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State and Government in Ancient India c22.s4.t3: Provincial Government

State and Government in Ancient India c22.s4.t3

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Provincial Government

c22.s4.t3.1

The Mauryan empire covered a territory certainly as wide as India and Pakistan put together. It was naturally divided into a number of provinces; unfortunately the *Arthaśāstra* does not mention what they were. The Aśokan inscriptions refer to three viceroys stationed at Taxila, Tosali (in Kaliṅga) and Brahmagiri (in Mysore); Buddhist tradition refers to a fourth viceroy at Ujjayinī. A later Śaka inscription incidentally refers to a fifth viceroy with Girnar in Kathiawar as his head-quarters. We may well presume that very probably there was a viceroy for Eastern Punjab and Northern U. P. with his capital at Ahichchhatra, another for Southern U. P. and Kośala with his capital at Kauśāmbī, a third for Telangana with his capital near Maski. Mahārāshṭra and Bengal were also probably under separate viceroys.

c22.s4.t3.2

The viceroy at Brahmagiri is expressly described as a Kumāra or prince in the Aśokan inscriptions; Buddhist tradition mentions Aśoka and Kuṇāla as viceroys at Taxila and Ujjayinī. It is therefore clear that some important provinces had princes of the blood royal as their viceroys. The viceroy in Kathiawar under Chandragupta was a Vaiśya named Pushyagupta and the one under Aśoka was a Yavana (Parthian] named Tushāshpa. It is thus clear that some viceroys were commoners, but belonging to the official cadre. It is quite likely that some of the viceroys may have been selected from among the members of the ex-ruling families or of the executive councils of the Punjab and Sindh republics.

c22.s4.t3.3

Like the king, the provincial viceroy was also assisted by a council of ministers. The people of Taxila, who had risen in rebellion, pleaded in extenuation that they were not at all disloyal to the king-emperor ; only they could not tolerate the tyranny of the local ministerial clique. In Brahmagiri edict of Aśoka, the wishes of the emperor are communicated to the local administration at Isila not through the Prince-viceroy alone but through the Prince-viceroy-in-Council. Aśoka addressed his second Kaliṅga edict to the Prince-viceroy and the Mahāmātras, who formed his council. We may, therefore, well conclude that the provincial viceroys of the Mauryan empire were generally assisted by a council of ministers, who were of the status of the Mahāmātras.

c22.s4.t3.4

The precise work of the provincial government has not been expressly described, but it will not be difficult to conjecture about its nature. It had to maintain law and order, collect the taxes for the central government, cooperate in the work of its different departments and keep a watch over the feudatories and frontier people. It reported the general situation to the centre and received instructions from the latter, which it used to transmit to the district headquarters, as was done by the viceroy at Suvarṇagiri. What amount of local autonomy was enjoyed by the provinces is not disclosed by the available evidence.

Cites (1)