The Mauryan Polity c13.s12.92

c13.s12.92

Again the councillors and the assessors are "those who deliberate on public affairs. It is the smallest class looked at from their number but the most respected, on account of the high character and wisdom of its members; for, from their ranks the advisers of the king are taken, and the treasurers of the state and the arbiters who settle disputes. The generals of the army also, and the chief magistrates, usually belong to this class.”¹ Megasthenes is again committing a mistake by confounding professions with classes. Evidently he refers to the different kinds of councillors and ministers who guided the ship of the state. The qualifications expected of these ministerial officers were more than what Megasthenes could say. “Native, born of high family, influential, well trained in arts, possessed of foresight, wise, of strong memory, bold, eloquent, skilful, intelligent, possessed of enthusiasm, dignity and endurance, pure in character, affable, firm in loyal devotion, endowed with excellent conduct, strength, health and bravery, free from procrastination and fickle-mindedness, affectionate and free from such qualities as excite hatred and enmity—these are the qualifications of a ministerial officer (*amātya sampat*).”² When such officers are put to the test and not found wanting, they were appointed as judges of civil and criminal courts, revenue collectors, chamberlains, prime ministers, in fact, as the head of every department in the state.³ As regards the minister Kauṭalya recommends three or four for deliberative purposes but he holds that the number will depend on the circumstances of the case in question.⁴ Thus Megasthenes is right in every detail except that he entitles the system as a class or a caste. Otto Stein raises a question here¹ why Megasthenes has not mentioned officials in the country parts and surmises, perhaps rightly, that he had little or no knowledge of the conditions of the flat land and his osbervations were merely confined to the capital city of Pāṭaliputra.