The Mauryan Polity c13.s12.141

c13.s12.141

The commissariat as such there is again no definite mention. But the work of the commissariat is definitely mentioned when Kauṭalya says that the work of free labourers consists in the examination of camps, roads, bridges, wells and rivers; carrying the machines, weapons, armours, instruments, and provisions; carrying away the men that are knocked down, along with their weapons and armours.¹ Hunters reconnoitred forests and when the enemy was in sight they hid themselves under trees or mountains and blew their conch shells and beat their drums.² The *praśāsta* may perhaps answer to the superintendent of bullock trains of Megasthenes. With his followers including carpenters and free labourers he marched in front of the army clearing the road and digging wells for water. In the camp were the king, the priest, the hunters with hounds and with trumpets, the spies and the sentinels, changing their watches in turn.³ The army marched through places where grass, fuel, and water were available. In some places the army was made to carry foodstuffs. In the centre were the women of the harem.⁴ Thus Megasthenes' statements agree in the main with those of the *Arthaśāstra*.