42    The Maurya Em^pire.   Megasthenes

The first thing which struck Megasthenes
on entering India, was the Royal Road from the
frontier to Pataliputra, down which the envoy
must have travelled to the capitaP. It was con¬
structed in eight stages, and ran from the frontier
town of Peukelaotis^ to Taxila: from Taxila,
across the Indus to the Jihlam ; then to the Beas,
near the spot where Alexander erected his altars.
From here it went to the Sutlej : from the Sutlej
to the Jamna : and from the Jamna, probably
via Hastinapura, to the Ganges. From the Ganges
the road ran to a tOMTi called Rhodopha^, and from
Rhodopha to Kalinipaxa (probably Kanyakubja
or Kanauj)*. From Kanauj it went to the mighty
town of Prayaga at the junction of the Ganges and
the Jamna, and from Prayaga to Pataliputra. From
the capital it continued its course to the mouth of
the Ganges, probably at Tamluk, though Mega¬
sthenes never traversed the last stage of the road.
At every mile along the road was a stone to in¬
dicate the by-roads and distances. The road was
in the charge of the officers of the Board of Works
who were responsible for its upkeep. The mile¬
stones were of great assistance to geographers in
the computation of the distances between places

^ See Pliny, N.H. vi, 21, and Appendix at the end of
this chapter,

^ The capital of Gandhara (Skt. Pushkaldvatt).

^ Said to be Dabhai near Anupshahr.

* So Lassen. St Martin says KdUnt-paksha, a town sup¬
posed to be on the " side " of the Kalinadi.