The Mauryan Polity c10.s3.t2.9

c10.s3.t2.9

Megasthenes next speaks of the census operations. From the *Arthaśāstra* we gather that the census of the Mauryas was a permanent institution manned by permanent officials. It was not a periodical one. The statistical information served political and economic interests. It furnished the total population of a certain village or town at a particular period, the division being made according to the castes and their professions. For example, here was noted the exact number of cultivators, cowherds, merchants, artisans, labourers, slaves, as also the heads of cattle and other biped and quadruped animals. The census further furnished details as regards the amount of income and expenditure in addition to free labour available. All this formed a basis on which perhaps taxation was assessed. The houses were numbered and classified as tax-paying and non-tax-paying. The number of inhabitants in each house according to their age, sex and profession was also noted down.¹ The remarks of V. A. Smith are apposite. "Even the Anglo-Indian administration with its complex organisation and European notions of the value of statistical information did not attempt the collection of vital statistics until very recent times, and has always experienced great difficulty in securing reasonable accuracy in the figures.²