Hindu Administrative Institutions c8.s2.112

c8.s2.112

Eggeling translates this: ‘This (man), O ye (people), is your king; Soma is the king of us Brahmanas.’ (ix. 4. 3. 16), Jayaswal translates it thus: ‘This man, O ye people, is your king, he is Soma, king of us Brahmanas!’ (*Hindu Polity*, part ii, p. 30). Again in the *Ratnahavis* portion of the *Rājasūya* sacrifice one of the *ratnins* is mentioned to be the *akṣavāpa*, and this term is translated as the ‘keeper of the dice,’ alluding to the game of gambling. Jayaswal again repudiates this explanation on the authority of the *Kauṭalīya* where the *akṣaśāla* and *akṣapaṭala* and similar technical terms occur referring to the keeper of accounts and the hall of the office of the Accountant-General. It is ridiculous for a consecrated monarch to get the approval of a gambling officer and we agree with Jayaswal that it does not at all point out to the officer of dice but of accounts, finance being the vital department for any administrative machinery.