The Mauryan Polity c6.s3.t8: Vassal provinces

c6.s3.t8.1

If it, then, be accepted that the Mauryan state was of a confederate type or rather federal in character, then it may be asked how could such elaborate provincial system of administration be in vogue as is evident from the Edicts of Aśoka, not to speak of other evidences. This topic then requires a new and independent examination. It would seem that these provinces would come under the name of vassal provinces, one form of the sub-division of what Bluntschli calls the compound states (*Zusammen gesetzte Statsform*).