State and Government in Ancient India c23.s2.t9.3

c23.s2.t9.3

Apart from maintaining law and order, the government developed the resources of the country as well. Its trade department no doubt collected octroi duties, but also promoted commerce by securing safety of roads and by establishing a gold currency of international standard. Mines and forests were developed. Agriculture was promoted by the construction and repairs of tanks and reservoirs; and the state afforded facilities by bringing waste lands under cultivation. Its activities were probably as diverse as those of the Mauryan state. The non-mention of some of the Mauryan departments seems to be accidental. Thus the superintendent of the mint (*Lashaṇadāyaksha*) of the *Arthaśāstra*, does not figure in Gupta records, but no student of numismatics can dissent from the view that the mint department of the Guptas, which issued the most artistic coins of the ancient period, must have been much more extensive and well organised than that of the Mauryas, which issued only the punch-marked coins.