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{{Short description|Road between Afghanistan and Bangladesh, through Pakistan and India}}
{{Short description|International road in South Asia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}{{Use British English|date=March 2026}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2018}}
 
{{Infobox road
{{Infobox road
| name = Grand Trunk Road
| name = Grand Trunk Road
| header_type = historic
| alternate_name =  
| alternate_name = Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak{{efn|The road was known as ''[[Uttarapatha]]'' during the [[maurya Empire|Mauryan]] period (4th – 2nd Century BCE),  ''Sadak-e-Azam'' or ''Shah Rah-e-Azam'' (The Great Road) during [[Sur Empire|Suri]] period (1540-1556 CE), as ''Badshahi Sadak'' (King's Road) during [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] period and as ''Grand Trunk Road'' or ''Long Walk'' during the [[British Raj|British]] period.<ref name="UNESCO"/>}}
| cities = {{collapsible list|[[Cox's Bazar]], [[Chittagong]], [[Feni District|Feni]], [[Dhaka]], [[Rajshahi]], [[Kolkata]], [[Sasaram]], [[Mughalsarai]], [[Varanasi]],[[Mainpuri]], [[Prayagraj]], [[Kanpur]], [[Agra]], [[Aligarh]], [[Bulandshahr]], [[Delhi]], [[Sonipat]], [[Panipat]], [[Karnal]], [[Ambala]], [[Ludhiana]], [[Jalandhar]], [[Amritsar]], [[Chandigarh]], [[Lahore]], [[Gujranwala]], [[Jhelum]], [[Islamabad]], [[Rawalpindi]], [[Peshawar]], [[Jalalabad]], [[Kabul]]}}
| cities = [[Cox's Bazar]], [[Chittagong]], [[Feni District|Feni]], [[Comilla]], [[Narayanganj]], [[Dhaka]], [[Rajshahi]], [[Howrah]], [[Lahore]], [[Gujranwala]], [[Rawalpindi]], [[Peshawar]], [[Jalalabad]], [[Kabul]], [[Kolkata]], [[Durgapur]], [[Varanasi]], [[Prayagraj]], [[Kanpur]], [[Agra]], [[Mathura]], [[Aligarh]], [[Delhi]], [[Sonipat]], [[Panipat]], [[Karnal]], [[Kurukshetra]], [[Ambala]], [[Ludhiana]], [[Jalandhar]], [[Amritsar]]
| image = Durgapur Xpressway.jpg
| image =  
| time_period = 4th century BCE – present
| time_period = 3rd century BCE-present
| length_km = 3655
| length_km = 2400
| length_ref = <ref name="theatlantic.com"/>
| length_mi = 1500
| length_ref = <ref name="theatlantic.com">[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/11/indias-grand-trunk-road/377875/ The Atlantic: "India's Grand Trunk Road"]</ref>
| length_notes =  
| length_notes =  
| established = before 322 BCE
| established =  
| formed =  
| history =  
| history = [[Mahajanapadas]], [[Maurya Empire|Maurya]], [[Sur Empire|Sur]], [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] and [[British Raj|British]] Empires
| known_for = Trading
| known_for =  
| status = functional
| status = Currently functional
| significance =  
| significance = [[History of the Indian subcontinent]] and [[Outline of South Asian history|South Asian history]]
| direction_a = East
| direction_a = East
| terminus_a = original terminus was [[Teknaf]], [[Bangladesh]] but after the partition of India the road was terminated in [[Kolkata]]
| terminus_a = [[Teknaf]], Bangladesh
| direction_b = West
| direction_b = West
| terminus_b = [[Kabul]], I Gazani in [[Afghanistan]] ,
| terminus_b = [[Kabul]], Afghanistan
| photo_notes = Grand Trunk Road passing through [[West Bengal]] in India
}}
}}
[[File:Renumbered_National_Highways_map_of_India_(Schematic)_hilight_19_44.png|thumb|In India, GT Road coincides with [[National Highway 19 (India)|NH 19]] and [[National Highway 44 (India)|NH 44]] of [[National Highway (India)|National Highways in India]].]]
The '''Grand Trunk Road''' formerly known as ''Uttarapath'', ''Sarak-e-Azam'', ''Badshahi Sarak'', ''Sarak-e-Sher Shah'' is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years<ref>UNESCO, [https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/knowledge-bank/caravanserais-along-grand-trunk-road-pakistan Caravanserais along the Grand Trunk Road in Pakistan]</ref> it has linked [[Central Asia]] to the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It runs roughly {{convert|2400|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}<ref name="theatlantic.com">[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/11/indias-grand-trunk-road/377875/ The Atlantic: "India's Grand Trunk Road"]</ref> from [[Teknaf]], [[Bangladesh]] on the border with Myanmar<ref>{{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=2016-07-19}}</ref><ref>{{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=2016-07-19}}</ref> west to [[Kabul]], [[Afghanistan]], passing through [[Chittagong]] and [[Dhaka]] in Bangladesh, [[Kolkata]], [[Bardhaman]], [[Asansol]], [[Prayagraj]], [[Delhi]], and [[Amritsar]] in India, and [[Lahore]], [[Rawalpindi]], and [[Peshawar]] in [[Pakistan]].<ref name="UNESCO">{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6056/|title=Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Grand Trunk Road|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en|access-date=2018-12-26}}</ref><ref>{{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=2016-07-19}}</ref>


[[Chandragupta Maurya]] of the [[Maurya Empire]] in [[ancient India]], built his highway along this ancient route called [[Uttarapatha]] in the 3rd century BCE,<ref name="Vadime"/> extending it from the mouth of the [[Ganges]] to the north-western frontier of the Empire. Further improvements to this road were made under [[Ashoka]].<ref name="Romila">Romila Thapar, p. 236, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-5irrXX0apQC&pg=PA236&dq=sher+shah+royal+highway+taxila&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0oZPtr8jiAhWPbisKHUbJDQkQ6AEIMjAC#v=onepage&q=sher%20shah%20royal%20highway%20taxila&f=false Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300]</ref> The old route was re-aligned by Suri to [[Sonargaon]] and [[Rohtas district|Rohtas]].<ref name="Vadime">Vadime Elisseeff, p. 159-162, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zRPbecWnkoIC&pg=PA161&dq=sher+shah+suri+maurya+rohtas&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0v6muqcPiAhUNX30KHdI5Ae8Q6AEIOTAD#v=onepage&q=sher%20shah%20suri%20maurya%20rohtas&f=false The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce]</ref><ref>Farooqui Salma Ahmed, p. 234, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sxhAtCflwOMC&pg=PA234&dq=sher+shah+highway+peshawar+sonargaon&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlrczu4cXiAhXXfysKHRqLCncQ6AEIPTAE#v=onepage&q=sher%20shah%20highway%20peshawar%20sonargaon&f=false A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century]</ref> The Afghan end of the road was rebuilt under [[Mahmud Shah Durrani]].<ref name="Vadime"/><ref name="KMSarkar1927">{{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}}</ref>   The road was considerably rebuilt in the British period between 1833 and 1860.<ref>[[David Arnold (historian)]];
The '''Grand Trunk Road'''{{efn|The road was known as ''[[Uttarapatha]]'' during the [[maurya Empire|Mauryan]] period (16th Century), ''Sadak-e-Azam'' or ''Shah Rah-e-Azam'' (The Great Road) during [[Sur Empire|Suri]] period (1540-1556 CE), as ''Badshahi Sadak'' (King's Road) during [[Mughal Empire|Mughal by Sher Shah]] period and as the ''Grand Trunk Road'' or ''Long Walk'' during the [[British Raj|British]] period.<ref name="UNESCO"/>}} is one of the oldest and longest major roads in [[Asia]]. For at least 2,500 years<ref>UNESCO, [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 }}</ref> it has linked [[Central Asia]] to the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It runs roughly {{cvt|3655|km|mi|0}}<ref name="theatlantic.com">{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/11/indias-grand-trunk-road/377875/ |title=The Atlantic: "India's Grand Trunk Road" |magazine=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 }}</ref> from [[Teknaf]], Bangladesh on the border with Myanmar<ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref> west to [[Kabul]], Afghanistan, passing through [[Chittagong]] and [[Dhaka]] in Bangladesh, [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], [[Kanpur]], [[Prayagraj]], [[Agra]], [[Aligarh]], [[Ghaziabad]], [[Delhi]], [[Amritsar]], [[Chandigarh]] in India, and [[Lahore]], [[Rawalpindi]], and [[Peshawar]] in Pakistan.<ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref name="UNESCO">{{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 }}</ref>
 
The highway was built along an ancient route called [[Uttarapatha]] in the 3rd century BCE,<ref name="Vadime"/> 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 district|Rohtas]].<ref name="Vadime">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]</ref><ref>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]</ref> The Afghan end of the road was rebuilt under [[Mahmud Shah Durrani]].<ref name="KMSarkar1927">{{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 }}</ref><ref name="Vadime"/> The road was considerably rebuilt in the British period between 1833 and 1860.<ref>[[David Arnold (historian)]];
Science, technology, and medicine in colonial India (New Cambr hist India v.III.5)
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]</ref>
Cambridge University Press, 2000, 234 pages [https://books.google.com/books?id=3gk5j2u5AnUC&pg=PA106 p. 106]</ref> 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.<ref name="raghubir">{{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 }}</ref>
 
== History ==
=== Ancient period ===
The [[Buddhist texts|Buddhist literature]] and [[Indian epic poetry|Indian epics]] such as ''[[Mahabharata]]'' refer to the existence of Grand Trunk Road even before the [[Maurya Empire]] as [[Uttarapatha]] or the "Northern Road". The road connected the eastern region of India with Central Asia, the terminus of the [[Khurasan Road]].<ref>{{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 }}</ref>
 
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 Road]]<ref>Benjamin 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]</ref> (more precisely, its eastern stretch, the Great Khurasan Road that ran from [[Media (region)|Media]] to [[Bactria]]). During the Mauryan times 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 [[Taxila (ancient)|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 department of officials overseeing the maintenance of this road as mentioned 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, [[Hastinapur]]a, [[Kannauj|Kanyakubja]], [[Allahabad|Prayag]], [[Patliputra]] and [[Tamralipta]], a distance of around {{convert|2600|km}}.<ref name="KMSarkar1927"/>
 
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 [[Edicts of Ashoka|edict]] about having trees planted, wells built at every half [[Kos (unit)|kos]] and many "nimisdhayas", which is often translated as rest-houses along the [[Thoroughfare|route]] for the travelers. The Kushan emperor [[Kanishka]] is also known to have controlled the Uttarapatha.<ref name="Vadime"/><ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>


The road coincides with current [[N1 (Bangladesh)|N1]], [[Feni District|Feni]],([[Chittagong]] to [[Dhaka]]), [[N4 (Bangladesh)|N4 & N405]] (Dhaka to [[Sirajganj]]), [[N5 (Bangladesh)|N507]] (Sirajganj to [[Natore]]) and [[N6 (Bangladesh)|N6]] (Natore to [[Rajshahi|Rajshai]] towards [[Purnia|Purnea]] in India) in [[Bangladesh]]; [[National Highway 12 (India)|NH 12]] ([[Purnea]] to [[Bakkhali]] ), [[National Highway 27 (India)|NH 27]] ([[Purnea]] to [[Patna]]), [[National Highway 19 (India)|NH 19]] ([[Kolkata]] to [[Agra]]), [[National Highway 44 (India)|NH 44]] ([[Agra]] to [[Jalandhar]] via [[New Delhi]], [[Sonipat]], [[Panipat]], [[Ambala]] and [[Ludhiana]]) and [[National Highway 3 (India)|NH 3]] ([[Jalandhar]] to [[Attari]], [[Amritsar]] in India towards [[Lahore]] in [[Pakistan]]) via [[Wagah]]; [[N-5 National Highway|N-5]] ([[Lahore]], [[Gujranwala]], [[Gujrat, Pakistan|Gujrat]], [[Lalamusa]], [[Jhelum]], [[Rawalpindi]], [[Peshawar]] and [[Khyber Pass]] towards [[Jalalabad]] in Afghanistan) in Pakistan and [[Highway 1 (Afghanistan)|AH1]] ([[Torkham, Pakistan|Torkham]]-[[Jalalabad]] to [[Kabul]]) to Gazani in Afghanistan.
=== Medieval period ===
[[Sher Shah Suri]], the ruler of the [[Sur Empire]], repaired the Chandragupta's Royal Road in the 16th century. The old route was further rerouted at [[Sonargaon]] and [[Rohtas district|Rohtas]]. Its breadth was increased and [[Caravanserai|caravanserais]], [[Kos Minar|kos minars]] and [[Stepwell|baolis]] were built. Gardens were also built alongside some sections of the highway. 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 tree]]s 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.<ref name="Vadime"/><ref name="Romila">{{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. }}</ref> The route was referred to as "Sadak-e-Azam" by Suri and "Badshahi Sadak" by the Mughals.<ref>Anu Kapur, p. 84, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ApCKDwAAQBAJ&dq=sadak+e+azam+sher+shah&pg=PT84 Mapping Place Names of India]</ref>


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 present-day Indian subcontinent, where parts of the road have been widened and included in the national highway system.<ref name="raghubir">{{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}}</ref>
=== Modern period ===
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.


== History ==
The road is mentioned in a number of literary works including those of Foster and Rudyard Kipling. Kipling described the road in ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]'': "'Look! [[Brahmin]]s and [[Chamar|chumars]], bankers and tinkers, barbers and [[bunnia]]s, pilgrims and potters – all the world going and coming.{{nbsp}}...' 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."<ref>{{cite book |title=Kim |first=Rudyard |last=Kipling |author-link=Rudyard Kipling |publisher=Macmillan & Co. |location=London |date=1908 |orig-date=first published 1901 |chapter=chapter III |page=81 |mode=cs2 |postscript=.}}</ref>
{{See also|Uttarapatha}}


=== Ancient times ===
==== Republic of India ====
The [[Buddhist texts|Buddhist literature]] and [[Indian epic poetry|Indian epics]] such as [[Mahabharata]] provide the existence of Grand Trunk road even before the [[Maurya Empire]] and was called [[Uttarapatha|Uttarpatha]] or the "Northern road". The road connected the eastern region of [[India]] with [[Central Asia]] and [[Ancient Greece]].<ref>{{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=2012-11-15|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=9788184756715|language=en}}</ref>
The ensemble of historic sites along the road in India was submitted to the [[List of World Heritage Sites in India#Tentative list|tentative list]] of [[World Heritage Site|UNESCO World Heritage Sites]] in 2015, under the title "Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Banho, Grand Trunk Road".<ref name="UNESCO"/> The Indian sections of the Grand Trunk Road coincide with [[National Highway 19 (India)|NH 19]], [[National Highway 112 (India)|NH 112]] and [[National Highway 44 (India)|NH 44]] of the [[National Highway (India)|National Highways in India]].


=== Mauryan Empire ===
{{anchor|GT road belt}}[[Psephology|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".<ref name=GTr1>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.</ref><ref name=pse1>[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.</ref>
The precursor of the modern Grand Trunk road was built by the emperor [[Chandragupta Maurya]] and was based on the Persian [[Royal Road]]<ref>Benjamin Walker, p. 69, [https://books.google.co.in/books?id=8J2RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT69&dq=chandragupta+grand+trunk+road&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOop-Rn8PiAhUPWysKHZxdCggQ6AEIRDAF#v=onepage&q=chandragupta%20grand%20trunk%20road&f=false Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism. In Two Volumes. Volume II M-Z]</ref> (more accurately, 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]] world went through the cities of the north-west, primarily [[Taxila (ancient)|Takshashila]] and [[Purushapura]] modern-day [[Peshawar]] (in present-day 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 [[Peshawar|Purushapura]], [[Taxila|Takshashila]], [[Hastinapur]]a, [[Kannauj|Kanyakubja]], [[Allahabad|Prayag]], [[Patliputra]] and [[Tamralipta]], a distance of around {{convert|2600|km}}.<ref name="KMSarkar1927"/>


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 [[Edicts of Ashoka|edict]] about having trees planted, wells built at every half [[Kos (unit)|kos]] and many "nimisdhayas", which is often translated as rest-houses along the [[Thoroughfare|route]] for the travelers. The emperor [[Kanishka]] is also known to have controlled the Uttarapatha.<ref name="Vadime"/><ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>
{{anchor|GT Road (Pakistan)}}


=== Suri and Mughal Empires ===
==== Islamic Republic of Pakistan ====
[[Sher Shah Suri]], the medieval ruler of the [[Sur Empire]], took to rebuilding Chandragupta's Royal Road in the 16th century. The old route was further rerouted at [[Sonargaon]] and [[Rohtas district|Rohtas]] and its breadth increased. [[Fruit trees]] and [[shade trees]] were planted. At every 2 kos, a [[Caravanserai|sarai]] was built, the number of [[Kos Minar|kos minars]] and [[Stepwell|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 tree]]s 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.<ref name="Vadime"/><ref name="Romila"/> The route was referred to as "Sadak-e-Azam" by Suri, and "Badshahi Sadak" during Mughals.<ref>Anu Kapur, p. 84, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ApCKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT84&dq=sadak+e+azam+sher+shah&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOw-6Vr8PiAhXZfSsKHS8CBIgQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=sadak%20e%20azam%20sher%20shah&f=false Mapping Place Names of India]</ref>
The road coincides with the current [[N-5 National Highway|N-5]] (Lahore, [[Gujranwala]], [[Gujrat, Pakistan|Gujrat]], [[Lalamusa]], [[Kharian]], [[Jhelum]], Rawalpindi, Peshawar and [[Khyber Pass]] towards [[Jalalabad]] in Afghanistan) in Pakistan<ref name="Reporter">{{Cite web |last=Reporter |first=The Newspaper's Staff |date=2025-04-20 |title=Government greenlights upgradation of G.T. Road to three-lane carriageway |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1905341 |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Khattak">{{Cite web |last=Khattak |first=Arsalan |date=2025-04-20 |title=GT Road is Getting a Major Motorway-Like Upgrade |url=https://propakistani.pk/2025/04/20/gt-road-is-getting-a-major-motorway-like-upgrade/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=ProPakistani |language=en-US}}</ref> and [[Afghanistan Ring Road|AH1]] ([[Torkham]]-Jalalabad to Kabul) to [[Ghazni]] in Afghanistan.


=== British Empire ===
Part of the highway was built on the ancient Grand Trunk Road (commonly known as G.T. Road) which came under jurisdiction of the new state after the [[Partition of India|independence]] of Pakistan in 1947.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLNtAAAAMAAJ&q=n-5+highway+pakistan |title=The Concept N5 Highway Pakistan (GT Road) |date=1999 |publisher=Raja Afsar Khan |pages=24 |language=en |access-date=2024-10-19}}</ref> The historical Grand Trunk Route extended from [[Wagah|Wagha]], Punjab to Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The original highways were Peshawar-Torkham Road, Grand Trunk Road (Peshawar-Lahore), Lahore-Multan Road, Multan-Bahawalpur Road, KLP Road ([[Bahawalpur]]-[[Rahim Yar Khan]]), Karachi-Rahim Yar Khan Road.
[[File:GTRoad Ambala.jpg|thumb|A scene from the [[Ambala]] cantonment in [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|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 [[Kolkata|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 [[Chamar|chumars]], bankers and tinkers, barbers and [[Bania (caste)|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."<ref>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''].</ref>
The federal government has approved a major upgrade of the Grand Trunk (G.T.) Road (N-5) for conversion into a uniform three-lane carriageway.<ref name="Reporter"/><ref name="Khattak"/>


=== Republic of India ===
==Route==
The ensemble of historic sites along the road in India was submitted to the [[List of World Heritage Sites in India#Tentative list of Heritage sites|tentative list]] of [[World Heritage Site|UNESCO World Heritage Sites]] in 2015, under the title ''"Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Grand Trunk Road"''.<ref name="UNESCO"/>
The road coincides with the current [[N1 (Bangladesh)|N1]] (Chittagong to Dhaka), [[N4 (Bangladesh)|N4 & N405]] (Dhaka to [[Sirajganj]]), [[N5 (Bangladesh)|N507]] (Sirajganj to [[Natore]]) and [[N6 (Bangladesh)|N6]] (Natore to [[Rajshahi]] towards [[Purnia|Purnea]] in India) in Bangladesh; [[National Highway 12 (India)|NH 12]] ([[Purnea]] to Kolkata), [[National Highway 19 (India)|NH 19]] (Kolkata to Agra), [[National Highway 44 (India)|NH 44]] (Agra to [[Jalandhar]] via New Delhi, [[Panipat]], [[Karnal]], [[Ambala]] and [[Ludhiana]]) and [[National Highway 3 (India)|NH 3]] (Jalandhar to [[Attari]], Amritsar in India towards Lahore in Pakistan via [[Wagah]]) in India; [[N-5 National Highway|N-5]] (Lahore, [[Gujranwala]], [[Gujrat, Pakistan|Gujrat]], [[Lalamusa]], [[Kharian]], [[Jhelum]], Rawalpindi, Peshawar and [[Khyber Pass]] towards [[Jalalabad]] in Afghanistan) in Pakistan and [[Highway 1 (Afghanistan)|AH1]] ([[Torkham, Pakistan|Torkham]]-[[Jalalabad]] to Kabul) to [[Ghazni]] in Afghanistan.


{{anchor|GT road belt}}
The distance calculation is per [[Google Maps]].
[[Psephology|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"''.<ref name=GTr1>[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.</ref><ref name=pse1>[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/haryana-assembly-elections-bjp-counts-on-strategy/articleshow/71461872.cms Haryana assembly elections: BJP counts on strategy], Times of India, 6 October 2019.</ref>
* [[Teknaf]]-[[Dhaka]]-[[Kolkata]] = {{cvt|778|km|mi}}
* [[Kolkata]]-[[Varanasi]]-[[Delhi]] = {{cvt|1562|km|mi}}
* [[Delhi]]-[[Wagah]] border = {{cvt|462|km|mi}}
* [[Wagah|Wagah Border]]-[[Rawalpindi]]-[[Landi Kotal]] = {{cvt|613|km|mi}}
* [[Landi Kotal]]-[[Kabul]] = {{cvt|240|km|mi}}


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
<gallery>
<gallery>
File:Kos minar,tirawadi,karnal.JPG|Mughal era Kos Minar along GT road at [[Sonipat]], [[India]]
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:7518uttar pradesh09-ghaziabad09-grand trunk road09-1200.jpg|Grand Trunk Road in [[Uttar Pradesh]], India
File:GTRoadBarkatha.jpg|GT Road near [[Barhi, Hazaribagh|Barhi]], [[India]]
File:GTRoadBarkatha.jpg|GT Road near [[Barhi, Hazaribagh|Barhi]], India
File:G.T road towards Burdwan from Hooghly 07.jpg|Grand Trunk Road towards Burdwan from Hooghly.
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:University of Engineering and Technology on Grand Trunk Road in Lahore.jpg|GT Road in [[Lahore]], Pakistan
File:Jhelum River Bridge.JPG|GT Road above the [[Jhelum River|River Jhelum]], [[Pakistan]].
File:Gujranwala GT Road Overcast.jpg|GT road in [[Gujranwala]], Pakistan
File:Original GT Road between Margalla and kala Chitta.JPG|Original GT Road passing through [[Margalla Hills]] to [[Kala Chitta Range]], [[Pakistan]].
File:Jhelum River Bridge.JPG|GT Road above the [[Jhelum River|River Jhelum]], Pakistan
File:Nekka Margalla.JPG|Newly realigned GT Road passing by the westernmost point of [[Margalla Hills]] to [[Kala Chitta Range]], [[Pakistan]].
File:Original GT Road between Margalla and kala Chitta.JPG|Original GT Road passing through [[Margalla Hills]] to [[Kala Chitta Range]], Pakistan
File:Gridlock on the Kabul Jalalabad Highway (5300814706).jpg|[[Kabul–Jalalabad Road]], [[Afghanistan]], is westernmost stretch of the GT Road.
File:Nekka Margalla.JPG|Newly realigned GT Road passing by the westernmost point of [[Margalla Hills]] to [[Kala Chitta Range]], Pakistan
File:Jalalabad Road 2.jpg|Mountain pass on the Kabul–Jalalabad Road, [[Afghanistan]].
File:Gridlock on the Kabul Jalalabad Highway (5300814706).jpg|[[Kabul–Jalalabad Road]], Afghanistan, is the westernmost stretch of the GT Road.
File:Gujranwala GT Road Overcast.jpg|grand trunk road '''Gujranwala'''
File:Jalalabad Road 2.jpg|Mountain pass on the Kabul–Jalalabad Road, Afghanistan
</gallery>
</gallery>


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* [[Via Regia]]
* [[Via Regia]]
* [[Silk Road]] – ancient Sino-Indo-European route
* [[Silk Road]] – ancient Sino-Indo-European route
* [[Via Maris]] ('''International Trunk Road''') – modern name of main ancient international route between Egypt and Mesopotamia
* [[Via Maris]] (International Trunk Road) – modern name of the main ancient international route between Egypt and Mesopotamia
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}


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{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[AH1]], or Asian Highway 1 – the longest route of the Asian Highway Network, running from Japan to Turkey
* [[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
* [[Asian Highway Network]] (AH), aka the Great Asian Highway - project to improve the highway systems in Asia


:'''Afghanistan'''
:'''Afghanistan'''
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{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}


== References and notes ==
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
 
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Notelist|2}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
* Farooque, Abdul Khair Muhammad (1977), ''Roads and Communications in Mughal India.'' Delhi: Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli.
* 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.
* Weller, Anthony (1997), ''Days and Nights on the Grand Trunk Road: Calcutta to Khyber''. Marlowe & Company.
* [[Rudyard Kipling|Kipling, Rudyard]] (1901), ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]''. Considered one of Kipling's finest works, it is set mostly along the Grand Trunk Road. Free e-texts are available, for instance [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/2226 here].
* [[Rudyard Kipling|Kipling, Rudyard]] (1901), ''[[Kim (novel)|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 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 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 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}}
* {{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]
* [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]
* [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]
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126395475 NPR: Along the Grand Trunk Road]


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{{Highways in India}}
{{Highways in India}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|27.337|N|79.064|E|type:road_region:IN|display=title}}
{{Coord|27|20|15|N|79|3|45|E|type:road_region:IN|display=title}}


[[Category:AH1]]
[[Category:AH1]]
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[[Category:Roads in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Roads in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Roads in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Roads in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Roads in India]]
[[Category:Roads in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Roads in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Ancient roads and tracks]]
[[Category:Ancient roads and tracks]]

Latest revision as of 07:12, 8 March 2026


Grand Trunk Road
Route information
Length3,655 km[1] (2,271 mi)
Statusfunctional
Time period4th century BCE – present
Known forTrading
Major junctions
East endTeknaf, Bangladesh
West endKabul, Afghanistan
Location
Major cities

The Grand Trunk Road[lower-alpha 1] is one of the oldest and longest major roads in Asia. For at least 2,500 years[3] it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It runs roughly 3,655 km (2,271 mi)[1] from Teknaf, Bangladesh on the border with Myanmar[4][5] west to Kabul, Afghanistan, passing through Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh, Calcutta, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Agra, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Amritsar, Chandigarh in India, and Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar in Pakistan.[6][2]

The highway was built along an ancient route called Uttarapatha in the 3rd century BCE,[7] 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] The old route was re-aligned by Sher Shah Suri to Sonargaon and Rohtas.[7][8] The Afghan end of the road was rebuilt under Mahmud Shah Durrani.[9][7] The road was considerably rebuilt in the British period between 1833 and 1860.[10] 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.[11]

History[edit | edit source]

Ancient period[edit | edit source]

The Buddhist literature and Indian epics such as Mahabharata refer to the existence of Grand Trunk Road even before the Maurya Empire as Uttarapatha or the "Northern Road". The road connected the eastern region of India with Central Asia, the terminus of the Khurasan Road.[12]

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 Road[13] (more precisely, its eastern stretch, the Great Khurasan Road that ran from Media to Bactria). During the Mauryan times 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 department of officials overseeing the maintenance of this road as mentioned 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 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi).[9]

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 Kushan emperor Kanishka is also known to have controlled the Uttarapatha.[7][14][15]

Medieval period[edit | edit source]

Sher Shah Suri, the ruler of the Sur Empire, repaired the Chandragupta's Royal Road in the 16th century. The old route was further rerouted at Sonargaon and Rohtas. Its breadth was increased and caravanserais, kos minars and baolis were built. Gardens were also built alongside some sections of the highway. 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.[7][16] The route was referred to as "Sadak-e-Azam" by Suri and "Badshahi Sadak" by the Mughals.[17]

Modern period[edit | edit source]

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 in Kim: "'Look! Brahmins and chumars, bankers and tinkers, barbers and bunnias, pilgrims and potters – all the world going and coming. ...' 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."[18]

Republic of India[edit | edit source]

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".[2] 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".[19][20]

Islamic Republic of Pakistan[edit | edit source]

The road coincides with the current N-5 (Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Lalamusa, Kharian, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Khyber Pass towards Jalalabad in Afghanistan) in Pakistan[21][22] and AH1 (Torkham-Jalalabad to Kabul) to Ghazni in Afghanistan.

Part of the highway was built on the ancient Grand Trunk Road (commonly known as G.T. Road) which came under jurisdiction of the new state after the independence of Pakistan in 1947.[23] The historical Grand Trunk Route extended from Wagha, Punjab to Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The original highways were Peshawar-Torkham Road, Grand Trunk Road (Peshawar-Lahore), Lahore-Multan Road, Multan-Bahawalpur Road, KLP Road (Bahawalpur-Rahim Yar Khan), Karachi-Rahim Yar Khan Road.

The federal government has approved a major upgrade of the Grand Trunk (G.T.) Road (N-5) for conversion into a uniform three-lane carriageway.[21][22]

Route[edit | edit source]

The road coincides with the current N1 (Chittagong to Dhaka), N4 & N405 (Dhaka to Sirajganj), N507 (Sirajganj to Natore) and N6 (Natore to Rajshahi towards Purnea in India) in Bangladesh; NH 12 (Purnea to Kolkata), 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) in India; 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.

The distance calculation is per Google Maps.

Gallery[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

Modern roads in Asia[edit | edit source]

  • 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
Pakistan
India

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 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.[2]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tayler, Jeffrey (November 1999). "The Atlantic: "India's Grand Trunk Road"". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 7 September 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Grand Trunk Road". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  3. ↑ UNESCO, Caravanserais along the Grand Trunk Road in Pakistan Archived 31 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Steel, Tim (1 January 2015). "A road to empires". Dhaka Tribune. Archived from the original on 11 February 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey (15 September 2015). "Cuisine along G T Road". The Times of India. Calcutta. Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  6. ↑ Khanna, Parag. "How to Redraw the World Map". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Vadime Elisseeff, p. 159-162, The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce
  8. ↑ Farooqui Salma Ahmed, p. 234, A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 K. M. Sarkar (1927). The Grand Trunk Road in the Punjab: 1849-1886. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. pp. 2–. GGKEY:GQWKH1K79D6.
  10. ↑ David Arnold (historian); Science, technology, and medicine in colonial India (New Cambr hist India v.III.5) Cambridge University Press, 2000, 234 pages p. 106
  11. ↑ Singh, Raghubir (1995). The Grand Trunk Road: A Passage Through India (First ed.). Aperture Books. ISBN 9780893816445.
  12. ↑ Sanjeev, Sanyal (15 November 2012). Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. pp. 72–73, 103. ISBN 9788184756715.
  13. ↑ Benjamin Walker, p. 69, Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism. In Two Volumes. Volume II M-Z
  14. ↑ "Grand Trunk Road since Pre Mahabharata Times; Here are Evidences". 20 April 2020. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  15. ↑ "Grand Trunk Road: Uttarapatha, The Silk Route of India". 26 August 2021. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  16. ↑ Romila Thapar (2002). Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. University of California Press. p. 263. ISBN 0-520-23899-0. 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.
  17. ↑ Anu Kapur, p. 84, Mapping Place Names of India
  18. ↑ Kipling, Rudyard (1908) [first published 1901], "chapter III", Kim, London: Macmillan & Co., p. 81.
  19. ↑ NuNu BJP on a strong footing in northern districts, Hindustan Times, 30 March 2016.
  20. ↑ Haryana assembly elections: BJP counts on strategy Archived 5 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine, The Times of India, 6 October 2019.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (20 April 2025). "Government greenlights upgradation of G.T. Road to three-lane carriageway". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Khattak, Arsalan (20 April 2025). "GT Road is Getting a Major Motorway-Like Upgrade". ProPakistani. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
  23. ↑ The Concept N5 Highway Pakistan (GT Road). Raja Afsar Khan. 1999. p. 24. Retrieved 19 October 2024.

External links[edit | edit source]

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27°20′15″N 79°3′45″E / 27.33750°N 79.06250°E / 27.33750; 79.06250

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