Asoka: Roads and Animals

[Artur Karp]

2011/8/13 Thrasher, Allen <athr at loc.gov>:

>> Girnar Rock Edict II: PaMthesU kUpA ca khAnApita, vrachA ca ropApitA
> > paribhogAya pasu-manusAnaM.

>> E. Hultzsch (1925, p. 4): "On the roads wells were caused to be dug , and
>> trees were caused to be planted for the use of cattle and men."


> Doesn't paZu here, as frequently,  mean "domestic mammal" rather than
> "animal" in general or "cattle" in particular,  and refer to other animals
> that would go along a highway with people, such as buffalo, sheep, goats,
> asses, and camels?

Dear Allen,

The map of Aśoka's empire, published in Kulke-Rothermund "A History of
India", 2004, p. 69, shows his main highways, the "Northern Route"
(uttarapatha) and the "Southern Route" (dakṣiṇapatha), and their
important outbranchings.

http://www.oration.com/~mm9n/articles/impact/8_files/image009.png

What kinds of animals would be moving/moved along these highways, long
enough for them to need access to water?

Buffaloes do not look like right candidates. Caravans and military
trains would use mainly bullocks and, to a lesser extent, camels as
draught animals. And, as mounts, horses, camels and elephants.

Were herds of goats and sheep driven long distance along those highways?

Is there any textual evidence for the presence of large herds of
cattle on those highways? Cattle as movable commodity, driven to where
it could have been sold?

Regards,

Artur Karp