Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c21.s1.22

c21.s1.22

Much light is thrown on the character of Chandra Gupta Vikramāditya's administration by the narrative of Fa-hien and the inscriptions that have hitherto been discovered. Speaking of the Middle Kingdom, the dominions of Chandra Gupta in the upper Ganges Valley, the Chinese pilgrim says: "the people are numerous and happy; they have not to register their households, or attend to any magistrates and their rules; only those who cultivate the royal land have to pay a portion of the gain from it. If they want to go, they go: if they want to stay on, they stay. The king governs without decapitation or other corporal punishments. Criminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according to the circumstances of each case. Even in cases of repeated attempts at wicked rebellion they only have their right hands cut off. The king's bodyguards and attendants all have salaries. Throughout the whole country the people do not kill any living creature, nor drink intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic. The only exception is that of the *Chāṇḍālas*. In buying and selling commodities they use *cowries*."[¹] The last statement evidently refers to such small transactions as Fa-hien had occasion to make.[²] The pilgrim does not seem to have met with the gold coins which would only be required for large transactions. That they were actually in currency, we know from the references to "*dīnāras*" and "*suvarṇas*" in inscriptions.[³]