Grand Trunk Road

{{Short description|Road between Afghanistan and Bangladesh, through Pakistan and India}}

{{Infobox road

| name = Grand Trunk Road

| alternate_name = Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, Long Walk{{efn|The road was known as Uttarapatha during the Mauryan period (16th Century), Sadak-e-Azam or Shah Rah-e-Azam (The Great Road) during Suri period (1540-1556 CE), as Badshahi Sadak (King's Road) during Mughal by Sher Shah period and as the Grand Trunk Road or Long Walk during the British period.}}

| cities = Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Feni, Dhaka, Rajshahi, Kolkata, Sasaram, Mughalsarai, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Delhi, Sonipat, Panipat, Karnal, Ambala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Prayagraj Lahore, Gujranwala, Jhelum, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Jalalabad, Kabul

| image = Grand Trunk Road Route.png

| time_period = 16th century–present

| length_km = 3655

| length_ref =

| length_notes =

| established = before 322 BCE

| history = Mauryan, Sur, Mughal and British Empires

| known_for = Trading

| status = Currently functional

| significance = History of the Indian subcontinent and South Asian history

| direction_a = East

| terminus_a = Teknaf, Bangladesh

| direction_b = West

| terminus_b = Kabul, Afghanistan

| photo_notes = Route Map

}}

The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 yearsUNESCO, [https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/knowledge-bank/caravanserais-along-grand-trunk-road-pakistan Caravanserais along the Grand Trunk Road in Pakistan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531124427/https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/knowledge-bank/caravanserais-along-grand-trunk-road-pakistan |date=31 May 2019 }} it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It runs roughly {{cvt|3655|km|mi|0}}{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/11/indias-grand-trunk-road/377875/ |title=The Atlantic: "India's Grand Trunk Road" |work=The Atlantic |date=November 1999 |access-date=7 March 2017 |archive-date=7 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907054858/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/11/indias-grand-trunk-road/377875/ |url-status=live |last1=Tayler |first1=Jeffrey }} from Teknaf, Bangladesh on the border with Myanmar{{Cite news |url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/heritage/2014/dec/31/road-empires |title=A road to empires |last=Steel |first=Tim |date=1 January 2015 |newspaper=Dhaka Tribune |access-date=19 July 2016 |archive-date=11 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160211201821/http://www.dhakatribune.com/heritage/2014/dec/31/road-empires |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Cuisine-along-G-T-Road/articleshow/48969618.cms |title=Cuisine along G T Road |last=Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey |date=15 September 2015 |newspaper=The Times of India |location=Calcutta |access-date=19 July 2016 |archive-date=5 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105084522/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Cuisine-along-G-T-Road/articleshow/48969618.cms |url-status=live }} west to Kabul, Afghanistan, passing through Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh, Kolkata, Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Delhi, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Prayagraj in India, and Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar in Pakistan.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/07/03/where-do-borders-need-to-be-redrawn/permeable-lines-on-the-grand-trunk-road |title=How to Redraw the World Map |last=Khanna |first=Parag |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=19 July 2016 |archive-date=19 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819103029/http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/07/03/where-do-borders-need-to-be-redrawn/permeable-lines-on-the-grand-trunk-road |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6056/ |title=Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Grand Trunk Road |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en |access-date=26 December 2018 |archive-date=17 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131142/https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6056/ |url-status=live }}

The highway was built along an ancient route called Uttarapatha in the 3rd century BCE, extending it from the mouth of the Ganges to the north-western frontier of India. Further improvements to this road were made under Ashoka.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} The old route was re-aligned by Sher Shah Suri to Sonargaon and Rohtas.Vadime Elisseeff, p. 159-162, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zRPbecWnkoIC&dq=sher+shah+suri+maurya+rohtas&pg=PA161 The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce]Farooqui Salma Ahmed, p. 234, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sxhAtCflwOMC&dq=sher+shah+highway+peshawar+sonargaon&pg=PA234 A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century] The Afghan end of the road was rebuilt under Mahmud Shah Durrani.{{Cite book |author=K. M. Sarkar |title=The Grand Trunk Road in the Punjab: 1849-1886 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFdJbRywbKwC&pg=PA2 |year=1927 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri |pages=2– |id=GGKEY:GQWKH1K79D6 }} The road was considerably rebuilt in the British period between 1833 and 1860.David Arnold (historian);

Science, technology, and medicine in colonial India (New Cambr hist India v.III.5)

Cambridge University Press, 2000, 234 pages [https://books.google.com/books?id=3gk5j2u5AnUC&pg=PA106 p. 106]

Over the centuries, the road acted as one of the major trade routes in the region and facilitated both travel and postal communication. The Grand Trunk Road is still used for transportation in the present-day Indian subcontinent, where parts of the road have been widened and included in the national highway system.{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Raghubir |year=1995 |title=The Grand Trunk Road: A Passage Through India |url=https://archive.org/details/grandtrunkroadpa00sing |url-access=registration |publisher=Aperture Books |isbn=9780893816445 |edition=First }}

The road coincides with the current N1, Feni (Chittagong to Dhaka), N4 & N405 (Dhaka to Sirajganj), N507 (Sirajganj to Natore) and N6 (Natore to Rajshahi towards Purnea in India; NH 12 (Purnea to Bakkhali), NH 27 (Purnea to Patna), NH 19 (Kolkata to Agra), NH 44 (Agra to Jalandhar via New Delhi, Panipat, Karnal, Ambala and Ludhiana) and NH 3 (Jalandhar to Attari, Amritsar in India towards Lahore in Pakistan) via Wagah; N-5 (Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Lalamusa, Kharian, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Khyber Pass towards Jalalabad in Afghanistan) in Pakistan and AH1 (Torkham-Jalalabad to Kabul) to Ghazni in Afghanistan.

History

= Ancient times =

The Buddhist literature and Indian epics such as Mahabharata refer to the existence of Grand Trunk road even before the Maurya Empire and was called Uttarapatha or the "Northern road". The road connected the eastern region of India with Central Asia, the terminus of the Khorasan Road.{{Cite book |last=Sanjeev |first=Sanyal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uv_iDQAAQBAJ |title=Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography |pages=72–73,103 |date=15 November 2012 |publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited |isbn=9788184756715 |language=en }}

= Mauryan Empire =

The precursor of the modern Grand Trunk road was built on the orders of the emperor Chandragupta Maurya and was inspired by the Persian Royal RoadBenjamin Walker, p. 69, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8J2RDwAAQBAJ&dq=chandragupta+grand+trunk+road&pg=PT69 Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism. In Two Volumes. Volume II M-Z] (more precisely, its eastern stretch, the Great Khurasan Road that ran from Media to Bactria). During the time of the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BCE, overland trade between India and several parts of Western Asia and Bactria went through the cities of the north-west, primarily Takshashila and Purushapura (present-day Taxila and Peshawar respectively, in Pakistan). Takshashila was well connected by roads with other parts of the Mauryan Empire. The Mauryas had maintained this very ancient highway from Takshashila to Patliputra (present-day Patna in India). Chandragupta Maurya had a whole army of officials overseeing the maintenance of this road as told by the Greek diplomat Megasthenes who spent fifteen years at the Mauryan court. Constructed in eight stages, this road is said to have connected the cities of Purushapura, Takshashila, Hastinapura, Kanyakubja, Prayag, Patliputra and Tamralipta, a distance of around {{convert|2600|km}}.

The route of Chandragupta was built over the ancient "Uttarapatha" or the Northern Road, which had been mentioned by Pāṇini. The emperor Ashoka had it recorded in his edict about having trees planted, wells built at every half kos and many "nimisdhayas", which is often translated as rest-houses along the route for the travelers. The emperor Kanishka is also known to have controlled the Uttarapatha.{{cite web |url=https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2020/04/20/grand-trunk-road-since-pre-mahabharata-times-here-are-evidences/ |title=Grand Trunk Road since Pre Mahabharata Times; Here are Evidences |date=20 April 2020 |access-date=16 February 2022 |archive-date=16 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216100117/https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2020/04/20/grand-trunk-road-since-pre-mahabharata-times-here-are-evidences/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/uttarapatha-or-grand-trunk-road-the-silk-route-of-india-one-of-the-oldest-roads-of-asia-1629969852-1 |title=Grand Trunk Road: Uttarapatha, The Silk Route of India |date=26 August 2021 |access-date=17 February 2022 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217064436/https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/uttarapatha-or-grand-trunk-road-the-silk-route-of-india-one-of-the-oldest-roads-of-asia-1629969852-1 |url-status=live }}

= Suri and Mughal Empires =

Sher Shah Suri, the medieval ruler of the Sur Empire, took to repair The Chandragupta's Royal Road in the 16th century. The old route was further rerouted at Sonargaon and Rohtas and its breadth increased, a sarai was built, the number of kos minars and baolis increased. Gardens were also built alongside some sections of the highway. Those who stopped at the sarai were provided food for free. His son Islam Shah Suri constructed an additional sarai in-between every sarai originally built by Sher Shah Suri on the road toward Bengal. More sarais were built under the Mughals. Jahangir under his reign issued a decree that all sarais be built of burnt brick and stone. Broad-leaved trees were planted in the stretch between Lahore and Agra and he built bridges over all water bodies that were situated on the path of the highways.{{cite book |author=Romila Thapar |title=Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5irrXX0apQC&dq=sher+shah+royal+highway+taxila&pg=PA236 |year=2002 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-23899-0 |page=263 |quote=The Mauryas had built a Royal Highway from Taxila to Pataliputra, a road that was almost continuously rebuilt in some approximation to the original during the period of Sher Shah, the Mughals and the British. The British referred to it as the Grand Trunk Road. }} The route was referred to as "Sadak-e-Azam" by Suri and "Badshahi Sadak" by the Mughals.Anu Kapur, p. 84, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ApCKDwAAQBAJ&dq=sadak+e+azam+sher+shah&pg=PT84 Mapping Place Names of India]

= British Empire =

File:GTRoad Ambala.jpg cantonment in British India]]

In the 1830s the East India Company started a program of metalled road construction, for both commercial and administrative purposes. The road, now named the Grand Trunk Road, from Calcutta, through Delhi, to Kabul, Afghanistan was rebuilt at a cost of £1000/mile.

The road is mentioned in a number of literary works including those of Foster and Rudyard Kipling. Kipling described the road as: "Look! Look again! and chumars, bankers and tinkers, barbers and bunnias, pilgrims – and potters – all the world going and coming. It is to me as a river from which I am withdrawn like a log after a flood. And truly the Grand Trunk Road is a wonderful spectacle. It runs straight, bearing without crowding India's traffic for fifteen hundred miles – such a river of life as nowhere else exists in the world."A description of the road by Kipling, found both in his letters and in [http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/texts/Rudyard%20Kipling%20-%20Kim.txt the novel Kim] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924045713/http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/texts/Rudyard%20Kipling%20-%20Kim.txt |date=24 September 2015 }}.

= Republic of India =

The ensemble of historic sites along the road in India was submitted to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2015, under the title "Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Banho, Grand Trunk Road". The Indian sections of the Grand Trunk Road coincide with NH 19, NH 112 and NH 44 of the National Highways in India.

Psephologists sometimes refer to the area around the GT Road as the "GT Road belt" it is also known as Gujarat road sometimes within the context of elections. For example, during the elections in Haryana the area on either side of the GT Road from Ambala to Sonipat, which has 28 legislative assembly constituencies where there is no dominance of one caste or community, is referred to as the "GT road belt of Haryana".NuNu [https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/bjp-on-a-strong-footing-in-northern-districts/story-IyOgq3jDxR12VL2SYsaT3I.html BJP on a strong footing in northern districts], Hindustan Times, 30 March 2016.[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/haryana-assembly-elections-bjp-counts-on-strategy/articleshow/71461872.cms Haryana assembly elections: BJP counts on strategy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105022701/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/haryana-assembly-elections-bjp-counts-on-strategy/articleshow/71461872.cms |date=5 November 2019 }}, The Times of India, 6 October 2019.

Distance guide between cities

Distance calculation is based as per Google Maps.

Teknaf-Dhaka-Kolkata = {{cvt|778|km|mi}}
Kolkata-Varanasi-Delhi = {{cvt|1562|km|mi}}
Delhi-Wagah border = {{cvt|462|km|mi}}
Wagah Border-Rawalpindi-Landi Kotal = {{cvt|613|km|mi}}
Landi Kotal-Kabul = {{cvt|240|km|mi}}

Gallery

File:Kos minar,tirawadi,karnal.JPG|Mughal era Kos Minar along GT road at Sonipat, India

File:7518uttar pradesh09-ghaziabad09-grand trunk road09-1200.jpg|Grand Trunk Road in Uttarpradesh, India

File:GTRoadBarkatha.jpg|GT Road near Barhi, India

File:G.T road towards Burdwan from Hooghly 07.jpg|Grand Trunk Road towards Burdwan from Hooghly

File:University of Engineering and Technology on Grand Trunk Road in Lahore.jpg|GT Road in Lahore, Pakistan

File:Gujranwala GT Road Overcast.jpg|GT road in Gujranwala, Pakistan

File:Jhelum River Bridge.JPG|GT Road above the River Jhelum, Pakistan

File:Original GT Road between Margalla and kala Chitta.JPG|Original GT Road passing through Margalla Hills to Kala Chitta Range, Pakistan

File:Nekka Margalla.JPG|Newly realigned GT Road passing by the westernmost point of Margalla Hills to Kala Chitta Range, Pakistan

File:Gridlock on the Kabul Jalalabad Highway (5300814706).jpg|Kabul–Jalalabad Road, Afghanistan, is the westernmost stretch of the GT Road.

File:Jalalabad Road 2.jpg|Mountain pass on the Kabul–Jalalabad Road, Afghanistan

=Modern roads in Asia=

AH1, or Asian Highway 1 – the longest route of the Asian Highway Network, running from Japan to Turkey
Asian Highway Network (AH), aka the Great Asian Highway - project to improve the highway systems in Asia

:Afghanistan

Highway 1 (Afghanistan) – {{cvt|2,200|km}} circular road network inside Afghanistan

:Pakistan

National Highways of Pakistan, all government highways
Motorways of Pakistan – network of major expressways

:India

National highways in India – network of government-managed highways
Expressways in India – the highest class of roads in the Indian road network
Golden Quadrilateral – highway network connecting major centres of northern, western, southern and eastern India
National Highways Development Project – a project to upgrade and widen major highways in India
National Highways Authority of India

Notes

References

External links

Farooque, Abdul Khair Muhammad (1977), Roads and Communications in Mughal India. Delhi: Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli.
Weller, Anthony (1997), Days and Nights on the Grand Trunk Road: Calcutta to Khyber. Marlowe & Company.
Kipling, Rudyard (1901), Kim. Considered one of Kipling's finest works, it is set mostly along the Grand Trunk Road. Free e-texts are available, for instance [https://gutenberg.org/etext/2226 here].
{{cite book |title=Historical routes of north west Indian Subcontinent, Lahore to Delhi, 1550s–1850s A.D |author=Usha Masson Luther |author2=Moonis Raza |publisher=Sagar Publications |year=1990}}
{{cite journal |last=Arden |first=Harvey |date=May 1990 |title=Along the Grand Trunk Road |journal=National Geographic |volume=177 |issue=5 |pages=118–38}}
{{cite book |last=Mozammel |first=Md Muktadir Arif |year=2012 |chapter=Grand Trunk Road |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Grand_Trunk_Road |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh}}
{{cite journal |last=Tayler |first=Jeffrey |date=November 1999 |title=India's Grand Trunk Road |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/11/indias-grand-trunk-road/377875/ |journal=The Atlantic Monthly |volume=284 |issue=5 |pages=42–48}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160611061444/http://www.nhai.org/ National Highway Authority of India]
[http://www.nha.gov.pk/ National Highway Authority of Pakistan] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221235406/http://www.nha.gov.pk/ |date=21 December 2010 }}
[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126395475 NPR: Along the Grand Trunk Road]