The Mauryan Polity c12.21

c12.21

Further only the highly learned Pandits occupied superior positions in the government as ministers, councillors, judges, etc. If Kauṭalya had not been a Pandit he would have been unworthy to hold the Chancellorship of a new government which indeed involved serious responsibilities. The fact was that in ancient times the high class Pandits (the *śiṣṭas* and *viśiṣṭas* of the *Dharmaśāstra* literature) carried on the civil administration of the realm while the military administration was exercised by the Kṣatriya monarch. This does not mean that there was a cut and dried military or civil department which only this class or that class could monopolise. The departments were interdependent and by co-operation everything went on smoothly. Examples of Pandits who had been the soul of administration from both traditional and historical accounts are not wanting. There is the tradition of Vasiṣṭha, the Purohita of king Daśaratha. Here the king did not take the initiative in any affair without previous consultation with and advice of his Guru and friend Vasiṣṭha.