State and Government in Ancient India c16.45

c16.45

The number of departments must have been naturally few in early times or in small states. The *Vishṇusmṛiti* refers to only four of them,—mines, customs, ferry and elephants.² In pre-historic Kashmir the number of departments was only seven; one of the reforms introduced by Jalauka, the son of Aśoka, was to increase their number to 18. This number was raised to 23 by king Lalitāditya about ten centuries later.³ The epics usually refer to eighteen departments only, which are called *tīrthas*.⁴ Their names, however, have not been given; they have to be gathere from the commentators who flourished several centuries later, and whose explanations therefore may not be quite reliable. The *Arthaśāstra* also refers to this traditional number of departments',⁵ but it does not hesitate to increase their number by five or six. The number of departments contemplated by Śukra seems to be twenty.⁶