The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s1.t8.9

c10.s1.t8.9

Let us now consider the size and area of Pâtali-putra as seen by Megasthenes,² and the magnitude of the municipal government would be apparent at once. The city was encompassed all round by a ditch, 600 ft. in breadth and 30 cubits in depth. The ditch was meant for defence of the city as well as for receiving its sewage. The wooden wall of the metropolis was "pierced with loopholes for the discharge of arrows". It was "crowned with 570 towers and had 64 gates". In the inhabited quarters, Pâtali-putra "stretched to an extreme length on each side of 80 stadia" (about 9 miles). "Its breadth was 15 stadia (about 1³/₄ mile). And it was of the "shape of a parallelogram". The total circuit was therefore about 21¹/₂ miles, i. e. slightly above the double of that of Aurelian's Rome. Verily, Hindu burgomasters must have had Atlantean shoulders to bear on them the financial burden and civic duties of two European Romes in one Asian capital.