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The Mauryan Polity c10.s2.t1: The relation between the central government and the provinces

The Mauryan Polity c10.s2.t1

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The relation between the central government and the provinces

c10.s2.t1.1

It would be particularly interesting to examine how far the scheme of provincial administration in the *Kauṭalīya* coincides with such aspects of that administration as can be gathered from the inscriptions of Aśoka. It is indeed difficult to define the exact relations between the central government and the local government. It is evident that at the head of each province there was a viceroy or a governor. He was invariably a member of the royal dynasty and preferably a royal prince. But in the provinces where it was felt that a local chief might prove a better administrative head, the local man was appointed.¹ This governor was assisted in his work of administration by a body of officials known by different designations, the *mahāmātras*, the *rājukas* and the *pradeṣṭṛs*. These were executive officials appointed again by the Central government. Their chief functions appear to have been the collection of revenue, and defence by means of an elaborate police organisation. These provincial heads were also the channel of communication between the Central government and the rural officials. The orders of the imperial Headquarters were communicated to the provinces by Edicts and royal prescripts of which we have some specimens in those of Aśoka to the officers at Tośāli and Kauśāmbi.¹ These officers at the Headquarters of the provinces in their turn communicated the orders of His Majesty to the rural officers. For instance, the prince and the *mahāmātras* of Suvarṇagiri communicated to the *mahāmātras* at Īśila what the Devānāmpriya had commanded.² If the administrative details contained in the *Divyāvadāna*, undoubtedly a later work, could be relied upon, then there were, in addition to those officers above mentioned, political organisations in the provincial capitals which went by the name of the Paura, the Jānapada and others.³

c10.s2.t1.2

¹ See above, pp. 201-2.

c10.s2.t1.3

¹ *Corpus*, pp. 92, 191, 155, etc.

c10.s2.t1.4

² Brahmagiri R. Ins., p. 175.

c10.s2.t1.5

³ *Divyāva*, p. 411.

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