The Mauryan Polity c8.s1.t7.3

c8.s1.t7.3

The texts of these Edicts throw a considerable light on the procedure of the council meetings. The term *nijhati* in the Edicts is interpreted in different ways: ‘meditation,’ ‘reconsideration,’ ‘amendment,’ ‘adjournment,’ and ‘appeal’. Hultzsch renders it as ‘amendment’. This seems to fit in with the first part of the statement which says⁴ that sometimes the king sent oral orders to the *mahāmātras*, and these were discussed and generally agreed upon in the council. It might be that disputes arose on the point resulting in amendments. But such amendments were to be committed to the king wherever he was. This means that full weight was not attached to the oral orders, though the latter was in practice. This practice became quite discredited by the time of the *Śukranītisāra* where the king issuing an oral order is regarded as a thief in law.¹