Public Administration in Ancient India c23.43

c23.43

It is worthy of notice that Chānakya makes no mention of the Municipal Board or its Committees. Perhaps under his regime the old municipal method of administration was superseded by a system in which government officials controlled all the affairs of the cities. In Chānakya’s system, the chief official of the city was the Nāgaraka. Under him were four Sthānikas or Divisional officers, each of whom was in charge of a quarter of the city. Under the Sthānikas were the Gopas, each of whom attended to the affairs of ten, twenty, or forty families. The chief duty of the city officials was to see that the householders and traders were not in any way disturbed in their respective avocations. It was also their business to provide medical aid to the sick, to take note of persons entering or leaving the city, to take precautions against the outbreak of fires, to look to the cleanliness of the city, to watch the movements of suspicious characters, and to prevent the commission of crimes.¹