Hindu Administrative Institutions c8.s3.6

c8.s3.6

The same ideas are repeated in the *Manava Dharma Sastra*. On the top of a hill, the solitary chamber of the palace, or lonely forests where even birds cannot penetrate, deliberation could be carried on by the king. The idiot, the dwarf, the deaf and the dumb, the limbless, the old, the eunuch, the lunatic, *mlechchas*, the sick and the defective-limbed, were not allowed to be present on any of the four sides of the hall,¹ for through them the secrets might escape. The author of the *Arthasastra* is practical in his recommendations. He asks, granting the above precautions are taken, yet is there not any possibility of the information leaking out from the members who sit in deliberation. ‘Yes,’ says Kauṭalya, and remarks that any shrewd man could form possible opinions by observing the physical features and gestures of the person or persons consulted. This is evident from the *Rāmāyaṇa* also. When the question of entertaining Vibhīṣaṇa as an ally came up, Hanumān speaks in these terms: