The Mauryan Polity c8.s2.1

c8.s2.1

That the state policy of the Mauryan empire was much influenced by the conduct and mode of the assemblies of the Paura and the Jānapada is evident from the *Arthaśāstra*. The *Arthaśāstra* distinguishes Jānapada and Durga² while the *Rāmāyaṇa* (roughly 500 B.C. to 200 B.C.) refers to the Jānapada and Nagara.³ The terms Nigama, Durga and Nagara denote one and the same territorial unit, and mean either the provincial Capital or the Headquarters of the empire. It transpires that these assemblies were a feature of both the provincial and the imperial Headquarters. Hence the commentator of the *Kāmasūtra* interprets *nāgarikāḥ*⁴ as *Pāṭaliputrikāḥ*. The term *Janapada* in the *Arthaśāstra*⁵ refers to the area covered by villages and towns of the whole kingdom, except perhaps the capital, as a distinction is made between the *Janapada* and the *Durga*.