Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c15.181

c15.181

The inscriptions of Chandragupta Maurya's grandson, Asoka, make mention of the following chief cities of the Maurya empire, viz., Pāṭaliputra, Bodh-Gayā, Kosāmbī, Ujjenī, Takkhasilā, Suvarṇagiri, Isila, Tosalī, and Samāpā. These cities were the capitals of the provinces, the headquarters of the local administrations, or centres of pilgrimage. Other towns which were populous and selected for that reason for the location of his inscriptions by Asoka were Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra, Kālsi, Sopārā, Girnar, Jaugaḍa, Dhauli, Chitaldroog, Rupnath, Sahasram, Bairat (Bhabru), Maski, Govimath and Pālkiguṇḍu in Kopbal District and Gooty in Kurnool district. The names of these places are not Maurya but modern names and most of these are now out of the way and deserted places, and not the centres of population and civilisation as they were in Maurya India. The course of civilisation changes through the ages.