The Mauryan Polity c7.s4.1

c7.s4.1

1 “When the king condescends to show himself in public his attendants carry in their hands silver censers, and perfume with incense all the road by which it is his pleasure to be conveyed. He lolls in a golden palanquin, garnished with pearls, which dangle all round it, and he is robed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold. Behind his palanquin follow men-at-arms and his body-guards, of whom some carry boughs of trees, on which birds are perched, trained to interrupt business with their cries . . The palace is open to all comers even when the king is having his hair combed and dressed. It is then that he gives audience to ambassadors, and administers justice to his subjects. His slippers being after this taken off, his feet are rubbed with scented ointments. His principal exercise is hunting; amid the vows and songs of his courtesans he shoots the game enclosed within the royal park. . . He rides on horseback when making short journeys, but when bound on a distant expedition he rides in a chariot (howdah) mounted on elephants, and, huge as these animals are, their bodies are covered completely over with trappings of gold. That no form of shameless profligacy may be wanting, he is accompanied by a long train of courtesans carried in golden palanquins, and this troop holds a separate place in the procession from the queen's retinue, and is as sumptuously appointed. His food is prepared by women, who also serve him with wine, which is much used by all the Indians. When the king falls into a drunken sleep his courtesans carry him away to his bed-chamber invoking the gods of the night in their native hymns." The last sentence of this long extract from the classical writer is quite a contrast to that of another classical writer Ktesias who says that the king of the Indians does not take wine.¹ This only shows that we cannot rely too much on their testimony. Theirs seems to be mostly hearsay and hence may be right or wrong. Generally the king appeared in public to receive petitions from his subjects, and dispose of their cases, to offer sacrifice in conformity with the religious practices of the time, and to go on hunting tours in the king's forest, and on military expeditions against recalcitrant kings and chiefs.²