Question

Ujjain was the gateway to the north-west
A. True
B. False

Answer 1

Hint: The city of Ujjain was a part of the Mauryan Empire. The city was highly developed and the merchants and government officials used to live there.

Complete Answer:
- Chandragupta Maurya founded the Mauryan Empire in 320 BCE, under the aegis of Chanakya or Kautilya. After defeating the Nanda king “Dhanananda”, he unified the Indian sub-continent into a single empire.
- He was succeeded by his son Bindusara, after whom came one of the greatest kings to rule India, Ashoka the Great.
- There were many cities in his empire, including the capital Pataliputra (modern-day Patna), Ujjain, Taxila, Kandahar, etc.
- Taxila was on the north-western border of the empire, hence was considered as the gateway to the north-west, including Central Asia. Ujjain was considered the gateway from the south to the north. Both the cities were highly developed and the merchants and government officials used to live there.
- Farmers, traders, and herdsmen live in smaller towns and villages and in the forest regions, tribals live on hunting and gathering.
- People in different areas of the empire spoke different languages, wore different clothes, and ate different kinds of food.

Thus, the correct answer is option (B) False.

Note: The Taxila archaeological site is situated in the Punjab province, Pakistan, about 30 km north of the Capital Territory of Islamabad. The modern archaeological region of Taxila comprises 18 sites of significant cultural value which were included as a whole into the UNESCO world heritage umbrella in 1980 CE.