Public Administration in Ancient India c7.20

c7.20

The sphere of State-action was in the earliest period very limited. The State was then, in fact, what political scientists term a ‘Police-State.’ Security against foreign invasions and the maintenance of internal order summed up the activities of the State. The first step towards a higher type seems to have been taken when the State assumed the administration of justice. And as society became more complex with the progress of civilisation the sphere of State-activity tended gradually to extend, until about the sixth or fifth century A.D. it embraced almost the entire life of the people. Under the Emperor Asoka the State closely approximated to the highest type of a Culture-State, its aim being to secure the maximum well-being of the people in every department of life.