State and Government in Ancient India c10.s4.5

c10.s4.5

With the development of the political literature from *c.* 4th century B. C., we begin to get greater information about the functions of the state. The evidence of the *Mahābhārata*² and the *Arthaśāstra*³ shows that the sphere of the state activity was very extensively extended between the Vedic and the Mauryan age; we, however, are unable to trace the different stages of this development owing to the lack of evidence.