Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s3.51

c12.s3.51

It has been already mentioned that Kauṭalya makes the śreṇi also a military organization. That such organized military associations were in existence in the days prior to the Kauṭalīya can be illustrated from the Kauṭalīya itself. Kauṭalya gives it as the opinion of the āchāryas that a śreṇi could not be easily subdued like the recalcitrant individuals. In this respect Kauṭalya differs and says that the śreṇi-dharma is intimately bound up with that of the king, and hence the śreṇis could not stand long with the king. Their risings could be overcome by the arrest of their chief leaders, or a section of the assembly.² In Kauṭalya’s opinion however the śreṇi-bala or the soldiers recruited from the śreṇi, were the best warriors and would prove equal to any situation. The śreṇi mukhya was the leader of the śreṇi-bala and was paid a handsome salary equal to that of the head of an elephant-corps.