Public Administration in Ancient India c12.18

c12.18

The number of Ministers depended upon the needs of the State. Chānakya is in favour of a small cabinet. “He (the King) shall consult,” says Chānakya, “three or four Ministers. The advice of a single Minister does not lead to satisfactory results in complicated cases. (Besides,) a single Minister proceeds wilfully and without restraint. If the King has two Ministers, he may be overpowered by their combined action, or imperilled by their mutual dissensions. But with three or four Ministers, he will never come to any serious grief, and will always arrive at satisfactory conclusions. With Ministers more than four in number, he will come to a decision only after a great deal of trouble, and it will be very difficult to maintain secrecy of counsel.”¹ According to Manu, the number of Ministers was to be seven or eight.² The Nītivākyāmrita is of opinion that there should be three, five, or seven ministers; “unanimity of opinion being difficult to obtain, the number should be uneven.”³