīya* (modern *Thānā*), the great city (*Nagara* or *Pura*) or port-town (*Paṭṭana*) up to the royal captial (*Rājadhānī*). We have to add to these the forts on the frontiers in charge of the *Antapālas* or located in special situations in the interior, in the midst of a desert, what Kauṭilya calls *Dhānvana*, or in a forest (*Vanadurga*), or swamps and lowlands (*Nimnāvaruddhamaudakam*).