Public Administration in Ancient India c6.3

c6.3

Territory is the material basis of the State, and its importance was fully understood in Ancient India. Chānakya discusses in full the excellent qualities of a territory. In his opinion a territory should be extensive; self-supporting; capable of supporting outsiders (besides inhabitants) in times of distress; capable of defending itself and of repelling enemies; powerful enough to guard itself against neighbouring kings; free from rocky, marshy, desert, and uneven tracts; devoid of robbers, wild beasts, and jungles; beautiful; containing fertile fields, mines, valuable products, elephant forests, and pasture lands; strong; containing hidden passages; full of cattle; not dependent upon natural rainfall for the supply of water; possessed of land-routes as well as waterways; rich in many kinds of commercial products; capable of bearing the burden of taxation; inhabited by industrious agriculturists; full of children and of persons belonging to the inferior orders; having a loyal and honest population.¹ So also Manu says, “Let him (the King) settle in a country which is open and has a dry climate, where grain is abundant, which is chiefly (inhabited) by Āryas, not subject to epidemic diseases (or similar troubles), and pleasant, where the vassals are obedient and his own (people easily) find their livelihood.”²