Explanation: During c.600 300 BCE, there was significant expansion in the number and size of village settlements, towns, and corresponding population growth in the Ganga Valley.

• Numerous villages and towns are mentioned in the Pali and Sanskrit texts. There was a great degree of differentiation in case of towns.
• Pura or nagara meant a fortified town or city; nigama referred to a market town which was at an intermediate level between grama and nagara;
• rajdhani referred to capital city; nagarka was a small town and mahanagara was a big city.

Source: Tamil Nadu NCERT