Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c8.s3.4

c8.s3.4

The Artha Śāstra mentions a Superintendent of Courtezans and of Public Gambling, two functions of the police department not occurring in Megasthenes. But Megasthenes tells us how the king's agents employed the courtezans to obtain information. This ancient profession was, as in most Indian polities, treated as a recognized trade, taxed, inspected, and utilized by Government. But on the whole, the two accounts supplement one another in a remarkable manner, though the Artha Śāstra increases our opinion of the severity of Chandragupta’s government. The people were supervised and taxed with relentless severity.