India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s1.54

c12.s1.54

ACCOUNTING—*Gaṇanā* was the term used for accounting, and *vigaṇana* for discharge of accounts (I.3.36). The Superintendent of accounts (*gāṇanika*) and the clerks (*kārmika*) are mentioned by Kauṭilya in connection with the annual audit by the Accounts Office (*Arth.* II.7, p. 64). In the *Ashṭādhyāyī* these two officers are mentioned in the *Gaṇa-pāṭha*, *kāraṇika* in IV.2.116 and *kārmika* in V.2.116. Falsification of accounts was called *avastāra* (III.3.120). The *Kāśikā* reveals the importance of the Heads of the Accounts Office (*gaṇakas*) when it refers to them as controlling all other officers from their desks in the accounts office (*Tishṭhantonuśāsati gaṇakāḥ*, III.2.126).