Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c8.86

c8.86

Apart from the seven classes into which the State was divided, was the Civil Service proper. In rural districts, the government was in the hands of a body of officials, who combined the duties of the Collector, Forest Officer, and Engineer of modern India. These officers had the most varied duties. They superintended irrigation, the construction of irrigation works, and the survey and assessment of irrigated lands. They saw to the repair of public roads, and to the erection of milestones and signposts at every ten stadia. They built and repaired the bridges. They collected the taxes imposed upon the rayats: they supervised the hunters, and saw that they did not defraud the State of horses or elephants. They kept an eye on the wood-cutters and took care that the country was not deforested. They supervised the mines. They appear to have been invested with the judicial powers necessary for the enforcement of their decrees.