The Mauryan Polity c13.s12.117

c13.s12.117

(e) With regard to the administration of public affairs,¹ Megasthenes says:—"Of the great officers of state some have charge of the market, others of the city, others of the soldiers. Some superintend the rivers, measure the land as is done in Egypt and inspect the sluices by which water is let out from the main canals into their branches so that every one may have an equal supply of it. The same persons have charge also of the huntsmen and are entrusted with the power of rewarding or punishing them according to their deserts. They collect the taxes and superintend the occupations connected with the land as those of the woodcutters, the carpenters, the blacksmiths, and the murers. They construct roads, and at every ten stadia set up a pillar to show the by-roads and distances." Let us now proceed to draw parallels for each of the above statements from the *Arthaśāstra*. The latter mentions superintendents of horses, elephants, chariots and infantry, besides the commander-in-chief. There is also the city superintendent. There are again superintendents of commerce, of forest produce, weights and measures, and tolls, etc., who are directly or indirectly connected with the market. There are other officials like lohādhyakṣa, lakṣaṇādhyakṣa, ākarādhyakṣa, or khanyādhyakṣa. What we can call the economic functions of the state are cryptly expressed by Kauṭalya. "He (the king) shall carry on mining operations and manufactures, exploit timber and elephant forests, offer facilities for cattle-breeding and commerce, construct roads for traffic both by land and water, and set up market-towns."'