State and Government in Ancient India c8.s2.53

c8.s2.53

In several respects the work supplies information not to be found in other works on polity. Interesting and minute details are given about the seating arrangements in the royal court on formal occasions (II, 70-71) and about different grades of feudatories and their incomes (I, 282-83). The portfolios of different ministers are given in this work for the first time ; it enables us to have a clear picture of the day to day working of ministry with the assistance of the secretaries and under the control of the king (II, 109-10). Unlike any other work, Śukra gives us the percentage of the state income to be spent on different items (I, 316-17). The section dealing with the army administration (IV, Sect. VII) gives us the most comprehensive picture of the army organisation,—how the soldiers were to be recruited, trained and paid, how martial types of elephants and horses were to be selected, how weapons were to be manufactured or procured, etc.